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“Getting back to Richards and Hawkins:You dealt for them both, I’m betting. Maybe you heard something from one of them that might tie into what happened?”
Lancaster added, “And maybe you saw Meryl Hawkins here and you two talked. About stuff? And then he got released.”
“That was bullshit. I’m sick too. I got a liver thing.”
“So, youknewhe was released because of his cancer being terminal?” said Decker.
When the inmate once more looked chagrined at his own words, Decker said, “That’s the second time you’ve screwed up talking with us, Karl. I think you need to tell us what you know, and we’ll work a deal for you. You’ll be out of here sooner than you otherwise would.”
“You think it’s that easy?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you try us?”
“I gotta think about it.”
Lancaster said, “What’s to think about? You help us, we help you.”
Stevens shook his head.
“Tell us this, did you talk to Hawkins?” asked Decker.
“I might have seen him around.”
“And might you have discussed the murders with him?”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
Lancaster said, “We would, but somebody killed him.”
Stevens turned pale and looked like he might be sick. “I gotta go.” He looked at the guards. “Hey, I’m done here.”
Decker said, “It doesn’t have to be this way, Karl.”
“Yeah, it does. Now leave me the hell alone.”
As he was being led away, Lancaster said to Decker, “I screwed up. I shouldn’t have told him what happened to Hawkins.”
“I don’t think it would have mattered, Mary, but we did get one lead.”
“What?”
“The tats on Stevens’s arms were very close to the tats I saw on the shooter who killed Sally Brimmer.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
***
When they got back to Burlington, Natty met them in the detectives’ room. “What the hell happened up there?”
“What do you mean?” asked Lancaster.
“They just found Karl Stevens with a shiv in his neck. He’s dead.”
