AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter36
IT WAS SIX-THIRTY EXACTLYwhen Decker and Mars pulled down the drive into the Richardses’ old home. Decker drove into the parking area behind the house and they got out. It wasn’t raining yet, but it was scheduled to start soon, and the dark clouds confirmed that prediction.
Mars looked up at the old house. “So this is where it all happened? And where you started your career as a homicide detective?”
“Apparently an inauspicious start,” commented Decker moodily.
“Hey, it was your first time. You think the first time I ran the ball at Texas I was as good as the last time I ran it? You learn from your mistakes, Decker, you know that.”
“Well, I made enough of them on this case to last a lifetime.”
He led Mars to the side door. This presumably was where David Katz had gone into the house. Decker had a key that had been given him by Natty. He unlocked the door and stepped into a utility room. Up a short set of steps was the kitchen.
“So we’re here to sort of walk through the crime scene?” said Mars.
Decker didn’t answer right away. He gazed around at the small room. The HVAC equipment was in here, as well as hookups for a washer and dryer.
“Why would Katz have pulled around here to come into the house?” He was really saying this to himself more than Mars.
“Well, maybe this was the way he always came in.”
“There’s no record that he was ever here before.”
Mars looked around the room. “Well, then I guess that is strange. Why come in here instead of through the front door?”
They walked up the stairs and into the kitchen.
“You think maybe Richards told him to come in that way?”
“I have no way of knowing that,” replied Decker. “I don’t know who arranged the meeting or why. Or even if it was a meeting or just a shoot-the-breeze sort of thing.”
They arrived at the spot where David Katz had been shot.
“He fell here and the beer he was drinking hit the floor but didn’t break.”
“Okay. And then Don Richards was shot—”
Decker put up a hand. He had just downloaded something from his “cloud” that was not making sense.
“What?” said Mars, who had seen this expression before.
“Two things. The beer bottle was nearly empty when it hit the floor.”
“How do you know that?”
“The spill pattern and volume of beer on the floor.”
“Wouldn’t some of it have dried?”
“We took that into account.”
“Okay, so he drank the rest.”
Decker shook his head. “He had almost no beer in his stomach when they did the autopsy.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. And the second point?”
Decker closed his eyes and brought two images up in his head.
