flitted over the walls and rough ceiling like a horde of fireflies.
“So why would she come down here?” asked Milligan.
“To hide something. We just have to find the place.”
Milligan glanced toward the door. “Wait a minute. If the Honda is here, how did she come and go from this place?”
“There’s a small clearing on the right side when you enter the road this house is on. There were tire marks on it. My hunch is she’d drive the Mercedes here, park, and then walk. She might not have come that often, only when she taught class and needed the Honda, so that would jibe with the low mileage on the Mercedes. Then she’d reverse that path, leave the Honda here, and drive off in the Mercedes.”
“But why do that at all?”
“A substitute teacher arriving in a six-figure luxury car would no doubt invite gossip among the teachers, staff, and students. And I don’t think Berkshire liked to encourage attention. It’s why she kept to herself.”
Milligan nodded. “I guess you’re right. But she did have the car and the condo.”
“Which means the woman didn’t dislike living in the lap of luxury. And maybe she enjoyed the secret double life she was leading. It might have been quite a kick for her.”
Decker kept gazing around. He looked at the spot in the dirt where the footprints were. Then he looked at the new planks on the crude shelving. Then he gazed upward at the cellar door with new hinges.
A moment later he pushed his bulk off the wall and rushed up the stairs.
“Decker!” Milligan called out. He hurried after him.
By the time Milligan reached the doorway Decker had disappeared down the hall. Milligan found him in the bathroom.
“What is it?” Milligan asked.
“Why have a roll of toilet paper if the toilet doesn’t even work?”
Decker reached down and popped the roll off the holder. He set it down on the sink. The tube the toilet paper had been mounted on was the usual kind, with a spring keeping the two ends together inside the wall holder.
Decker separated the two ends and the car keys dropped into the palm of his hand.
“The Honda,” he said. He looked inside the tube. “And that’s not all.” He dug inside the hollow piece and slid out a flash drive.
“Damn, Decker, you might have just hit the jackpot.”
“Well, let’s get to a computer and see.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
They went back outside. Decker took out the Honda keys and said, “I’ll drive her car back. We didn’t find anything of interest at her condo, so maybe something will be in the car that’ll help.” He held up the flash drive. “And this might answer all our questions.”
They separated and Milligan climbed into the Bureau car.
Decker went to the Honda and had to put the car seat all the way back to accommodate his long legs. The car’s interior was battered. Before Decker had climbed inside he had calculated that the vehicle was probably over fifteen years old. Then he had checked the glove box and found the original owner’s manual that confirmed that the model was actually seventeen years old.
Milligan led the way down the dirt road to the asphalt one they had originally turned off from. Thick trees on either side of the road and the cloud cover overhead dissipated the light, turning things gloomy.
When Decker looked up, Milligan had already turned onto the asphalt road and had sped up. Decker pulled out onto the road.
“Shit.”
The car was wobbling along.
He put it in park, got out, and looked down at the front tire. It was flat.
He glanced down the road. Milligan was already out of sight.
Decker pulled out his phone to call him and tell him what had happened.
The call did not go through because there was no service in this area.
“Shit again.”
He popped the trunk, figuring that Milligan would finally notice he was not behind him and would circle back.
He got out the jack, lug wrench, and the spare.
When he knelt down in front of the tire, he saw it.
He had started to pull his gun when the blow hit him. He slumped forward, hit the front fender of the Honda with his face, and toppled sideways to the asphalt.
CHAPTER
19
“YOU NEED TO stop waking up in hospital beds.”
Decker rapidly blinked his eyes and Alex Jamison’s face came into tighter focus. The room was very dark.
Bogart said, “I want you to go home and rest, Amos, and stay in a dark room.”
“I can’t sit out days on this, Ross! Worse than 9/11? Remember?”
“Okay, so long as you have no other complications, you can hit the trail again tomorrow. But for today, we’re shutting you down.”
Decker started to protest, but Jamison gripped his arm. “Let’s go,” she said in a voice that brooked no opposition.
* * *