Davidson composed himself and said, “But Tyler had nothing to do with this. I’ll say anything, sign anything, but only if nothing happens to my son. I’ve ruined pretty much everything, but he still has a life to live, and he’s going to get a chance to live it. If you can’t promise me that, then I’ll deny everything and fight you like hell in court.”
White looked at Decker, who kept his gaze on Davidson.
“I think we can promise you that,” said Decker quietly. “You must have been shocked when you found out your gun had been used to kill Lancer and Draymont.”
“‘Shocked’ is too mild a word,” he said dully.
“Did you go over there to kill yourself that night with the gun?” asked Decker.
“I thought if I did it where I killed her, it might, I don’t know, equalize things.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” interjected White.
“Do you have to tell Tyler what I just told you? I... I don’t think I can live with that.”
Decker said, “I’m not sure he can either, Barry. But I think I might know how to do it best. For him, not you.”
Chapter 95
Shouldn’t you be in class?” Decker called out to Tyler.
Decker was leaning on the fence that surrounded the football field, and was watching Tyler run pass routes all alone.
“Teacher workday — thought I’d get in some reps.”
Tyler glided over to Decker and wiped down with a towel he pulled from his duffel. “You know they let my dad go, right?”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“I told you. You just wouldn’t listen. And now our neighbor said the same thing.”
“Right. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what?”
“Did you really want your dad to get away with it?”
Tyler slowly let the towel fall to the ground. “Wh-what?”
“Could you really live with the knowledge that your father murdered your mother?”
Tyler’s lips started trembling and he looked away. “What are you talking about?”
“He confessed, Tyler. He... he couldn’t live with the guilt anymore. So he did the right thing. He came in and confessed. He asked me to come here and tell you that. And that he was sorry for everything. He didn’t mean to do it. He just snapped.”
“He... my dad confessed?”
“Yeah. He’s in custody now.”
Tears slid down Tyler’s cheeks as he cried out, “Why couldn’t you just let it alone?”
“It’s not my job to let things like that alone. It’s my job to catch people who commit crimes. He used your electric bike, did you know that?”
Tyler slowly nodded. “I keep a really accurate record of mileage because it’s part of my training. It had four extra miles on it that morning.”
“Right, over and back from your mom’s. And ‘res ipsa loquitor’?”
“She was always saying that to him. I never really knew what it meant. When I found out it was on a note left beside her body...”
“But you knew what he’d done before that, right? The laundry? You spilled your dad’s drink on purpose so you’d have an excuse to run another load of clothes while we were there. The clothes he wore from that night were in the machine when you tossed in the clothes you spilled the drink on, weren’t they?”
Tyler shook his head, his eyes clenched tight. “He washed his clothes that night, which he never did. I heard the machine going from my room. But there were still some stains on them when I checked them early that morning. I... I didn’t know what they were.”
“I think you did know what they were, Tyler. I think you saw the mileage on the bike and the bloodstains on the clothes. And then your dad showering at three in the morning? You said that was normal, but I don’t think it was. And, I spoke with Drew James earlier. He confirmed that you didn’t run with them that morning. Before you supposedly even knew your mother was dead.”
Tyler’s eyes glistened with tears. “I’d seen a CSI episode where they check the drains for blood. I thought if I ran it multiple times and used bleach...”
“It’s harder than you think to get rid of that evidence.”
He finally looked up at Decker. “Look, I didn’t want to think that my dad...”
Decker’s tone softened. “I know.”
“I... I was hoping it was all in my head. That I was just thinking crazy stuff. I made myself believe that my mom was fine. That I’d see her soon. Right until the police showed up to tell us she was dead.”
“I understand, Tyler.”
“No, you don’t fucking understand anything. Now, thanks to you, I’ve lost my mom and my dad. I’ve got nobody. I’ve got nothing. I’m all alone,” he screamed.
Tyler threw his duffel at Decker and sprinted flat out to his car. He slid into his BMW, fired it up, and roared off.
Decker just stood there and watched him go before slowly walking back to his car.
Chapter 96
They had checked out of the hotel and were heading to the airport after saying their goodbyes the night before to Agent Andrews, who was doing well in rehab. He offered free golf lessons to Decker and White should they ever be back in his neck of the woods again.
“Is it relaxing?” White had asked.
Andrews had grinned. “Only if you play well. So, not really.”
On the drive to the airport White asked, “So, why was Langley trying so hard to work up an alibi for that night if he didn’t kill Cummins?” asked White.
Decker said, “Gloria Chase called me. She hired a detective to do some more digging because she was puzzled about that, too.”
“And?”
“And turns out Langley had another relationship going. He left from the liquor store to have a quickie with a married client while her husband was out of town.”
“What a scumbag.”
“I don’t think that term actually goes far enough.”
They dropped off the car and walked into the terminal.
And found Tyler Davidson inside waiting for them.
He looked like a pale shadow of his former self, but he walked resolutely up to them and said, “I found out you were leaving from Agent Andrews. I... I just thought I’d come out to see you.”
Decker said, “Okay, Tyler. How are you holding up?”
He shrugged. “My dad has a good lawyer. They might plead insanity or something like that. I don’t know what that will do. He’s going to go to prison, I know that.”
“I’m sorry,” said White. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.”
Tyler looked up at Decker. “I just wanted you to know that my dad isn’t really a bad person. When I was a kid my parents really got along. We had so much fun. We were a great family, we really were.”
“I’m sure, Tyler. But sometimes life is good and sometimes it’s bad, and sometimes it’s good and bad at the same time. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be real. And you can’t assume either one will last forever. So while things look really bad now, that won’t last, Tyler. I promise you.”
“I don’t know if I can believe that.”
Decker took this in and said, “I played ball against a guy in college. Best pure football player I’ve ever gone up against. He was a running back at the University of Texas, and every time we played them the guy killed us. He was a finalist for the Heisman his junior year, and he would have easily won it his senior year.”
“What happened? Did he go pro early? What’s his name? If he was that good, I probably heard of him. I follow stuff like that.”