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“Good question.”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“Here today, gone tomorrow. She left when I was little and I haven’t seen her since.”
“That’s tough.”
“Not that tough. My dad was great at beinga single parent.”
“Do you remember your mom?”
“Not really. I was too young. I guess that’s a good thing. How can you miss someone you never really knew?”
“I suppose so.”
She sipped her drink. “So, what’s going on with John? Is he in any sort of trouble?”
“You seem very concerned about a guy who’s just a customer among many others.”
“He’sa very good customer. And a good guy who takes all sorts of crap that he doesn’t deserve.”
“I sort of got that impression at the bar that night.”
“Those guys were morons who don’t know any better. But there are many here who do know better. Or at least they should.”
“I’ve met some of them.” Decker shifted his bulk in the chair. “You know about the murders?”
“What’s that got to do with John?”
“He knew at least two of the four victims. One of them lived on his property.”
“Okay, so? Could be a coincidence.”
“I’m a cop.”
“And that means what?”
“That I don’t believe in coincidence.”
“Well, what if I told you that I knew all four of the victims?”
“Because they came to your bar?”
“That’s right.”
“Even Toby Babbot, who I understood was off the sauce?”
“I do servefoodat the Mercury, as you well know, having eaten there tonight.”
“And since you’re one of the few places like that in Baronville, it’s not surprising that they all went there. But you didn’t live with one of them, did you? You weren’t high school sweethearts with one ofthem, were you?”
“I always thought Mike Swanson was kind of cute. And Brad did live in this building.”
“Did you ever talk to him apart from when he was at the bar?”
“I actually think he had a thing for me.”
“Did he ever act on that?”
