THEY SAY YOU’RE GOING to make a pretty full recovery,” said Jamison.
She and Decker were looking down at Joe Kelly, who was lying in a hospital bed.
He had undergone surgery for a broken arm, leg, and hip, and the removal of some grenade shrapnel.
He looked up at them with a weary, troubled expression.
“I . . . I still can’t believe it about Liz.”
“It saved her a lifetime in prison,” said Jamison.
Decker kept his gaze on Kelly. “What are you going to do now?”
“What else? Soon as I get all healed up, going back to being a cop.”
“You might have other options,” said a voice.
They all turned to see Shane walk in the door.
He came to stand next to the bed.
Kelly looked up at him, his eyes growing watery. “I was hoping you’d come by.”
Shane put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “You’ve been through hell and back, Joe.”
“We both have, Shane.”
“And we’ll get through it, together.”
“You never said why you were out at Liz’s that night,” said Decker.
“I was out driving. Saw Caroline pass by. Decided to follow her. I hadn’t talked to her alone for a while. I just wanted to see how she was doing. Then she got to Liz’s and all hell broke loose. I grabbed my rifle. When you shouted ‘Don’t!’ I took the shot.” He shook his head, and his expression was one of misery. “Took shots like that a lot overseas. Never thought I’d have to do it here. I knew Liz . . . I liked her.”
Jamison said, “What did you mean by ‘other options’?”
“I’m a rich dude,” said Shane, now grinning weakly. “Need somebody to help me run the business. Too much for just me.”
“Hell, I’m not a businessman, Shane,” said Kelly.
“Anybody can learn to be a businessman. Look at me.” His tone became more serious. “The thing is, Joe, I trust you. That matters more to me than you know.”
Kelly shook his head. “High school was a long time ago. Haven’t thrown a touchdown pass to you in over a decade.”
“And so maybe it’s time we reconnected,” said Shane. “And maybe now would be a good time to do it.”
“So you’ll keep running the businesses?” said Jamison.
“The town needs it. Hell, I need it.”
“What about the restaurant?” asked Kelly. “What about Maddie’s?”
“I’ve got some ideas about that,” said another voice.
They turned to see Dawson walk into the room. Her haunted look and unsteady gait indicated that she had not fully recovered from her ordeal.
She came to stand next to Shane.
“You saved my life.”
His voice trembled when he replied, “I couldn’t let that woman shoot you.”
She kissed him on the cheek and touched Kelly’s hand. “How are you, Joe?”
“Better now,” he said, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
She seemed to read his mind. “I’m the same Caroline, you know. Well, maybe not exactly the same. I feel like I’ve grown more in the last few days than I have in all the years before that.”
Shane said, “I feel the same.”
Kelly nodded in agreement, then said, “You mentioned you had some ideas?”
Dawson perched on the side of the bed and took one of Shane’s hands and one of Kelly’s in each of hers. “This is our home. My dad wanted to move to France, but I never did. We grew up here. We’ve seen so many changes.” She paused. “And now so many people have died. Stuart, my dad, Walt, Liz, and all the others.”
Kelly said, “And something big went down over at the military base and at the drilling site, but Decker can’t tell us what.”
“My point is,” said Dawson, “that this town really needs us right now. Shane now owns pretty much everything. But the future of London depends on the investments and the decisions made now. We’re sort of at a crossroads. While the busts seem to be behind us, the world’s not going to live on oil forever. We need to do it right. Because doing it wrong is not an option.”
Shane said, “I came here in part to get Joe to help me run it. I just thought you were going to leave, Caroline, or else I would have asked you too.”
“Well, I’m not, I’m staying. For a lot of reasons.” She drew a long breath. “So I was thinking that we could work together to keep everything going. See, I’m betting on London, North Dakota, making the transition from just an oil town to a place where people want to live. And, well, I hope you feel the same.”
Shane said, “I never wanted any part of my dad’s business. But now that it’s mine to run, I’m thinking a lot differently. I know about fracking, but you know about everything else, Caroline. So working together seems like a great idea.” He looked at Kelly. “You in?”
Kelly squeezed Dawson’s hand. “Well, considering I might not be able to pass the physical to qualify as a cop again, and that you two were always my best friends, it’s a pretty easy decision.”
Dawson hugged first Kelly, then Shane. All three of them had fresh tears in their eyes.
“And we wish you the best of luck,” said Jamison, while Decker nodded.
Kelly said, “I hope I never need the FBI again, but if I do, I hope to hell they send you.”
Shane said, “Goes double for me.”
Dawson gave Jamison and Decker hugs. “Thank you, for everything.”
As Decker left with Jamison, he turned around to see three lifelong friends plotting how to change their little piece of the world for the better. Or at least the little part of it represented by London, North Dakota.
* * *
Blue Man had a government jet sent to take Decker and Jamison and Robie and Reel back to DC.
After the plane took off from the runway at the Air Force installation in London, Robie eyed Decker, who was sitting in his seat, obviously lost in thought.
“You did good, Decker,” he said. “Saved a lot of lives.”
“We all did good,” said Jamison. “And we wouldn’t be here but for you two.”
Decker said nothing to this. He just stared at the seatback.
“And Brad Daniels recovered and is living at a VA hospital,” said Robie. “Hear he’s loving telling stories from the past.”
As the plane leveled out, Robie got two beers from the bar up front, sat next to Decker, and handed him one. Reel and Jamison got up from their seats and sat at a table in the back with coffees.
Robie took a sip of his beer and looked out the window. “The folks Purdy was working with have been identified. Appropriate back channels have been opened to bring the hammer down on them and to make sure some people are punished. There will be consequences.”
“Right,” said Decker absently.
“No, there will be consequences. And Jess and I are going to be the tips of that spear. We volunteered.”
Decker eyed him closely. “That makes me feel better,” he said quite sincerely.
Robie glanced at him. “You know, every time I finish a mission I take a walk down by Memorial Bridge in DC late at night.”
“Why do you do that?” asked Decker, suddenly interested.
“Don’t know. Why does anyone do anything?”
“To think, maybe?”
“Maybe. A little quiet time before . . .”
“. . . going back to work?”
“Yeah.”
Decker drained half his beer. “Maybe that’s all we have.”
“Meaning work?”
“Meaning, what else?” answered Decker.
“You’re good at what you do.”
“So are you.”
“And I used to think that was enough,” said Robie.
Decker shot him a glance. “And now you don’t?”
“And now . . . maybe I don’t.” He paused and stared at his drink. “I read your file.”
“I didn’t have the opportunity to read yours.”
“I’ve never been married, Decker, never had kids. That would be tough for anyone. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
Decker didn’t respond; he shifted his gaze to look out the window, where it was dark.
“They’re getting ready to enter the bunker,” said Robie. “And clean out all the crap.”
“Good to know.”
“It’s not a bad thing for people to do from time to time. Clean out the crap.”
This caused Decker to look at the man. “You never struck me as being a philosopher.”
“Is that what you call it?”
“I don’t know. First thing that popped into my head.”
“I guess I can see that.”
“People often feel the need to give me advice,” said Decker, a bite to his words.
Robie nodded slowly. “I felt the same way, until I realized I had never followed any of that advice, and then suddenly I was in a place I didn’t want to be.”
“And are you out of that place now?”
“Not even close. But just think where I’d be if I hadn’t even considered other possibilities.” A few moments of quiet passed before Robie rose and said, “I’ll leave you to it.”
He headed to the front of the jet.
Decker called after him. “Going to Memorial Bridge after we land?”
“Always.” He glanced back. “Everyone needs a . . . place, right?”
NEARLY THREE HOURS LATER, the jet touched down in DC and rolled to a stop. After deplaning, the four said their good-byes.
Jamison shook Robie’s and Reel’s hands. “I hope this isn’t the last time we see you.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” said Reel, her eyes twinkling. “We usually only show up when the world is about to end.”
“Well, if it is, I wouldn’t mind you having our backs.”
Decker shook Reel’s hand, then turned to Robie and said, “Enjoy your Memorial Bridge time.”
“And you enjoy wherever you end up going for your ‘quiet time.’ ”
* * *
As Decker and Jamison were heading to the terminal, she said, “I don’t think I ever want to go back to North Dakota.”
“Hey, don’t hold it against the state. And Kelly, Shane, and Caroline will have it in tip-top shape in no time.”
She glanced at him. “But I still don’t understand how you could call this case simple. Look at everything you figured out, everything you said back at Liz’s place.”
“But the critical part that allowed me to grab the end of the chain and run with it? That was simple.”
“What do you mean?”
“Greed, Alex, one of the oldest motives in the book. It explains everything Liz did.”
“I think there’s one more thing to add to that, Decker.”
“What’s that?” he said, looking at her in surprise.
“Maybe the oldest motive in the book to hurt someone else.”
“Which is?”
“Love,” she said simply. “Liz’s twisted, terrible love for Caroline. But love all the same.”
Decker let out a long sigh and nodded. “I think that’s the most insightful thing either one of us has said during this case, Alex.”
“High praise coming from you,” she said.
As they entered the terminal Decker said, “Um, my sister invited me to visit her and the kids out in California in a couple of weeks. Stan’s flying out, too.”
“That’s great, Decker. Are you going to go?”
“I haven’t made up my mind.”
She looked at him closely. “Well, I think you should. And I mean it. After everything that just happened, a little family time might do you wonders. I know I’m going to visit my family. I need some hugs and kisses.”
Decker said, “I know that, Alex. I did have a family, you know.”
“You still have a family, Amos,” she shot back.
They took a cab to the condo they shared in southeast DC.
When they got there, Jamison took a shower, changed into sweats, dropped into bed, and fell right asleep.
Decker put his coat back on and went for a walk down near the Anacostia River.
On the other side of town, he figured, Will Robie would be making his way about now to Memorial Bridge and the Potomac to do his brooding.
Decker took a seat on a bench and looked out at the dark flowing waters and the lights beyond.
Now what? as Robie had implied.
He took out his phone and called his sister.
Renee answered on the second ring. “My God, Amos, Stan called and told me some of what happened. It’s a miracle you’re all still alive.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
“I suppose this sort of thing happens to you a lot.”
“Maybe more than most. Look, about coming to see you and the kids?”
“Rest assured, we’ll give you your own space. No suffocating you with love and affection on my watch,” she added in a lighthearted tone. When she next spoke, her voice, though, had lost its frivolity. “Will . . . will you come?”
He didn’t answer right away. “I’m not sure, Renee. I’ll have to let you know.”
“O-okay.” Her tone of disappointment bounded over the ether and hit Decker as hard as anyone ever had on the football field.
“There’s just a lot going on.”
“I know. And, Amos, regardless of whether you come or not?”
“Yeah?”
“You will always be loved, little brother.”
“I’m not sure I deserve that, Renee.”
“Well, I think you’ve earned it. And coming from your sister, I hope you know how big a deal that is.”
She clicked off and he rose and started walking. Perhaps in search of his Memorial Bridge. Perhaps in search of something . . . anything else. And terrified that he would never be able to find it, because maybe it did not exist for someone like him.
He took out the photo of Cassie and Molly and studied it under the moonlight.
Time did not heal all wounds for him. It barely touched them, in fact. It was like pouring iodine on a cancerous tumor.
I don’t miss you less and less. I miss you more and more. And I’m so sorry there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.
Decker put the photo away and started to walk on, but then stopped.
In his mind’s eye were the images of his wife and daughter.
He just stood there, frozen for a few moments. They seemed to be talking to him, somehow communicating something he already knew, but simply refused to acknowledge.
And then Jamison’s last words came back to him.
You still have a family.
Decker slowly reached into his pocket, took out his phone, and punched in the number.
“Renee?”
“Amos, what’s wrong?”
“I just wanted to tell you that . . . that I’ll be there.”