JAMISON HANDED DECKER the business card as they climbed into the truck.
“It does make you wonder,” he said.
“What?” she asked.
“Keith Drews loses his job and then he buys life insurance. But Linda said he bought the policy after he hurt his back. That means he would have been on the painkillers.”
“Maybe he wasn’t addicted then.”
“Maybe not,” said Decker doubtfully.
“Do we go see Willie Norris now?”
“No, that’ll keep. Right now, let’s drive around a bit, have our coffee and muffins, and talk some things through.”
“Okay, shoot.” Then she bit into her muffin and moaned, “Oh, God, I’m going to need a cigarette.”
“Yeah, well, hold that thought.”
He took a bite of muffin and a sip of his coffee. He said, “Costa, Tanner, Swanson, and Babbot. Let’s take them one by one and see where we stand.”
“Okay.”
“Bradley Costa figured out where the Baron treasure was and came to town to get it. He got hired by the bank that held the mortgage on the property.”
“You think he planned it that way?”
Decker nodded and took a moment to wipe cream off his lips. “I’m sure he did his research and joined the bank because it held the mortgage. He was a hotshot Wall Street type. How many of those do you think come to places like this?”
“Zero.”
“So he renegotiated the deal with Baron and put in the moral turpitude clause.”
“And then do you think he proceeded to frame Baron for the murders?”
“No. For the simple fact that he ended up being murdered. I think he might have had some scheme in mind to nail Baron on the moral turpitude clause. It didn’t have to be murder. It could have been drugs. Maybe he knew about Swanson squatting up there and keeping his drug stash in the potting shed. Then Baron goes to jail and the loan is called, the property foreclosed, and the straw man buys the property. Then they get the treasure. But the straw man double-crossed Costa and killed him so he wouldn’t have to split the treasure. And then he completed the original plan to frame Baron, by murdering four people. In that way, with Costa, he killed two birds with one stone.”
“But that’s all speculation.”
“I’m going on probabilities.”
“Okay. And Swanson died because he was squatting on Baron’s property. And he was also a drug dealer, which, like you said, would probably trigger the morals clause if they could tie Baron to drug dealing.”
Decker nodded. “And they wouldn’t want Swanson around on the property while they looked for the treasure. Again, two birds with one stone. They get him off the property and use his murder to frame Baron.”
“That makes sense.”
“You remember the nail we found in Tanner’s car tire?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, when I was at the fulfillment center I drove around to the new section they’re building. Guess what I found?” He pulled from his jacket pocket the object he’d found in the parking lot and held it up.
“It looks like the nail you found in Tanner’s tire.”
“It’s exactly the same.”
“You think Tanner was at the fulfillment center?”
“I think her car was.”
“You think she was kidnapped from there?”
“I don’t know. But Tanner had a connection to Baron. She was his ex-girlfriend. He was helping her financially. That’s why she was killed.”
“And Babbot?”
“He’d trespassed on Baron’s property, like Lassiter said.”
“Why? Maybe looking for the treasure? But how could he have known about that?”
“It’s a small town. He might have heard something. And a treasure is a big incentive.”
“Do you think Babbot also knew about the drug ring?”
“It’s certainly possible,” said Decker. “At the very least he might have suspected what was going on at the fulfillment center with Ross. He knew about the secret space in Ross’s office, because that discrepancy was on his drawing. I just don’t know if he knew what was in it or how to access it. If he did suspect, then when they killed him they also got a double payoff. He was used to help frame Baron, and he would be silenced before he could disclose what he knew about Ross’s office having a hollow back wall.”
Decker suddenly leaned back in the seat and tightly closed his eyes.
“Decker, are you okay?”
“I’m just trying to remember something but it’s not coming.”
“Is it because of the hit you took on your head?” she said worriedly.
He rubbed his brow. “It could be.”
“What are you trying to remember?”
“Numbers.”
“What number?”
“Numbers!” he said testily.
In Decker’s mind was a swirl of numbers. They were all different colors. That was his synesthesia talking. Yet it was different, because the colors were different for some numbers than they had been in the past.
Seven, four, three, is that a zero? No, an eight? Red, orange, green, two?
He scrunched up his brow.
Is that a nine or an upside-down six? Come on, dammit, come on.
Finally, the numbers all lined up correctly. And he was able to weigh one set against another. And they tallied perfectly.
He opened his eyes, took out his phone, and hit some keys.
“Who are you calling?”
“No one.”
He hit more keys.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m searching for a listing on a phone number I saw.”
“Where did you see it?”
“On Ted Ross’s phone.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I saw the same number somewhere else.”
He held up his phone for her to see.
She said, “The phone number belongs to Fred Ross, Ted’s father?”
“Yes.”
“Not unusual for a father to call his son.”
“No, but it is unusual that a son doesn’t have his father in his contacts list, even if they don’t get along all that well. If he had the number in his contacts, Fred Ross’s name would have come up on the screen, not his number.”
“That is odd. Wait a minute. You said you saw that number somewhere else.”
“I did.”
“Where?”
“On a wall.”
“Whose wall?”
“Alice Martin’s phone number wall.”
“Well, they are neighbors.”
“She told me that she only kept phone numbers up there that she called frequently, because otherwise she couldn’t remember them.”
“Okay, but again, they’re neighbors.”
“Only Martin told me that she despises Ross and has for decades. And after meeting the guy I can see why. Even his own son can’t stand him. And he’s a criminal!”
Jamison said, “So why have his number up on her wall?”
“Well, I can think of at least one reason.”