WHAT IN THE world are you doing? Why are you packing?”
Jamison was standing in the doorway of Decker’s bedroom as he stuffed some clothes and his toiletry bag into his duffel.
“I gotta go somewhere.”
“Go where? Back to D.C.?”
“No, New Jersey.”
She gaped. “New Jersey? Why?”
“I’ve got a lead. A good one. Just happened a bit ago. From Cindi Riley.”
She looked at him incredulously. “Decker, Frank’s funeral is the day after tomorrow. And you’re leaving? There’s so much to do.”
“I’ll be back in time. I’m leaving now. I’ll get there early in the morning, do my thing, and be back late tomorrow.”
“But my sisters are here now. And Frank’s parents and siblings will be here in the morning. I thought you could pick his parents up from the bus station. And one of his sisters too, she’s coming in by train. The others are driving directly here.”
Decker stopped his packing. “I’m sure your sisters will help out. And just so you know, I have to take the rental.”
“Wait a minute, you’re driving to New Jersey?”
“Only way, really. I looked at flights. First one out of Pittsburgh is ten o’clock tomorrow morning, and it isn’t even direct. I have to connect through freaking Charlotte, if you can believe that. And there’s no train schedule that works and no bus service that does either. The quickest way is to drive it. I can be there in under seven hours.”
“Okay, but you do realize what time it is? When exactly do you plan to sleep?”
“I’m good. The adrenaline is pumping and I’ll get some shut-eye when I get there.”
“Decker, this is not smart.”
“I’ve got to go, Alex. I found out something tonight that I need to check out.”
She sat down on the bed. “You said you had a lead from Cindi Riley. What is it?”
He told her about Stanley and Nigel Nottingham and finding the name and address on the back of the photo in Costa’s condo.
He handed the photo to her and she looked it over.
“So let me get this straight—this Nigel Nottingham was Baron the First’s butler?”
“Yeah. And I’m betting Stanley is his, I don’t know, great-grandson or something. That’s why Todd didn’t find a connection to Baronville. He only went back as far as Stanley Nottingham’s parents. He lived in the same building as Bradley Costa in New York. They were neighbors.”
She handed back the photo. “So, what exactly is your theory?”
“That Stanley Nottingham told Costa something about Baron and this town that made him pull up his roots in Manhattan and come here. Riley told me that Costa told her he came to Baronville to follow his dream, which struck me as really curious. Well, I’m hoping that Nottingham can tell me what that dream was.”
Jamison rubbed her forehead, her features exhausted.
“Okay, I can see how that might be important to the investigation. But can’t this wait until after the funeral?”
“Stanley Nottingham is elderly and just moved to a nursing home. How do I know the guy won’t drop dead tomorrow? And if he does, there goes the only lead I have.”
She snapped, “It’s always about the case, isn’t it? It always takes priority over everything. No matter what.”
Decker stopped packing and looked at her. “It’s not like that, Alex.”
“It’s always like that, Decker.”
“But this is important.”
She rose and walked back over to the door.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll just hold down the fort here.”
“Alex, I will be back. I promise.”
“Yeah,” she said absently. “Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Decker grabbed his overcoat from a chair. When he turned back she was gone. He heard a door close somewhere in the house.
He zipped his duffel shut and hefted it over his shoulder. He made his way quietly downstairs.
Only sitting on the last riser was Zoe, holding a stuffed cat.
She looked up at him and her gaze fell on his duffel. “Are you going somewhere, Mr. Amos?”
Decker’s first impulse was just to rush past the little girl and be on his way to New Jersey without explanation.
But after looking at her disconsolate expression, his second impulse made him set his duffel down and sit next to her.
“I am, Zoe. But I’ll be back. See, I have to go check on something in New Jersey. Have you ever been to New Jersey?”
She shook her head. “Is it nice?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“What do you have to do there?”
“Talk to someone. An older man.”
“What about?”
“He knew somebody here in town. So I just wanted to ask him some questions about the person.”
“Is he a nice man?”
“Well, I’ve never met him, but I’m sure he’ll be just fine.” He paused and studied her. “How are you doing?”
She clutched her cat tighter. “My daddy’s funeral is the day after tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said quietly.
“We’re going to bury him in the ground. That’s what Mommy said.”
“I’ll be back in time to go with you.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Her features turned anxious. “Mr. Amos, do you think he’ll be cold? My dad? See, after Mommy told me that he was going to be buried, I got a big spoon from the kitchen and went out in the backyard and dug a hole. And I put my hand in it. And it was cold down there. And my daddy didn’t like to be cold. He would snuggle under the blanket with me. I don’t like the cold either.”
Lending a visual to her words, she shivered.
Decker leaned against the banister even as he felt his chest tighten and his throat constrict.
“I know your blanket doesn’t have a name, but does your cat?”
“His name is Felix. Aunt Alex gave him to me when I was five.”
“Where’d you come up with that name?”
“It was the name of my daddy’s dog when he was little. I thought if I named my cat Felix he wouldn’t miss him so much.”
“That’s really nice, Zoe.”
Her face wrinkled up and her eyes filled with tears. “I want my dad to be here.”
“I know. And I know he would want to be here too, more than anything. He would never want to leave you.”
Zoe leaned against his leg and he gently patted her head.
They sat in silence for a few moments.
“Do you remember I told you about my daughter?”
“Molly.”
“That’s right, Molly. Well, I didn’t really tell you the truth about her.”
“You mean you lied?” said Zoe, sitting up, her eyes wide and staring at him.
“No, not exactly. I just didn’t tell you…everything. The fact is, my daughter…My daughter…died right before she turned ten.”
“Was she sick?”
“No, she…she had an accident.”
“Like Daddy did?”
“That’s right. Anyway, we had a funeral for her and I had to bury her too. But I go back and visit her, you know, to check on her. And when I go there, I can…I can sense that she’s not cold. You can do that with people you love. So, I think that when you and your mom go to visit your dad, you’ll be able to sense that too. And by being there, you actually make things warm, because he’ll know that you’re with him. That people who love him are right there with him. Do you see?”
She nodded slowly, her gaze fixed on him. “Can I talk to him when I visit?”
“You absolutely can. Now, he won’t answer you back like he used to. But I can tell you that you’ll feel something right here.” He touched the center of his chest. “And that’s means that your dad is answering you back. And it goes right there, right to your heart. Because…that’s where you’ll always keep your dad now. Forever. Okay?”
She nodded, leaned over, and gave his thick calf a hug.
“I’ll see you when you get back, Mr. Amos.”
“You can just call me Amos.”
“Okay, Amos.”
Decker lifted his duffel and left.
He did not see Jamison standing at the top of the stairs.
She had heard the entire exchange and was quietly sobbing while holding on to the railing to steady herself.
When Zoe started up the stairs, she saw her aunt and ran up to her and flung her arms around her legs. As Jamison continued to shake, Zoe said, “Aunt Alex, are you okay? Are you sad?”
Jamison stroked her niece’s hair.
With tears streaming down her face, she managed to say, “I’m okay, Zoe. I’m really okay now.”