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“Of course. Nothing yet. We also tagged her credit cards and her phone. No charges, and she must have turned her phone off.”
“Someone will probably spot the car. Orhearit.”
“So does this confirm her guilt vis-à-vis Meryl Hawkins?”
“Did you check the rear door of the Residence Inn?”
“Hasn’t changed since your time. Still broken. And no CCTV. So, did Richards exact her revenge on Hawkins?”
“I don’t know.”
“If she’s innocent, why run?”
“Same answer.”
“So how do we get answers?”
“We need to know more about Hawkins.”
“Like what?”
“Everything.”
“You mean after he was murdered?”
“No, before.”
“How does that help us?”
“If he didn’t kill the Richardses and David Katz, there must have been some reason why the real murderer would pick him to place the blame. We might find those reasons by looking at what he was doingbeforethe murders.”
They walked back to their cars. When they reached them Decker turned to his old partner.
“I saw Earl at the American Grill.”
She looked surprised and popped in another piece of gum. “Did you? Was he alone?”
“No.”
She nodded. “Did you speak to him?”
“He came over. We…talked about things.”
“Nuance has never been your strong suit, Decker. And while you’re a stone face when it comes to police work, your poker face sucks when it comes to personal matters. He told you aboutus.”
Decker looked at her uncomfortably as the wind picked up around them.
“You have time for a drink?” she asked.
Decker nodded.
***
He followed her to a bar called Suds. Decker had frequented the place so often after the deaths of his family that the owner had used a Sharpie to write his name on the barstool on which he always sat.
The place was three-quarters full as folks drank and ate food from the bar menu. Music played in the background and some pinball machines lined up against one wall kept lighting up and dinging. The smack of pool balls came from another room where patrons could engage in billiards to their hearts’ delight, so long as they kept ordering drinks and munchies.
Decker and Lancaster sat at a high table set against one wall. Decker ordered a beer and Lancaster a vodka tonic.
