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“Well, considering the hour, that makes sense.”
“We may be able to tighten the parameters on that by talking to her neighbors. But I don’t think she’s good for it. She says she didn’t even know he was back in town. And that seems perfectly logical.”
“Unless she saw him on the street.”
“Isaw him and didn’t recognize him,” said Decker. “And I spent a lot of time with the guy all those years ago.”
“Have you called Bogart and gotten his permission to work on this?”
He said quietly, “We’ve, uh, talked. I’m surprised he hasn’t called you.”
“No, he didn’t. So what did he say?”
At that moment their food arrived.
Decker said, “I’ll fill you in later.”
“Thank you for ordering a veggie omelet, by the way,” said Jamison. “And avoiding the bacon.”
“You must be growing on me.”
“Well, I’m just happy that you’re notgrowinganymore. You look good, Decker.”
“That’s a stretch, but thanks.”
He put his knife and fork down and finished his coffee.
“What are you thinking?” asked Jamison.
“I’m thinking that there’s a killer walking around town this morning thinking he or she got away with murder, and it’s really pissing me off.”
“Is that all?”
He looked at her curiously. “Isn’t that enough?”
“I mean, do you feel guilty about what happened to Meryl Hawkins?”
“I didn’t pull the trigger on the guy. I didn’t ask him to come here and ignite this case again.”
“But you think that the fact that someone killed him is evidence that he might have been innocent? I mean, you basically said that earlier.”
“Meaning that I made a mistake?” said Decker slowly.
“I wouldn’t look at it that way. You investigated the case and all the evidence pointed to that guy. I would have seen it the same way.”
“Regardless, if hewasinnocent, I have to make it right.”
Jamison hiked her eyebrows. “Because the weight of the world’s problems always falls on your admittedly broad shoulders?”
“Not the weight of the world. The weight of one case that I handled. Responsibility comes with the territory. My actions took a guy’s freedom away.”
“No, I’d sayhisactions took his freedom away.”
“Only if he did it,” countered Decker. “If he didn’t commit the crimes, it’s a whole other ball game.”
Jamison fingered her coffee cup. “If he was set up, whoever did it knew what they were doing. Who would have a beef against the guy that badly?”
Decker nodded. “Good point. And I have no idea. Hawkins was a skilled machinist but lost his job when the factory he worked at had layoffs. Then he went on the odd-job road. Doing what he could to make ends meet.”
