Redemption

Chapter 28

The small old Honda with the bad muffler was wedged next to a huge rusted construction Dumpster, like an enormous barnacle on a ship’s metal hull.

Decker and Mars stood a few feet away. Decker’s gaze swept over the car and the environs, before alighting on the blue-scrubbed tech collecting evidence.

“Hey again, Decker,” said Kelly Fairweather. “Who’s your friend?”

“Melvin Mars,” said Mars, stepping forward and putting out his hand. “I’m, uh, assisting Agent Decker in this investigation.”

“Cool,” said Fairweather.

“What do you have so far?” asked Decker, keeping one eye on Natty, who was consulting with another tech on the other side of the Honda.

“Well, for starters, no prints other than Susan Richards’s. Inside or out.”

“Makes sense, it is her car,” said Mars.

“Her luggage gone from the back?” asked Decker.

“Yep. Nothing there.”

“Keys?”

“No keys.”

“No meaningful trace?”

“No blood, semen, body parts, human tissue, or other significant biological remains.”

“No sign of another person being in the car?”

“Nope. Just her.”

“Mind if I take a look?” asked Decker.

“Go ahead. Use these.”

He moved toward the car after slapping on the pair of latex gloves Fairweather had handed him. Mars followed behind him.

Natty looked up as Decker approached, but then returned to his conversation with the other tech.

All four doors of the Honda were open, and so was the trunk liftgate. Decker pointed to the Dumpster. “I’m assuming someone checked for a body in there.”

Fairweather nodded and made a face. “We did. Nothing but trash. I’ll need a tetanus booster.”

“No evidence from her or the car in it?”

“Not that we could find.”

Decker ran his eye over all of this and then poked his head inside the front driver’s-side door and checked the seats there. He did the same for the rear seats as Mars hovered by his shoulder.

“Kelly, have you logged the positions for all prints you found, interior and exterior?”

She nodded and pulled out an electronic pad. “All on here. Lot easier than the way we used to do it years ago, right?”

“Right,” said Decker absently as he looked over the different digital screens.

Fairweather said, “All the usual places. Steering wheel, cupholder, console, glove compartment, gearshift, control knobs, rearview mirror, dashboard, inside of the door and window.”

“And outside?” asked Decker as he moved to that digital page.

“Door handle, driver’s front side, and rear doors. And exterior driver’s-side window. Again, the usual.”

“And we’ve had no meaningful rain since she disappeared.”

“Correct.”

“So no recent prints would have been damaged or even washed off by a heavy rain.”

“Right.”

“How long do prints last on something?” asked Mars.

“Depends on the surface involved, what substance might have been on the fingers, the timing, the weather conditions, a whole host of factors,” said Fairweather.

Decker handed her back the pad. “What else?”

“Not a lot. We don’t know how far the car’s been driven because we didn’t know the odometer reading before she left. She did have an oil change sticker on her windshield. The car’s been driven about four hundred miles since then, but the oil change happened over three weeks ago. Not much we can deduce from that.”

“Insect debris on the front and the windshield?”

“Not too much. But she could have gotten it washed after she left town.”

Decker nodded because he too had thought of this.

“So, Decker, have you solved it?” Natty had walked around the side of the car and was looking up at him.

“Just observing,” said Decker.

Natty smirked. “Always knew you were overrated.”

“Yeah, dude’s been here ten seconds,” said Mars. “How long you been here?”

Natty looked over at him. “Who the hell are you, really?”

“Decker’s assistant. You might want to follow my lead on that, you know? Assist the man.”

“You got a real comedian here, Decker,” said Natty irritably.

“One thing I would draw your attention to,” said Decker.

“What’s that?”

“There’s no print on the rear liftgate.”

“So what? Richards got in the front seat.”

“After she put a really heavy piece of luggage in the rear compartment.”

“She used her key fob to open the trunk.”

Decker shook his head. “Agatha Bates, her neighbor, said Richards started up the car and then went back inside and brought out a large piece of luggage that she put in the rear cargo hold. And she struggled to do so before slamming the liftgate shut.” Decker paused and looked from Fairweather back to Natty.

“There were no prints anywhere on the liftgate,” said Fairweather. “I went inch by inch.”

“Pretty weird,” said Mars.

“No, it’s not,” said Natty. “She used the button on her key fob to open it, like I just said.”

“She couldn’t,” said Decker.

“Why?”

“The keys were in the ignition. This car is old enough, so you have to put the key in the ignition, not just have it with you to start the car. So the key and the fob already would have been in the vehicle.” He eyed Natty. “Check out the ignition if you don’t believe me.”

“Okay, if that’s the case, where’s the print?” said Natty, looking confused.

“Good question.”

“What does its absence tell us?” asked Natty.

“Another good question,” said Decker. “And here’s one more. Why did she start the car first and then go back into the house and bring the luggage out? Why not bring the luggage out, start the car, and drive off? The way she did it, the lady had to make two trips instead of one.”

Natty’s brow furrowed. “Okay, I give. Why would she—?”

But Decker had already turned and walked off.

“Damn it, I hate when the sonofabitch does that,” exclaimed Natty.

Mars said, “Yeah, I get that. But second piece of advice, man?”

Natty eyed him. “Why should I listen to you? I don’t even know you.”

“Yeah, but I know Decker. You want to solve this sucker and get your next promotion, give the dude some room to work.”

“I’m running this case!”

“But what you don’t want to do is run it into the ground. Just my two cents.”

Mars turned and followed Decker.

Natty looked at Fairweather, who was staring at him. “What?” he barked.

“I don’t know that guy, but to me, he makes a lot of sense.”

“Why does everybody think Amos Decker walks on water!” barked Natty.

“Hey, the guy’s got his issues. We all know that. But when it comes to catching bad guys, do you know anybody who does it better?”

She went back to work, leaving Natty staring down at his shoes.