Chapter61
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, DECKER?”
It wasn’t Lancaster asking him this question as he looked up from the document he was studying in the small conference room at the police station.
It was Blake Natty, looking disheveled and exhausted.
“Just the nuts and bolts of detective work. Nothing personal, Natty, but you look like shit.”
Natty wiped his stubbly chin, ran a hand through his unkempt hair, and attempted to tighten the knot on his tie before giving up. He sat down across from Decker and clasped his hands in front of him.
“Fran threw me out.”
Decker sat back and slowly took this in. “What happened?”
“She found out.”
“About you and Brimmer?”
Natty nodded.
“How?”
“Some bastard emailed her pictures of us together in my car.”
“You could have just been driving somewhere.”
“We weren’t…driving.”
“Right. But she has to know what happened to Sally.”
“She does. But I don’t think it mattered. You see…” He stopped, looking nervous.
“Was Sally not the first time?” asked Decker.
“No. I screwed up…before. Fran took me back. But I don’t think she’s going to do it this time.”
“I heard Sally’s family came to take her remains.”
Natty nodded. “I wanted to go to her funeral. But I didn’t think it would be appropriate.”
“You’re probably right about that.” Decker shifted in his seat. “I’m sorry about all this, Natty.”
Natty said nothing. He just stared down at the table.
“Look, had Sally been acting, I don’t know, weird lately?”
Natty glanced up. “Weird? What do you mean by weird?”
“Like she had something on her mind?”
“We were having a fling, Decker. She probably hadthaton her mind.”
“I don’t mean just that. The thing is, when she agreed to help me, I could tell there was something on her mind. And it wasn’t her relationship with you. I already knew about that.”
“What else could it be?”
“I just thought she might have mentioned something to you.”