Kilroy was in her early sixties and dressed casually, although the jewelry she had on was anything but casual. She led Decker and White into a room with a lovely view of the Atlantic, which, for some reason, Decker found slightly nauseating.
“I’m as certain that that man robbed me as I am of my own name. How dare they claim I was trying to get out of paying the bill? My husband’s firm was footing that. And besides that, we’re rich, for God’s sake.”
“And who made that claim?” asked White.
“Some woman. I forget her name. She called and made up a pack of lies. I was never that insulted in my life. When it first happened my husband was considering legal action, but then we decided it would be too much of a hassle, and the necklace was insured.”
“I understand. But why were you so sure he stole it?”
“I caught him in my bedroom. That’s where I kept my jewelry. That necklace was there before he went in there, and then it was gone right after he left. No one else was in the house during that whole time. Oh, he did it all right.” She took a deep breath and composed herself.
Decker looked around the grand space. On one wall were photos of Kilroy and presumably her husband and their children over a series of years.
“The passage-of-time wall, I call it,” said Kilroy as she noted what Decker was looking at. “It goes by so fast. But when your kids are little and the days seem like they’re forty-eight hours long, you just can’t see that. And everyone with grown kids tells you that they grow up in the blink of an eye and will be out of college and on with their lives before you know it. And young parents listen but never really believe it.” She paused. “Until it happens to them. I was fortunate to be able to stay home with my kids while my husband worked his way up the corporate ladder. I will never exchange that experience for anything. I understand a lot of people don’t have that opportunity. Still, I miss the days when my kids were all at home.”
Decker glanced at a stricken White, who looked like she might be sick to her stomach.
He said quickly, “Anything else you can tell us about Alan Draymont?”
“When I found the necklace missing I confronted him, but he denied having taken it. He was so smug and condescending. Said I was mistaken, but he could understand my being upset at having misplaced something so valuable. Can you believe that? The arrogance.”
“That must have been traumatizing,” said Decker.
“Yes, indeed it was.”
“Did anyone contact you later?”
“Contact me? What do you mean?”
“We think that the man and the woman you spoke with were involved in a blackmail ring. So I was wondering if they tried to do something like that with you. Perhaps to get you to drop your claims about the necklace being stolen.”
Kilroy set her lips firmly. “In order to blackmail someone, they have to find something to blackmail with. And my husband and I have led an exemplary life. A scandal for my husband was wearing a brown belt and black shoes.”
“I’m sure.”
“Is there anything else?” she asked.
“I guess not,” said Decker, rising and pulling up a still-distracted White with him.
“Sorry about that,” said White as she drove them back to Ocean View.
“Sorry about what?”
She glanced at him and let out a curt laugh. “Thanks.”
“My wife, Cassie, worked long hours. She was a nurse. She hated being away from Molly, but we couldn’t make it on just my paycheck. And my schedule was beyond ridiculous, so she worked full time and carried the laboring oar at home, too.”
“I think you’ve just described a lot of marriages, Decker.”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“Did she regret it? Your wife?”
Decker glanced over at her. “Some days she’d come to bed crying.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“If you want the truth, I never really knew what to tell her. I just held her until she stopped crying.”
“Maybe that was exactly what she needed,” said White in a wistful tone.
“I hope so,” replied Decker.
Chapter 87
Later that afternoon, after getting back from West Palm, Decker and White sat out in their rental in front of Cummins’s house.
“In some ways it seems like we’ve been investigating this thing a lot longer than we have,” observed White.
Decker wasn’t listening. He looked at Doris Kline’s house and then at the Perlmans’.
“Not easy transporting Lancer’s body into a house unseen.”
“They could have just brought it in the trunk of a car,” noted White.
“And then what? Pulled into the driveway and hauled the corpse out?”
“Well, they obviously did it late at night when no one was around.”
“The security here makes regular rounds. And how does a car with no special tag get in the gate after hours?”
“Well, that’s true. But I don’t see Kline carrying a body around. And the Perlmans were in New York when Cummins was killed. We confirmed that.”
“Remember the guys on the beach? The person behind the killings didn’t have to be here that night if they were.”
“By that logic, they could be working for Davidson or Langley.”
“True.”
“Do you think they’re the same guys who pulled Lancer from the hospital?” she asked.
“It was dark on the beach, and the video at the hospital wasn’t great, so we can’t be sure. But it certainly could be the case. They were the same sizes as the guys on the CCTV footage.”
Decker rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
“What is it?”
“My perfect memory isn’t so perfect right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s something in there but it won’t connect.”
“How do you mean it won’t connect?”
“Two images I have that should be connected, but I can’t remember what they are.”
“You’ll think of it, just give it time.”
“How much time do we have?”
“What do you mean?”
“Before the Bureau declares the investigation a clusterfuck and yanks us both back to DC for our professional execution?”
White sank back against her seat. She said, “Well, I won’t go quietly.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“How about you?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t want to do this anymore?”
“Not necessarily. I just don’t know if the Bureau is the right place for me to be doing it.” He opened the car door. “Let’s go talk to the Perlmans. Maybe something will pop.”
She killed the engine and opened her door. “And why the Perlmans over Doris Kline?”
“The Perlmans recommended Gamma to Cummins. And Draymont was in their house.”
“Wait a minute — you think he might have been blackmailing them? But if so, why recommend Gamma to the judge?”
“Maybe they did that before they got blackmailed.”
Chapter 88
Maya Perlman greeted them at the door. She was dressed in a light blue skirt and white blouse with sandals.
“I’m afraid my husband isn’t here right now.”
“More golf?” said Decker.
She smiled. “Something like that. He enjoys his retirement.”
They sat in the living room. She offered them coffee or tea but they declined.
“I know that Barry has been arrested. But I just can’t believe he would have done that. I knew the man well. He wasn’t the type to stab anyone, much less his wife.”
“His ex-wife. And did you know he was watching her house?” asked Decker.