An hour later Decker was lying on a sofa in their apartment with a cup of tea next to him on a table and dark glasses over his eyes.
Jamison looked down at him. “I know you’re not happy about this.”
“That is an understatement.”
She sat in a chair next to him. “Hey, we need that big brain of yours, so you have to take care of it.”
“Since it’s the only one I have, I have an incentive to want to keep it too.”
“What do you think was on the flash drive?”
“I have no idea. She took great pains to hide it, so whatever it was, it was important to Berkshire.”
“If that is her real name.”
“It is definitely not her real name.”
“So you think her past is the reason for all that happened?”
“If it’s not, it’s a coincidence the size of Russia.”
“And you don’t believe in even small coincidences, I know.”
He looked at the cup of tea, picked it up, and took a sip. “Todd ran the plate on the Camaro.”
Jamison stiffened. “And?”
“And it was stolen from a couple who live in Woodbridge.”
“Are you sure they’re telling the truth?”
“Well, they’re in their sixties. He’s retired from the Forest Service and she’s a Sunday school teacher. He bought the car as a retirement present to himself. Four days later it was gone from in front of his house. It was found trashed behind a strip mall in Annandale. The husband is understandably pissed, according to the local police.”
“So a dead end, then? I mean the two guys in the car.”
“It’s not a dead end if Tomas will tell us who they are. Because he knows them, that’s for certain.”
“But you said he seemed to have no interest in doing that?”
“Well, it was a stressful time. He’d just gotten the crap kicked out of him. And I came on a little heavy with him. With the badge, gun, and all. He might just think I made matters worse. Like poking a hornets’ nest. You might have better luck. If you want to try.”
She looked at him strangely. “Is this a test to gauge my sincerity in helping our fellow tenants?”
“No, this is a test in how well you multitask. And you said you wanted to try to speak with him.”
She nodded and sat back. “I know. You’re right. How’s your head? Really? Tell me the truth.”
“I’ve been hit a lot harder, Alex. Don’t worry about me. But the thing is, Bogart was right. They could have easily shot and killed me. But they didn’t.”
“What does that tell you?”
“That they made a choice not to commit murder.”
“Unlike Walter Dabney, who chose to do that very thing.”
“Yes, he did. And I wish I knew why.”
“We have clues. We have some leads.”
“The clues keep eluding us. The leads keep falling away. That flash drive would have told us a lot. But now we’ll never know.”
“What I don’t get is how did they even know you and Todd were going to be out there?”
“I don’t think they did. The roads out there were pretty lonely and rural. We would have noticed someone following us.”
“How, then?”
“I think they were already there. I think they found Berkshire’s hiding place before we did and then set up surveillance on it. They apparently had already searched the place but didn’t find anything. We came along and found what they were looking for. And then they took it. So we probably did them a big favor.”
“We’re talking manpower and resources.”
Decker nodded. “And which also means it will be difficult to trace them. But it tells us for certain that Berkshire was involved with something pretty serious.”
“But from her past?”
“Yes.”
“So maybe these people have been looking for her?”
“They might have been, for years, perhaps. When she was killed her photo was all over the media. They might have recognized her.”
“But how did they find her hiding place so fast? They seemed to beat you to it.”
“Good question, to which I have no answer.”
They sat in silence for a few moments before Decker looked at his watch. It was after four o’clock.
“The Amayas will be home soon.”
“I know. When I found out Danny draws, I picked up a sketchpad and some charcoal pencils. Maybe I can use that as an excuse to visit.”
“Works for me.”
“And if he tells me who these guys are?”
“Then we’ll see what we can do.”
“He may be afraid to talk. They might try to harm him and Danny.”
“They already harmed him. And I have to think they’re just the muscle. Some of these local gangs are super-violent.”
“Well, they know who you are too, Decker.”
“I’m pretty hard to miss. But they know I’m with the FBI, so I doubt they’ll come after us.”
“That’s not guaranteed.”
“What in life is?”
She looked away. “I’ll go and talk to them this evening.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“But your concussion.”
“My brain will have had plenty of time to rest by then.”
“But I thought you wanted me to handle it.”
“I’ll let you do the talking. But like you said, I’m already involved after what happened. So I might as well follow it through.”
She grinned weakly. “So this will be a test to see how well you multitask too.”
“Let’s hope we both pass,” he answered.
CHAPTER
20
TOMAS AMAYA DID not look happy to see them standing in his doorway.
“Yes?” he said stiffly, staring at them. He had positioned himself so he was blocking their path into his apartment.