Chapter 36
DECKER, WHAT AREyou doing?”
Decker had pulled out the construction drawings he’d seen earlier in the Mitchells’ front closet.
He had sat down at the kitchen table and was unrolling them as Jamison had come into the room.
He flattened out the drawings and looked up at her. “These are construction plansfor the Maxus FC.”
Jamison sat down across from him. “So what? And why did you stay behind?”
“I wanted to see where Frank died.”
Jamison looked dumbstruck. “Why? It was an accident.”
Decker looked over her shoulder at the doorway to the kitchen.
“Where are Amber and Zoe?”
“Amber’s still out and Zoe’s taking a nap. I don’t think she sleptmuch last night. She could barely keep her eyes open on the drive back here.”
Decker refocused on the drawings, leafing through the pages until he got to the one he wanted.
“Hang on a sec.”
He jumped up and ran out of the room.
“De—” Jamison began and then stopped, shaking her head. She glanced over the plans but had no idea what she was supposed to be lookingfor.
A minute later Decker returned with a folded piece of paper in his hand. He opened it on the table, smoothing it out.
“What is that?” Jamison asked as Decker rummaged in a couple of kitchen drawers until he found a pencil. He didn’t answer but sat down at the table and started making lines on the paper.
As Jamison studied him, she said, “That was the piece ofgraph paper we found in Toby Babbot’s trailer.”
“Yep.”
“What are you doing with the pencil?”
“Filling in the indentations on the paper. Remember, whatever he drew was done on the piece of graph paper above this one in the pad. But his marks were carried onto the paper because of the pressure he was applying.”
“Okay, I get that. Probably many a marriage hasended because a cheating spouse didn’t know that the bottom page carries impressions made on the top page. But what does that have to do with anything?”
Again, Decker didn’t answer. He kept filling in the lines and then sat back when he was finished.
Jamison looked down at the paper.
“Compare it to this page of the construction drawings for the FC,” said Decker.
Jamison looked between the two documents and her jaw dropped. “They’re the same, just on a smaller scale.” She looked at Decker. “Why would Toby Babbot have been recreating the construction drawings for the Maxus Fulfillment Center?”
“I don’t know. But I want to find out.” Decker picked up the piece of graph paper. “When I saw the plans for the addition, it jogged my memoryof the plans I’d seen in the closet here.” He held up the paper. “And then it struck me that the marks on this looked very close to the marks on the drawings in that closet.”
“Well, I think your memory is as good as ever, then,” said Jamison. “But I don’t really see why we should waste time on this.”
“Because somebody tried to kill us while we were in Babbot’s trailer, Alex.Maybe he wanted to kill us, or maybe he wanted to get rid of some sort of evidence.” He tapped the graph paper. “Like this.”
“But evidence of what?”