The Last Mile (Amos Decker 2)

Bogart said, “I know that, you know that, but we can’t prove it. We recovered the rounds, but we’ll never find a weapon to match them to. My guess is that Eastland, with all his work in the defense field, and all his money, hired some pro to do it. And that guy is long gone and living on some island with his earnings. And we don’t have enough probable cause to even dig into Eastland’s finances to look for a payout. Besides, that guy probably knows every accounting trick in the book. Needle in a haystack that we’re not going to find.”

“But we did get Lisa back,” said Mars.

“And thank God for that,” added Bogart.

He looked at Decker, who was nodding in agreement. “And now we have to make sure everyone is held accountable.”

“I’d love to,” said Bogart. “But how? McClellan is dead. Without him we have no evidence against Huey or Eastland.”

“There’s really only one way,” said Decker.

“What?” asked Bogart.

It was Mars who answered. “Roy Mars.”

Decker nodded. “He’s got all the evidence we need.”

“Great, Decker, give me his address and I’ll go pick him up,” said Bogart sarcastically.

“Maybe we need to have him come to us.”

“How? We have no way to contact the guy anyway.”

“Sure we do.”

Mars looked at him. “We do?”

“Just send a reply to the text he sent you, Melvin, when he was pretending to be me.”

Mars pulled out his phone. “Damn, I forgot about that.”

Bogart was staring at Decker. “Okay, but what’s the inducement?”

“We’ve always had the bait. We’ve just never employed it properly.”

“Oh, thank you for clearing that up,” said Bogart dryly. “But for lesser minds, could you fill us in?”

“His wife,” said Decker.

“What does my mom have to do with this?” asked Mars.

In answer Decker sat down and wrote out something on a piece of paper and then passed it over to Mars. “Write that in a text to him and let’s see what happens,” he said.

Bogart came around and read the note over Mars’s shoulder. He looked at Decker. “Do you really think this will do it?”

“If that doesn’t I’m not sure what else will.”

Bogart rubbed his chin nervously and then nodded at Mars. “Go ahead and do it. Like Decker said, I’m not sure what we have to lose at this point.”

Mars carefully typed the message onto his phone and his finger wavered over the send button. He looked first at Bogart and next Decker. He said, “He really did love her. He loved her enough to kill her.”

“And that’s what I’m counting on, Melvin. In fact, it’s all that I’m counting on.“

Mars pressed the send button and the text flew off.

Bogart drew a deep breath.

“Well, let’s hope to hell that this works. Because I don’t think we have a Plan B.”

CHAPTER

72

YOU’VE GOT BALLS. I’ll give you that.

The text came in at two o’clock in the morning three days later. The ping roused Mars, who’d only been half asleep. He rose, read the text twice, and then called Decker and read it to him.

They were now staying at a hotel in D.C. Decker was at Mars’s door in less than five minutes.

Mars looked at the fully dressed Decker. “Didn’t you even go to sleep?”

“I tried but I never really got there.”

“Me either.”

Decker looked at the text and then tapped the phone against his hand. “He’s intrigued and pissed. But I’d wager more intrigued than pissed.”

He typed in a message and held it up for Mars to see.

We can agree on that. So where do we go from here?

Mars nodded and Decker hit the send key.

They waited. And waited.

It was five in the morning before they got a response.

Decker said, “He doesn’t seem to sleep either.”

The message was terse:

You screw me on this you’re dead. And so is Decker. I’ll get back to you.

“I like a man who speaks his mind and doesn’t dance around the issues,” said Decker.

* * *

The next night the “get back to you” message came:

Tuscaloosa. Two nights from tonight. Midnight. Just you and Decker. Anybody else within five miles, I’m gone for good.

Tacked onto this was a street address.

Decker closed his eyes and let his mind whir to the correct spot. “That’s the location of the NAACP office that was bombed in sixty-eight.”

“You think he’ll meet us there?”

“I think he’s a very careful man.”

“He said just you and me.”

“And he clearly meant it.”

“What about Bogart and the FBI?”

“I’ll take Roy at his word. If they’re anywhere near, he’s gone, Melvin. And the case is over.”

“You know, we got Oliver and McClellan. Isn’t that enough?”

“Not for me. We’ve got a prick in Congress wielding incredible power and a billionaire who blew up a bunch of people, including kids. I’m not walking away from that.”

“Okay. I’m not either. How do we do this?”

“It won’t be easy getting away from Bogart, but it can be done. In fact, it has to be done.”

“When we get down there he might just kill us. Dude is crazy, Decker. I’ve seen that. And you’ve seen that.”

“If I had an alternative, Melvin, I’d go for it. But I don’t.”

“Okay, again, how do we do this?”