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Chapter 22
D?ECKER!”
Decker had just passed by the Murder House when the person called out.
It was Kate Kemper. She was standing in the front doorway.
Decker stopped and turned to look at her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, coming toward him.
“Just out for a walk,” he said.
She checked her watch. “And your walk just happens to take you past here at four o’clock in the morning?”
She came to stand in front of him, while he looked over her shoulder at the house.
“Just itching to get back inside there, aren’t you?” she said.
He focused on her. “Wouldn’t you be too, if you were me?”
She looked at his sticking-up hair. “I meant toask you about your hairdo when we first met, but I figured maybe it was just the way you wore it.”
“I had a head injury.”
“How’d you get that?”
“An exploding trailer.”
She gaped. “What? How did that happen?”
“We were checking out a mobile home trailer when someone decided to turn it into an oven with me and my partner inside. We got out beforewe got barbecued, but the thing went boom when the propane tank ignited, and part of the boom hit me in the head.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“Not yet. But I’m working on it. I take it personally when someone tries to kill me.”
“I would too.” She studied him. “I checked you out since our last meeting. The Bureau speaks incredibly highly of you.”
“Uh-huh.Find anything interesting inside?”
She cocked her head. “Not into flattery?”
“I never really saw its value.”
“Okay,” she said, looking at him appraisingly. “I guess the answer to your question depends on how you define ‘interesting.’”
“How would you define it?”
“How about forensically? The ME got back to us with some more information. Care to hearit?”
“I didn’t think you wanted us involved.”
“I just said things had to run through me.”
“I’m listening.”
“The man in the basement overdosed on carfentanil. It’s an anesthetic used for large animals, like elephants. It’s about the strongest commercial opiate out there. The Russians use it as a weapon ofassassination.”
