“And no large cash withdrawals?”
“No. Those would have been flagged. So, it doesn’t look like she was being blackmailed,” said Jones.
“Well, blackmail doesn’t always involve payments of money,” noted White.
“Right, yes.” Jones suddenly looked alarmed. “Oh my God, right. Oh, I hope that Julia…I mean…”
“Thank you for your help,” said Decker.
Outside, White said, “Well, that was a dead end.”
“No, it checked a box.”
“So if they weren’t blackmailing her, how did Cummins and Draymont hook up?”
“I thinkyoualready gave the answer to that. We just came here to rule out the blackmail piece.”
White looked surprised. “Ialready gave the answer?”
“I think DraymontcaughtCummins’s eye. You used the phrase to explain how Lancer and Draymont hooked up on Capitol Hill.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Young and handsome. It happens. But with Cummins?”
“Gamma worked protection in her neighborhood for other clients, including the Perlmans right next door. They recommended Gamma to Cummins when she asked about getting security protection. And we’ve confirmed that Draymont was part of her security rotation. Maybe Cummins simply saw him and became infatuated. And from what I’ve heard of Draymont, he could be very charismatic, and the man would not hesitate to jump into bed with a rich, lovely woman like Cummins.”
“Okay, but then why the whole rigmarole about her needing protection because of threats? I know we went over this before, but it still seems a muddle.”
“She really didn’t want someone to know she was dating or sleeping with other men. Look at the precautions she took with Dennis Langley. They drove all the way to Miami to have sex in a hotel. He was never invited over to her house. But the only way she could get Draymont intoherhouse was by pretending he was protecting her. That was probably another appeal for her to latch on to Draymont. He had that cover built right into his job.”
“Decker, she must have really been afraid of someone to go to all those lengths.”
“Well, as it turned out, she wasrightto be afraid, wasn’t she?”
“You still think it was her husband, don’t you?”
“He’s the most obvious choice. But he couldn’t have done it personally. With the Zoom calls and Tyler’s alibi for him. But he could have hired someone. Only we had his financial records pulled and they don’t show any weird payments at all. I was thinking maybe crypto, but I have no idea how that even works. But he did use the term ‘butchered.’”
“Maybe he had a friend kill his wife for free. That would explain the absence of payment.”
“I don’t think anybody has friends that good,” observed Decker.
Chapter59
DECKER DROVE THEM BACK TOCummins’s neighborhood. They passed through the security gate and he stopped in front of Cummins’s house.
“We going over the crime scene again?” asked White. “Because I do not want to find another body.”
“No, this trip is a recon of the neighbors.”
He led her up to the Perlmans’ door and knocked. Trevor Perlman answered the door dressed in beige golf shorts and a white polo shirt.
“Any news on what happened with Julia?” he said.
“Still working on it.”
“Where is the other agent?”
“In the hospital.”