“That’s a good question that I don’t have the answer to. Yet.”
“I didn’t know that Hawkins was innocent,” said Katz. “After Peyton met with me, I thought he’d been hired to kill David and the others.”
“Didn’t you have a problem with helping the daughter of the man who you believed had killed your husband?” asked Decker.
“I did, at first. But she had done nothing wrong. At least that I knew. And she was so, I don’t know, fragile. And lost. I guess I just ended up wanting to help her. Making something good come from something so awful.” She paused and clutched the sheets with her hand. “I guess I should have gone to the police, but I was just so scared. As time went by, I just convinced myself that it was…that it was legitimate somehow. I was just building up my businesses and living a nice life.” She paused again. “But that was just me lying to myself. It’s another reason I never remarried. How could I ever trust someone after what happened with David?”
“Well, considering that a prominent policeman was involved with Egorshin and his gang, you were probably wise not to go to the police,” noted Decker.
“What…what will happen to me?” she said fearfully.
“I don’t know.”
Mars said, “Hey, Decker, like she said, she was terrified. They threatened her. She didn’t know that they were spies.”
“I get that, Melvin. I really do. But that part is out of my hands.” He turned his attention back to Katz. “But your cooperating with the FBI will only act in your favor. You might not spend any time in prison.” He paused. “In fact, I think it far more likely that you end up in witness protection. These people have long memories and assets in the most unlikely places. And they have no problem killing anyone in their way. They tried to kill you again while you were in the hospital.”
“Oh my God!” Katz drew a long breath and squeezed Mars’s hand. “A part of me, a big part of me, is so glad that all this is finally out in the open. It’s actually such a relief. It was tearing me apart.”
Mars nodded. “Speaking for someone who’s seen a lot of deception in his life, I can understand that. The truth is always better. Even if it really hurts.”
She glanced nervously at Decker. “Witness protection?”
“It’s better than prison.”
“Yeah,” agreed Mars. “Just about anything is.”
She looked at him curiously. “You sound like you speak from experience.”
“What better place is there to speak from?” replied Mars.
Chapter 78
DECKER AND THE HOUSE.
Again.
Where he’d found the bodies of his family. He couldn’t seem to stay away, even with everything else going on. It was a magnet and he was a chunk of metal.
His phone dinged. It was from the ME. As he read down the email, he learned that more sophisticated tests had been performed on the DNA found under Abigail’s fingernails. The results were shocking. It was confirmed that an additional set of DNA had been found under the nails, meaning a third party was involved. But they conclusively ruled out that party being a blood relation to Meryl Hawkins.
So that leaves out Mitzi Gardiner. So who then? Who’s left?
As he sat in his car absorbing this, he suddenly pulled his gun and pointed it at the passenger window. At the figure who had appeared there. Then he lowered his weapon and unlocked the door.
Jamison climbed in and looked at him.
“Didn’t mean to startle you,” she said.
“Sure you did,” he groused. “But I could have shot you.”
“I have faith in your judgment, at least most times,” she replied, drawing a sharp glance from him.
He resettled his gaze on the house, even as his hands played nervously over the steering wheel.
“I guess you’re wondering what I’m doing here?” she asked.
“No, I’m just assuming that you thought you’d find me here when you went to the Residence Inn and I wasn’t there.”
“Well, you’d be wrong.”
He glanced at her again.
“I was here before you.” She pointed down the street. “My car’s right over there. I saw you drive in. And I’m not alone.”
Another figure appeared at the driver’s-side window and tapped on the glass.
An annoyed Decker unlocked the doors once more and Mars climbed into the backseat.
“So you were spying on me?” Decker said angrily.
“How could we be, when we got here first?” said Mars. “I just wanted to see your old home, Decker. It’s nice.”
Decker gazed out the window. “It was nice,” he said quietly. “The first and probably only home I’ll ever have.”
“Don’t be too sure about that,” said Mars. “Life throws you curveballs, you and I both know that.”
Decker glanced in the mirror at him. “And your point?”
“Never say never. You just don’t know. My future was death row. You think I ever thought I’d be here, today?”
“You were an unusual case, Melvin.”
Jamison snorted. “And you’re not?”
Decker fell silent and shifted his gaze to the house again.
It was late, but there was a light on in the upstairs on the left. That had been Molly’s bedroom. He supposed it might be the Hendersons’ little girl’s room now. He didn’t know why her light was on at this hour; maybe she was sick and her mother was tending to her.
He closed his eyes when powerful images and lights started to bombard him, like before. Their deaths spilling over him, threatening to bury him. He began to shake.
“Decker, you okay?” said a voice.
He felt something grip his arm and his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Jamison’s hand on his arm, and Mars clenching his shoulder. Jamison was looking at him anxiously. Mars the same.
He blinked rapidly, and, thankfully, the images vanished.
“I’ve been having…some issues.”
“What kind?” asked Jamison.
He drew a long breath. “The memories of finding my family dead have started to just empty out of my head, over and over, the colors, the images, the…” He rubbed his temples. “I don’t know when it will happen, and I can’t seem to make it stop.”
“But it has stopped now, right?” asked Mars while Jamison looked on with a horrified expression.
Decker glanced at her but then quickly looked away after seeing her tortured features. “For now.”
“When has it happened?” asked Jamison quietly.
“Once when I was in my room.” He glanced at Mars. “When you fell asleep in my room. I barely made it to the toilet. Then I went outside in the rain. I thought…I thought I was really losing it. Then, other times.” He thumped the side of his head painfully.
“Had it happened to you before you came back to town this time?” asked Jamison.
“I know what you’re going to say, Alex. I know I can’t live in the past.”
“Knowing is one thing. Doing something about it is another.”
Decker didn’t respond.