“Word travels fast in every small town,” replied Decker, swallowing the last piece ofhis steak. “We have a dead guy with a metal plate in his head living on disability in a trailer in the woods that just got blown up. We have Joyce Tanner, unemployed from JC Penney, living on who knows what.”
“And four more dead.”
Decker looked down at his phone, which had just buzzed. He frowned and put down his fork.
“What is it?” asked Jamison. “Someone else dead?”
“No. It’s a text from Green answering my question.”
“Which one?”
“Whether it was pig’s blood.”
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“So what does that mean, since you never bothered to tell me?” she said, clearly irritated.
Decker didn’t answer. He punched in a phone number and stared at the ceiling while it rang. Then the person answered.
“Detective Green, this is Decker. I just got your text.”
“Right, pig’s blood it is. What made you think of it?”
“It was a long shot and I wish I had been wrong. This means we need to check another database for the two dead men in that house.”
“We checked all the criminal and civilian databases we have access to.”
“I don’t think they’re civilians orcriminals.”
“Then what do you think they are?”
“Cops.”