And his father was right—this place couldn’t be more different from his room at his mom’s.
He picked up a Black’s Law Dictionary from the desk, flicked through the pages, and found what he thought he might. Then he picked up a book on psychological disorders that had been checked out of the local library. Some pages were marked with Post-it notes. He read through them. He dropped the book and gazed out the window at the Gulf.
Normally, solving a case brought a rush of euphoria.
Not this time.
He left the bedroom and poked his head into the laundry room, where’d he spoken with Tyler previously and the young man had broken down in tears over the loss of his mother. He opened the washing machine and looked inside.
Last night his memory superpower had come back just in the nick of time. Decker had taken everything that he had seen and heard during the course of this investigation and laid it next to everything else. Layer after layer of conversations, seemingly innocent remarks, certain observations, and assorted other evidence had been plucked from his personal cloud and analyzed with one another. And the truth had come out of all that with startling clarity.
It really all was in the smallest details. The ones that seemingly had no importance, right up until the moment they became the only things of importance. People lie really well on the big stuff. But no one can lie well enough to take care of the small inconsistencies.
He rejoined White and Davidson in the kitchen, where she was pouring out more coffee and Davidson was making some eggs and toast. “Don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
“Knock yourself out,” said Decker.
They sat down and White watched Davidson eat while Decker stared down at his coffee cup.
Davidson said, “So, I heard something about Trevor Perlman being behind all this? What the hell is that all about? He was a good friend and he adored Julia.”
“He had some people killed, including the man and woman found at your ex-wife’s home, but he didn’t have Julia killed,” said Decker.
Davidson slowly put down his fork. “Wait a minute, how is that possible? Whoever killed them also killed Julia.”
“Decker has a theory that there were two different killers,” said White.
Davidson gazed at Decker in disbelief. “Two killers who killed two different people in the same place at the same time? What, are you on drugs?”
“It’s what happened,” said Decker.
“Was it Dennis Langley then? Did that son of a bitch do it?”
“Finish your meal and then we’ll talk.”
Shooting them curious glances, Davidson continued eating.
When he was done, Decker said, “Follow me.”
Chapter 94
D?ECKER LED THEM NOT TO Tyler’s room but to Davidson’s office.
Decker closed the door behind them, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone.
“The cops forgot to give you this. Remember they took your phone and computer when they arrested you.”
“Yeah, I remember,” groused Davidson. “And I need it all back. I conduct my business on that computer.” He reached out for his phone but Decker didn’t hand it over.
“What gives?” said Davidson. He glanced at White. “What games are you two playing?”
She said, “We talked to your neighbor downstairs, the one who gave you the alibi when he got back into town.”
“Right. Lou Perry. I wish he hadn’t gone out of the country. I never would have been arrested.”
Decker pointed to the set of French doors leading outside. “He was out on his balcony watching some news from overseas on his iPad.”
“So I understand.”
“He said he told you earlier in the day he was going to be out there smoking a cigar, having some scotch. He invited you to join him and maybe play some cards. He’d been in Asia recently and his body clock was still in that time zone. And he knew you were usually up late. But you had meetings.”
“Right again. So?”
“So you knew he’d be out there that night.”
“Okay. So what?”
“He said he called up to you around ten thirty. Heard you outside.”
“I was out on my balcony getting ready for my first Zoom at midnight. I called back to him.”
“Perry also said he heard you off and on from around eleven thirty until he went inside and went to bed close to three. He remembered seeing the times on his iPad.”
“Which is why he knew I couldn’t have been at Julia’s during the time she was killed. Nobody can be in two places at the same time.”