“Well, if we can find Lancer, it might clear a lot of things up.”
“Let’s hope we do.”
He said, “Now, let’s just check the study.”
They trooped downstairs, and into the room where Draymont’s body had been discovered.
They both stopped so abruptly, they bumped into each other.
The electric blue light was slamming Decker from all corners.
They had just found Alice Lancer. However, she would not be telling them a damn thing.
Chapter42
D?ECKER AND WHITE WATCHED ASAlice Lancer’s covered remains were wheeled out of Cummins’s house on a gurney.
Andrews spoke with Helen Jacobs, the ME, and then came over to them.
“She was shot,” said Andrews. “Two to the chest. Just like Draymont.”
“How long’s she been dead?” asked Decker. “Seemed to me that rigor had clearly passed.”
“Jacobs figures not too long after she got plucked from the hospital.”
Decker looked off into the distance, obviously processing this.
“But how did they get her body inside the house?” said Andrews. “And why take that chance?”
“Symbolic,” said Decker, glancing at him. “Draymont and Lancer, two peas in a pod. So the next question is obvious.”
Andrews nodded in understanding. “I asked Jacobs. She already checked. There’s rolled-up money in Lancer’s throat.”
“Shit,” exclaimed White. She looked at Decker. “Well, obviously Lancer didn’t kill Draymont and Judge Cummins, like I thought. This ties into your theory of there being two separate killers.”
“But other than the gun versus knife and professional hit versus frenzied attack, do you have anything else to base that on, Decker?” asked Andrews.
“Yeah, nobody stuffed Slovakian money into the judge’s throat,” noted Decker. “And if the killers were different, the person who stabbed Cummins would have no way of knowing about the money in the throat. It’s not like it was visible on the corpse.”
Andrews nodded in agreement. “Right. So we have three stiffs and no suspects. But what connection did Draymont and Lancer have, other than working together at Gamma, and Draymont being seen at her house?”
“There’s at least one thing,” noted Decker. “We just have to find it. And there was bruising on her face.”
“Yeah, I noticed that, too.”
White said, “Which means they beat her up before killing her.”
Decker added, “They needed information. I wonder if they got it.”
Andrews said, “What would Lancer know that they needed? Something about Gamma? Hey, I know I thought it was a stretch, but do you think this reallydoestie into Kanak Roe’s disappearance?”
“Possibly,” said Decker. “But why let three years pass?”
“Maybe something just came to light,” said White. “And they had to act on it.”
Decker glanced at her sharply, a light sparking behind his eyes, but he remained silent.
Doris Kline and the Perlmans were in Kline’s yard and watching all the police activity.