“The night’s still young. Why don’t we drive there? I’ll call her first.”
“That’s not a quick trip,” White pointed out.
“Pack a bag. We can stay over in Miami.”
“Okay, but she might not know much.”
“She strikes me as a daughter who knows pretty much everything about her old man. Maybe more than he wanted her to,” added Decker.
“If you’re wrong, then we are wasting time on something totally unrelated to four homicides. John Talbott back in DC will not be happy.”
Decker gazed at her. “Is that how you judge your work performance? By how happy your boss is?”
“Not necessarily. But it is how I keep score on my career trajectory. And, unlike you, apparently, I need my job and my path to keep moving upward.”
“I’ll make a deal with you, Freddie. We go to Miami and talk to Roe. Nothing pops from that, we come back here, stay in our lanes, and make Talbott a proud poppa.”
“I don’t need you to patronize me, either.”
“You want to hear something?”
“I don’t know—do I?” said White.
“You got great instincts. You read people well. You know what to look for. You know when to hold a suspect’s hand and when to bring the hammer down.”
“But?”
“Who says there’s a but?”
“Just tell me, Decker.”
“I got this shit going on in my head that gives me insights sometimes, but also makes me a pain to work with. I’ve got no family to support, and if the FBI wants to can me, so be it. Fuck them and I’m on my way somewhere else.”
“So where does that leave me?”
“I don’t know. But it leavesmein no position to second-guess you and your career choices. I haven’t walked in your shoes. In fact, I don’t own any heels in your particular color.”
“Why do I think, in a really screwy roundabout Amos Decker sort of way, you’re trying to pay me a compliment?”
He rose. “I’ll call Roe. When will you be ready?”
“Just as soon as you are. And in every way you can think of.”
Chapter68
OKAY, WOW, THIS MIGHT MAKEme think of jumping to the private sector one day,” said White as she looked around the wraparound deck of Roe’s palatial high-rise Miami Beach home. Roe had gone to get them some coffee. The woman had not been put off by their late visit.
“It’s a little over the top for me,” noted Decker.
“Well, I’d like the opportunity to try, at least once in my life.”
Decker looked out to the Atlantic Ocean, where Kanak Roe had disappeared from the face of the earth. Since people and large boats didn’t just vanish, something had caused them to do so.
Kasimira Roe came out onto the deck carrying a tray of full coffee mugs and a pot with cream and some sweeteners and spoons. The women doctored their coffees while Decker drank his black. The air was refreshingly chilly and the breeze invigorating as they sat around the flaming outdoor gas firepit.
Roe was casually dressed in jeans and a sweater, and boat shoes without socks. Her hair was pinned up and she wore rimless glasses.
“Thanks for agreeing to meet us on such short notice and this late,” said Decker.