David Baldacci - Memory Man

“And then there’s Leopold,” said Jamison. “Let’s not forget about him!”

“And then there’s Leopold,” repeated Bogart. “Decker, you’re still convinced he’s Belinda’s partner in all this? I mean, you haven’t seen him since he left that bar. I know you told me about the waitress — supposedly Belinda — and her borrowing the barman’s car, but you have no hard evidence that she actually picked up Leopold in it. She could have just used it to run an errand.”

Decker shook his head. “She left the bar for good after she brought the car back. And the temp agency hadn’t sent her. She was there to ferret Leopold away. He was the one who picked the bar. So I have no doubt that he’s involved. He confessed to a crime he couldn’t have committed. And he knew that he couldn’t have committed. He played the role of a mentally unbalanced person well, but sitting in that bar he had moments of lucidity, not random, but intentional. He overplayed his hand. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

“But why confess in the first place?”

“It was their opening salvo. After murdering my family. The confession got my attention. They knew I’d find out about it, investigate it. They lured me in. They wanted me to participate in their game.”

“Some game,” Bogart said disgustedly. “But they waited a long time in between killing your family and attacking the school.”

“It all took time to plan out. They had to find the details of the passageway, among other things.”

Jamison said, “But who’s the leader of the pack? Wyatt or Leopold? Plus, how did they meet? Where does he come from? How did they hatch this whole thing?”

“All good questions,” noted Decker. “For which we unfortunately have no answers.”

Bogart said, “We’ve had no hit on the criminal databases. The guy has no record that we can find.”

Decker jerked his head. “ Criminal databases?”

“Yeah, that’s where we typically look for criminals . We ran Leopold’s prints through IAFIS, it’s the largest criminal database in the world. I should know because the FBI runs it.”

“But Belinda Wyatt wasn’t a criminal. She was a victim . Maybe Sebastian Leopold was too. Maybe that’s how they hooked up.”

Jamison gazed at Bogart. “So maybe you’ve been looking in the wrong databases.”

They flew back to Burlington and Decker was driven to the Residence Inn. Decker looked at Bogart and then flicked his gaze to Jamison.

The FBI agent understood. He said, “Ms. Jamison, we request the pleasure of your company at our safe house.”

She snapped, “What? No, I’ll be—”

“Perfectly happy to accept or else I’ll put you in a jail cell if I have to,” interjected Bogart.

“On what charge?” she retorted.

“Publishing false information in a newspaper and inciting a riot against one Amos Decker.”

Jamison started to say something but then sank back in her seat and said with a scowl, “Fine, have it your way.”

As Decker was climbing out of the SUV Bogart hooked his arm.

“We pop anything on Leopold’s prints and DNA in noncriminal databases, I’ll call you right away.”

“I’d also like you to send me whatever you can find on Belinda Wyatt’s past.”

Bogart nodded and then he drove off.

Decker headed up to his room and sat on his bed. He eyed the gun in his waistband and thought back to when Captain Miller had come knocking on his door. If he hadn’t, would he have shot himself?

With the clarity that came after stepping back from a stressful situation, Decker knew that Miller was right. If he eliminated himself this pair would go on killing. If Decker had somehow dissed Belinda Wyatt, others could have too. Or maybe they would start on Leopold’s list of “dissers” next.

He closed his eyes and thought back to two periods of time, one recent, the other much further in the past. He took the latter first, stopping at those frames in his mind.

Belinda Wyatt. Tall, blonde, thin, and androgynous-looking, scared all the time. Her personality had been so invisible as not to exist. Although her mind could do extraordinary things after what had happened to her, Decker recalled her as lacking confidence and even a shred of self-esteem. She barely talked in the group sessions. Decker had felt for her, to the extent he could with the new way his mind worked.

What had happened to him was brutal. But he had stepped out onto that field of his own free will with the knowledge that pro football was insanely violent, far more vicious than even the most die-hard fan could imagine.

Belinda Wyatt had been gang-raped, sodomized, beaten, and left for dead. She had been horribly violated. There was nothing voluntary about that. She had had no say in it. She had been dealing with a difficult enough life situation as it was. With the discovery of her parents’ bodies, it was clear that she was involved in all the other killings. And nothing in her past, no matter how horrific, would justify her doing what she had. But she was not the only one to blame for all this.

Next Decker’s mind moved forward to the recent past.

He was sitting in the jail cell opposite Sebastian Leopold. He recalled down to the last detail the man’s features and manner. The empty eyes, the utter calmness, the disregard for his personal safety since he had confessed to a triple murder. Of course, now Decker knew that Leopold was aware he would never be convicted of those crimes because he had a rock-hard alibi supplied by the police , of all people.

That had to mean that Belinda Wyatt had murdered his family. And she had to be the shooter at Mansfield too. Once again, Leopold had an alibi. Provided once more by the police.

Decker’s mind ground to a halt at that point. By the police? Was that important? Significant? Imperative to understand? He didn’t know, because he didn’t have enough information.

The frames whirred back and forth in his head, going over every word of the conversation between him and Leopold. Then the frames stopped whirring and Decker’s eyes opened.

Is good.

Even though he had perfect recall, sometimes his mind, just like anyone else’s, turned words into what it thought they should be instead of what they actually had been. He had done that here, mentally correcting Leopold when no correction was necessary. Decker had just assumed it was a contraction. Is good to It’s good . He had modified the words that way because he thought he had just misheard. But he hadn’t. He couldn’t have. He was sitting right next to the man.

He picked up his phone and called Bogart.

“You need to expand your search to the international databases focusing on Europe. Interpol should be able to help. Germany should be at the top of the list, to start with.”

“Why?” asked Bogart. “Why the international angle?”

“Because I remembered something wrong. And now I just remembered it right.”

Decker put the phone away. “I don’t really drink. But it’s good.” An American would say that all the time. But no American would say, “I don’t really drink. But is good.” In fact, Leopold might have actually said, “Ist good.”

And the slight guttural undertones of the speech coupled with the sharp, angular bone structure of Leopold’s face made Decker believe he was European, possibly German or Austrian. There was enough homogeneity in those populations that the facial features were far more uniform over the generations than in melting pots like the U.S.

So it might be that Belinda Wyatt, undoubtedly a homegrown American girl perhaps turned boy, joined forces with an older European male. How do two such very different people meet? How do they come together to plan something like this? Decker felt sure if they could track down Leopold’s true identity a lot of questions would start being answered.