David Baldacci - The Last Mile

“In about an hour.”

He clicked off and stared out at the highway as the vastness of Texas stretched ahead of them. All the way to the horizon the topography looked exactly the same. He closed his eyes and let his mind whir back to something that was gnawing at him.

Bogart glanced over and saw this, something he had seen often back in Burlington.

“What?” he asked.

Decker kept his eyes closed but said, “Shotgun then fire.”

“Come again?”

“They were killed with the shotgun and then set on fire.”

“That’s what the police report said, yes. Why?”

In his mind Decker brought up the photos of the charred bodies. The good thing about hyperthymesia was that he saw things exactly as they were; no detail was missing. Nothing inserted, nothing taken away. Clear as a mirror.

“Pugilistic.”

“What?”

“The bodies were in the pugilistic pose.”

Milligan glanced at him. “Right. Fire makes muscles, tendons, ligaments stiffen and contract, whether the victim was dead or alive before the fire was started. Fists clench, arms bend, you look like a fighter in the ring in a defensive stance.”

“Hence the name,” said Decker, whose eyes were still closed. “The shotgun blast killed them, clearly.”

Milligan shrugged. “Shotgun blasts to the head from a close distance are always fatal. Nature of the beast.”

Decker opened his eyes. “So why burn the bodies? If they were already dead? And I don’t believe it was symbolic.”

Bogart said, “The police reports raised that question but never answered it. If it was done to make identifying the bodies more difficult, it didn’t work. They were identified by their dental records. And even if that hadn’t worked, you can still get DNA off a burned body.”

“But maybe the killer didn’t know that.”

“You mean maybe Melvin Mars didn’t know that?” said Milligan.

Decker ignored this. “They were positively identified as Roy and Lucinda Mars?”

“Yes. There was no question about it. The bodies were badly burned, and despite the shotgun wounds to the head, enough of their teeth were left intact to ID them through their dental records. They were the missing couple.”

“Still doesn’t answer my question. Why burn the bodies after they were dead?”

They drove for a few more miles in silence.

Finally Bogart said, “Maybe the killer panicked. They do. He tried to get rid of the evidence, thinking that maybe the fire would cremate the bodies.”

“All it did was create a lot of smoke that someone noticed and called the fire department. If he had just left the bodies, they might not have been discovered for a long time.”

Milligan interjected, “Well, if their son didn’t kill them he would have found the bodies when he got home that morning. Or more likely the house would have been burned down.”

“There was no reliable time-of-death calculation?”

“With burned bodies outdoors you can have an entomologist look for insect evidence, flies laying eggs, that sort of thing. Even indoors you have that occur. But that sort of evidence wasn’t available. Flies naturally won’t lay eggs on a burning body. The most precise analysis for TOD on severely charred victims is an examination of the bones. Chemical and microscopic analysis. But then you’re talking microradiography and electron microscopy.”

Decker nodded. “But I doubt in a rural Texas county twenty years ago they were able to do any of that.”

“I doubt they have the equipment to do it today ,” pointed out Bogart. “So the TOD was determined largely by the call to the fire department at ten minutes past midnight. The firemen showed up eleven minutes later. Five minutes after that they discovered the bodies.”

“So twenty-six past twelve?”

“Correct.”

“Let’s say the bodies were set on fire around midnight.”

Milligan said, “Mars would have had time to do it then. Straight from Tanner’s place to the house. Do the deed, get back in his car and head out to the motel.”

Bogart said, “Now, we can assume if the bodies had been burning for long that the house would have been more damaged by the spreading flames. He kills them, sets the fire, and is gone by midnight or shortly thereafter. That way the fire has only been burning for maybe less than a half hour or a bit more when the fire department shows up.”

Decker shook his head. “But it’s forty minutes to the motel from here. The motel clerk said he checked in at one-fifteen. That leaves a gap of about thirty-five minutes.”

Bogart said, “Maybe he drove around. Maybe he sat out in the parking lot trying to calm down. I mean, he would’ve just killed his parents, Amos.”

“He had the forty-minute drive over to do that. He waits in the parking lot he’s screwing up his supposed rock-solid alibi, which was really no alibi based on the timing that Tanner and the motel clerk testified to. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“But it’s the best scenario we have.”

“But it’s got a big problem.”

“How do you mean?” asked Milligan.

“Over twenty years ago a credit card would probably have been manually run through the system, especially at a motel in rural Texas. There would be no electronic time stamp. So it was the motel clerk’s word against Melvin’s.”

Milligan shook his head. “No, I checked that. The motel owner called the card in at sixteen minutes past one, to verify the account. That came out at trial.”

“Still doesn’t prove anything.”

“I don’t see why not,” said an exasperated Milligan. “And don’t forget, his mother’s blood was found in his car. How is that possible unless he killed them?”

“I need to talk to Mars again.”

“What about?” asked Bogart.

“Among other things, credit versus cash.”

What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

Mars stared from his hospital bed at Decker, who impassively stared back. Bogart was next to Decker and looking bewildered. Milligan had elected to wait in the car and make some phone calls.

Decker cleared his throat and said, “I told you before that nothing is too important to overlook. The room rate was twenty-five bucks. Why not just pay that in cash? Why pull a credit card?”

“Where’s my lawyer?” Mars demanded. “Where’s Mary?”

“I suppose she left,” replied Decker. “We can call her and wait until she gets here, but it would be faster if you just answered the questions.” He paused momentarily. “So why the credit card?”

“It was over twenty years ago. I don’t remember.”

“Just take a minute, think back and try. That’s all I’m asking.”

At first Mars looked put out, but the genuine look of curiosity on Decker’s face made him lean back against his pillow and do just that.

After about a minute he said, “Okay, my first inclination would have been to pay cash. I didn’t like using the card. Only I didn’t have enough cash. In fact, I don’t think I had any.”

“You went on a date with a woman with no cash? Did you go out to eat, take in a movie, order takeout? Did you spend it that way?”

“We didn’t go out. We stayed at her place. She made some food. We had some beer.”

“And no drugs. You said she had some pot?”

“Well, Ellen smoked a joint, but not me.”

“Did you ever ask why she lived in the middle of nowhere?”

“No, I just assumed she had a good reason. It was probably cheap.”

“Was she in college? Did she have a job?”

“I think she had something to do with PR. I think she mentioned that at some of the alumni events. She seemed the type. Really pretty, very outgoing.”