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Decker sat back. “I don’t know.”
“He could have just taken it. Why burn the place down?”
“He might have meant to do that, but we interrupted his search. He might have been afraid we’d find it or something elsethat Babbot might have had. So he torched the place with us in it. Two birds with one stone.”
Jamison folded her arms over her chest. “What did you find out about Frank’s accident?”
He told her what Ted Ross had said.
She shook her head and scowled. “A renegade robot, great. Makes you want to chuck all this technology and go back to hammers and shovels.”
She eyed her partner as he stared at the wall opposite him, obviously lost in thought.
“Decker?” He didn’t answer. “Decker, you’re not thinking that Frank’s death was something other than an accident, are you?”
He finally came out of his reverie. “Just because someone told us it was an accident doesn’t mean that itwasan accident.”
“But the alternative would be…Decker,Frank had no enemies here. Why would anyone want to kill him?”
He looked over at her. “How do you know he didn’t have any enemies?”
“Why, because…he…They hadn’t been here that long. And he was such a sweet guy.”
“I didn’t know there was a certain time period one needed to create enemies. And even sweet guys can make an enemy of someone not nearly as sweet. What Ido know is Toby Babbot had the plans for the FC in his trailer. Someone burned down that trailer. And now Frank dies at that FC because a robot arm that’s not supposed to be on suddenly went berserk and killed him.”
“How could those two things possibly be connected?”
“I don’t know if they are connected. But theycould be.”
“But we already have six other murders we’reinvestigating.”
“I realize that.”
“And you have no proof that Frank was murdered.” She lowered her voice. “And you cannot go around telling people, especially my sister and Zoe, that Frank might have been murdered, Decker. They’re traumatized enough.”
“I have no plans to tell anyone that.”
“But then how are you going to investigate it?”
“The companythat built the robot is sending a team in to see what happened. I’m sure they’ll give a copy of that report to the cops and we can get it from them. At the very least they’ll have to share it with Amber, so we could get it that way too.”
“How quickly will the report be done?”
“No idea. Which is why I’m not waiting. I’ll make inquiries.” He added hastily when he saw Jamisonabout to object, “I’lldiscreetlymake inquiries about the fulfillment center.”
“But you’re supposed to be helping Green and Lassiter, and now I guess Agent Kemper, with these murders.”
“I’m still going to do that. In fact, I’m going to work on it today.”
“So I don’t see why you’re adding in Frank’s death, which may simply be an accident. These sorts of robot accidentsinvolving people have happened before.”
“Yeah, they have. I looked it up. The odds, I very roughly calculated, are about the same as dying in a plane crash.” He stared at her. “So, do you still think it wasprobablyan accident or maybe worth investigating?”
When Jamison didn’t answer, he rose and headed for the door.
“Where are you going now?” asked Jamison.
“Back to high school,” replied Decker.
