“Yeah, but is that a fair trade-off?”
“Some would think it is.”
They sat there in silence for a few moments. Finally, he said, “I sometimes remember who I used to be, Alex. Only I can’t be that person again. I know that.” Before she could reply, he rose. “I’m going to shower and change.”
She looked up at him. “Okay. I’ll do the same.”
“Did Virginia Cole contact you yet about the teacher who was friends with Berkshire?”
“Not yet. I can ping her today about it.”
“We’ve been trying the Berkshire angle for a while and we’ve come up empty. So let’s go back to Walter Dabney. We need to find out where he went on that trip.”
“You think it’s important?”
“He went somewhere and came back changed. I’d like to know why.”
* * *
Ellie Dabney was sitting in her kitchen staring out the window when Decker and Jamison were shown in by the housekeeper.
“Are your kids still here?” asked Decker.
“Yes, but they’re out finalizing the funeral arrangements. I just can’t seem to…”
“Did your daughter from France get in?” asked Jamison.
“Natalie arrived yesterday. She didn’t go with the others. She’s upstairs asleep. Jet lag. And…” Her voice trailed off once more.
“Right,” said Decker, sitting down across from her.
Ellie Dabney looked like she had aged twenty years. Her face sagged, her hair was unkempt, and her tall, athletic body had collapsed in on itself. Decker wondered if she’d been taking her depression meds.
Jamison sat down next to her. “I know how incredibly hard this has been on you.”
“Do you?” demanded Ellie. “Do you have a husband who murdered someone and then shot himself?”
“No, I don’t. I was just—”
“I understand what you were trying to do. I’m sorry. I just can’t…” She simply shook her head.
“Has anyone else been by to see you?” asked Decker.
“Like who?”
“Other federal agents?”
Ellie shook her head. “No, do you expect them to?”
“It’s possible.” Decker leaned toward her across the table. “Were you aware that your husband might have had a gambling problem?”
“Gambling problem?” scoffed Ellie. “Walt wouldn’t have known a craps table from a roulette wheel.”
“And you base this on what?”
“Did someone say he had a gambling problem? Someone at work?”
“Not at work, no.”
“Who then?”
“I’m not at liberty to disclose that. But you don’t think that’s possible, I take it?”
“I never knew Walt to even buy a lottery ticket. He thought it was stupid. Like flushing your money down the toilet.”
“Have you checked with your bank recently? To see if there might be any funds missing? Or maybe you have a financial manager?”
“We do. And he actually called yesterday to check in and see if I needed anything. And though we didn’t talk business, I’ve known him a long time, and if there were any issues with our money, I’m sure he would have told me.”
“Right. To pay for his gambling debts.”
“She never said they were his gambling debts.”
CHAPTER
24
HARPER BROWN HAD just sat down across from Decker at the café where Walter Dabney had gone right before killing Berkshire. She was dressed in a black two-piece suit with a seafoam-green blouse.