“But Trevor Perlman said the judge asked him about Gamma. He took that to mean she was looking for security.”
“That’s right. And at their lunch she told Tyler that shewashaving security protection. He told his dad about it. Barry texted the judge to ask her about it but she never got back to him.”
“So, she lied to everybody?”
“Maybe she didn’t want Barry to know she had a new boyfriend, so she made up the story about needing protection and told Tyler, knowing that he would tell his dad.”
“Well, apparently everyone knew she was dating Dennis Langley.”
“We don’t know that for sure. Maya Perlman just knew there was someone but didn’t have a name. Doris Kline, maybe her closest friend, knew his name, but Julia swore her to secrecy. And he never came to her house, at least by his own admission. And if he’s to be believed, they only had sex at Langley’s house, and once went all the way to Miami to do it.”
“But who would care about her having sex with either Draymont or Langley?”
“Her ex-husband, for one. And, despite what he said, Langley might have a problem with getting dumped and then replaced by Draymont. And we have to check his alibi with his new girlfriend, though she might have a motive to lie for him.”
“They picked up his gun and did the ballistics. It wasn’t a match for the weapon that killed Draymont.”
“I know. Andrews texted me. But Langley might have more than one gun. And if he did kill Draymont, no way he gives usthatgun. The murder weapon might be in the ocean.”
“Langley said he thought she was afraid of something or someone, Decker.”
“That’s if Langley was telling the truth. If shewasreally afraid, whynothire protection? Which she didn’t. But, as I said before, I think shewasafraid of someone, too.”
“But you think whoever killed Draymont didn’t kill the judge. So, at least with your theory, those crimesaren’tconnected.”
“Not connected at one level, but maybe at another.”
“Damn, Decker, you’re making this really complicated.”
“If itiscomplicated, then I’m just laying it out accurately. Let’s go to the bedroom first.”
They headed up the stairs and looked around.
Decker leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Something was bugging the crap out of him. And then, as he draped, one over another, the layers of conversations they’d had with third parties, along with facts uncovered, a startling inconsistency occurred to him.
Thank you, superpower.
He opened his eyes. “We went to Gamma after Draymont was killed. We wanted to know why Draymont was here. We assumed he was guarding the judge, right?”
“Right,” replied White.
“They told us they couldn’t reveal anything pending a review by their counsel. But we pushed it.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So they brought in Alice Lancer to talk to us about the matter.”
“But she fainted dead away and then got taken from the hospital by two fake cops.”
Decker nodded. “But now we know that the judgenevercontracted with Gamma or even made an inquiry about hiring them. So why did they bring Lancer in to talk to us about something that never happened? What could Lancer possibly tell us?”
White looked confused. “I…she…Damn, that doesn’t make sense.”
“The woman who brought her in said that Lancer would be able to provide us information about Draymont. She didn’t specify anything about Draymont being assigned to guard the judge.”
“I don’t remember the exchange exactly,” said White.
“ButIdo. So we need to check with Gamma and find out why Lancer, out of all the people there, was picked to talk to us.” He pulled out his phone and punched in a number.