the day before. Maybe it was the sight of another woman accompanying her husband to access a safe deposit box, the contents of which were unknown to her. She now seemed resigned, confused, and angry. Perhaps even betrayed.
Decker said, “Could that woman be someone your husband works with? Does she resemble anyone from his office?” He looked at all the Dabney women.
“Not anyone that I recognize,” volunteered Jules. “But I’m not really that familiar with the people that work there.”
Samantha and Amanda simply shook their heads.
Decker next looked at Ellie. She cleared her throat and spoke in the slow, halting manner of someone coming off powerful sedatives. “I would only see some of his colleagues at the holidays. I rarely went to his office. And not in the last five years.” She added wistfully, “I…I guess I had really lost touch with that part of his life.” She glanced around at the opulent interior of her home.
Decker could read the thought in her mind.
I just enjoyed the fruits of his labors.
Samantha said, “Could the woman in the video be this Anne Berkshire?”
Decker shook his head. “Not even close.”
“So this video didn’t help at all,” said Jules. “You’re back at square one.”
“No, it did help,” said Decker.
“How?” Jules demanded.
“It shows us a possible reason for why your father did what he did.”
“But you don’t even know if what’s shown in the video is even connected to the shooting,” said Jules.
“We actually do know that it is,” said Decker. “Your father sent you the key to the box before this bank video was taken. I think he wanted you to know what was in it. But this woman, and/or whoever else is connected to this, didn’t want that to happen. So they made him empty the box before you ever had the chance to access it. And that means they knew about the box somehow. And they knew or perhaps suspected that he had sent a key to someone.” He paused. “And there’s something else.”
He clicked some keys on the laptop they had used to show the video. He moved it forward until they could see Walter Dabney looking directly at the camera.
Ellie glanced away, apparently unable to take her late husband staring at her.
“Okay, why is that important?” asked Jules.
“Because I was there when your dad killed Berkshire. And when I ordered him to put the gun down he turned around and looked at me.” He pointed at the screen. “And he had the exact same look on his face.”
All four Dabney women now glanced back at the screen.
“And what does that look show?” asked Ellie breathlessly.
“Not to be overly dramatic, but it shows that he was resigned to his fate,” replied Decker.
CHAPTER
14
“SHE WAS VERY good. Quiet, but everyone respected her. And she was an excellent teacher.”
Decker and Jamison were sitting across from Virginia Cole, the principal of the Catholic school where Berkshire had been a substitute teacher. It was in Fairfax County, in an old brick building. But Decker had noted the new-looking surveillance cameras as they pulled into the parking lot.
They had signed in at the front office, gotten visitor badges, and been escorted to the principal’s office.
Cole was in her fifties, with glasses on a chain and bleached blonde hair. She sat back and looked out the window of her office. “I really can’t believe she’s dead.”
“And Berkshire had worked here four years?” asked Jamison.
“Yes, that’s right,” replied Cole.
“I assume she needed to have a background check and possess a teacher’s certificate,” said Decker.
“Of course. The Diocese is very strict on that. We ran a background check. That’s standard. And she had a teacher’s certificate. Her résumé was all in order. She had excellent credentials. We were lucky to have her.”
“So her résumé went back farther than ten years?” asked Decker.
Cole looked at him confusedly. “What? Well, of course, we needed to see that she had graduated from college. And had the requisite teaching experience.”
Decker glanced at Jamison. “We’ll need to see all that,” he said.
“I’ll get you a copy of the file.”
“Did you know Berkshire well?”
“I wouldn’t say well. I never saw her outside of school. But I’ve talked to her a number of times within these walls.”
“I can’t tell you. I’m just in collecting-stuff mode.”
“Agent Decker, do you know if a memorial service has been planned for Walter?”
“No, I don’t know. You might want to check with his wife for that.”
“It’s just that I wasn’t sure if they would want to do one, what with the circumstances of his…You know, the papers are going to have a field day as it is. We’ve already gotten calls from the Post, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and a slew of others. I don’t know what to tell them.”
“Then don’t return their calls.”