Chapter 41
BACK IN HIStruck Decker took out the piece of graph paper and studied it more closely. Then he lifted the paper so it was only a few inches from his face.
He had drawn in all the lines, but he had missed some indentations that had appeared at the bottom right-hand corner of the paper.
He took a pencil from theglovebox and ran it over the indentations until something appeared.
As he examined it more closely he concluded it was the scale to which the drawings had been done. An inch per a certain number of feet.
He put the paper in his pocket and drove off. On the way, he called Detective Green and asked for an address for Dr. Freedman, the physician who had prescribed all the painpills for Toby Babbot.
“He’s in prison for being a pill mill doc.”
“Overprescribing pain meds to people like Toby Babbot?”
“You got it.”
“How long has he been in prison?”
“Nearly a year, so I don’t think he has anything to do with what happened.”
Decker didn’t necessarily agree, but he didn’t argue the point.
“Where in prison?”
“It was a federal crime, so he’s out of state. Indiana, I think. No rhyme or reason how the Bureau of Prisons allocates prisoners.”
“Thanks.”
“How’s it going with your investigation?”
“It’s going.”
Decker clicked off and studied the road. If he couldn’t talk to Freedman, he’d try someone else on his interview list.
He turned the truckaround and headed back toward the Mitchells’. Before he got to their street, he turned and pulled to a stop in front of the residence across from the Murder House.
This place belonged to Dan Bond, the only person who lived on this street with whom Decker had not spoken.
He knocked on the door and immediately heard footsteps.
A voice called out, “Yes, who is it?”
“I’m Amos Decker, Mr. Bond. I’m with the FBI. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about what happened across the street.”
“I don’t like to open my door to strangers.”
“I understand that. But I just need to ask you a few questions.”
“Do you have a badge?”
“I do.”
“Can you put it through the cat door?”
Decker looked down andsaw the small hinged opening. He took out his badge and put it through the slot.
He heard noise on the other side and after about thirty seconds his badge was passed back through the pet door. He picked it up and looked at it. There were fingerprint smears all over it and also what looked to be flour. He rubbed the badge off on his jacket and put it back in his pocket. Then a few momentslater he heard three separate locks being undone.