Дэвид Балдаччи - Redemption

Then there were the SS bolts, another Nazi symbol, and the triangular Klan symbol, which looked like three triangles within a triangle, but upon closer inspection would show itself to be three letter k’s in the triangle facing inward.

All in all, it was quite the smorgasbord of ink. Decker had no idea why the man had all this on him, but he had obviously been one seriously demented man.

The guy looked tough, even in death. A man with no scruples about ending someone else’s life. As Decker’s eyes traveled over the body, he saw scars and old wounds and other indicia of a violent life.

He thought about Mitzi Gardiner. She’d had a rough life growing up. And then she’d turned it around. She’d once more become her father’s little star, of sorts. Like on the back of the photo he’d found in Hawkins’s wallet. Her star had fallen. And then she had been reborn. Or had she?

Decker glanced over at the wall of slide-out cabinets where the corpses were kept. He strode over to the last one on the left. He opened the door and slid the rack out. He lifted the sheet and looked down at the body of Meryl Hawkins. He reached down and lifted up the man’s arm.

The tattoo with the arrow piercing the star.

Symbolic of what? Then it clicked.

He phoned Lancaster. She was still at the office filling out forms.

“Hawkins told us the prison initiated his compassionate care release.”

“I know he did,” said Lancaster.

“I think he was lying.”

“Why?”

“His daughter was his star. He drew stars on the back of his photo of her that he carried around. The latest tat he got was the arrow through the star. I think he ran into Karl Stevens and Stevens told him the reason why his daughter framed him. And then Hawkins applied for a compassionate care release, got his tat, and got out of prison to come back here.”

“But he said the prison people came to him,” countered Lancaster. “I think when we check into that, we’ll find out that’s not how the system works. The inmate files for it, not the prison authorities.”

“Okay, but you believed that he suspected that his daughter helped set him up from the get-go. And he did nothing back then.”

“Only then he didn’t know the real reason. The people behind it. Maybe he just thought she was stoned and had screwed up somehow. It could have been some of her drug addict friends looking to do a robbery and he didn’t want to implicate her. Then he found out the truth.”

“You mean you think he found that out from Stevens?” Decker said, “That’s right. And maybe Stevens knew somehow that Mitzi was now living high on the hog. At that point Hawkins didn’t care about his daughter. She’d cashed in big-time by framing him. Before he died, he wanted his name cleared. He put an arrow through his little ‘star,’ got out of prison, and came to us.”

“If his daughter knew that, she would be a prime suspect in killing him.”

“She didn’t have an alibi for his murder, so we’re going to have to dig deeper on that.” He paused. “Oh, and Mary?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for saving my butt tonight.”

After Decker clicked off, he looked back down at Hawkins’s shriveled body. The man had gone to prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. Then he’d found out that he had been set up and he wanted the truth to come out, as his last act before dying.

Well, Decker was going to carry the ball forward now.

“I’m sorry, Meryl. You deserved better. From me and everybody else.”

He rolled Hawkins’s remains back into the cabinet and closed the door.

It was too late to see Mitzi Gardiner now, but he had somewhere else he needed to go.

He drove over to the spot where he’d nearly lost his life tonight. But he didn’t go back into the abandoned building. He ventured inside Rachel Katz’s condo building and took the elevator up after flashing his creds at the officer guarding the crime scene’s perimeter.

The forensic team was still processing the area. Decker nodded at Kelly Fairweather, who was doing a bloodstain pattern analysis by the couch. In another corner of the apartment, Natty was talking with a second tech. He saw Decker and quickly headed over.

“Boy, close call for you tonight,” said Natty.

Decker nodded. “Mary really saved my butt.”

“And she nailed the bastard who killed Sally,” said Natty with a grim smile.

“Any word on Rachel Katz?”

“Still in surgery. Last I heard, she’s going to make it. Close, though, bullet nearly hit an artery. Your friend saved her life.”

“I know. Melvin’s over at the hospital now with her, probably adding another layer of protection.”

“Guy had a fancy sniper rifle with a sophisticated scope.”

“That laser scope gave me a bit of an advantage.”

“Yeah, well, the guy could have made that shot from triple the distance away and still nailed his target, easy. Or so my firearms guy tells me.”

“Any luck on identifying him?”

“We’re running his prints through the system.”

“He had pretty much the same tats as Karl Stevens had.”

“Yeah, Mary texted me and told me. You think there’s a connection, obviously.”

“We talk to Stevens and he’s dead. The shooter kills Sally and then tries to kill Katz. Yeah, I think we can definitely say there’s a connection. But the tats may help us narrow this down to a gang. They look to be some oddball collection of neo-Nazis and Klansmen.”

“Great combo,” said Natty sarcastically. “But the thing is, Decker, would that sort of gang have been operating here thirteen years ago? I mean, I don’t remember anything like that going on in Burlington then.”

“Neither do I. But keep in mind they could be muscle brought in now by the folks who were doing all this crap thirteen years ago.”

“Right.”

Decker eyed him. “How did your lunch go with your wife?” At first, Natty looked like he might erupt in anger, but when he focused on Decker’s sincere expression, he said, “It went okay.”

“Did she know... anything?”

“No. I don’t think so. She might have suspected. But look, Decker. Sally and me, we never, you know. We were just friends. Okay, maybe more than friends.” He let out an exasperated breath. “It’s this damn job. It gets to you. I’m not trying to make excuses.”

Decker thought of Lancaster and her marriage. “The job gets to a lot of people, Natty.”

“So, what are we supposed to do? How do we handle it?”

“If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a consultant to cops. A rich one. But spending time with your wife is a good first step. You mind if I look around?”

“Help yourself. Just don’t keep your ‘observations’ to yourself.” Decker nodded and went exploring.

He entered the bedroom and gazed around the space. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for. He doubted Katz would have left a box with the word Secret engraved on it for him to find, revealing all.

But Katz was an accountant with a precise turn of mind. She was organized, paid attention to the details. You just had to look around her home to tell that. So there might be something she had that she felt she needed to keep. If only for protection from someone.

He went through all of her drawers and then did the same methodical examination of her closet. She had a lot of clothes and shoes, like Susan Richards, but even Decker could tell that the stuff Katz owned was far more expensive than the items in Richards’s closet.

He dug back in the very rear of the closet and went through boxes and bags, but came away a half hour later with nothing to show for his efforts.

He went into the bathroom and searched. When he got to the medicine cabinet, he found that Rachel Katz was on prescription anti-anxiety medication. That was not unusual. Lots of people were on meds like these. But still. He wondered what exactly she was so anxious about.