“Sorry. I know this isn’t what you bargained for.”

“I’m fine, honey. You sound tired.”

“A little.”

“But you’re also wired.”

“A little.” Decker smiled although she couldn’t see it. “Did you go back to the city last night?”

“Not without you. I slept on the couch in the kids’ nonexistent living room but that was fine with me. I got to wake up with Lily who seems to enjoy a predawn glass of milk. We’re watching Elmo right now. Later, we’ll go to the park, around eleven after she wakes up from her morning nap.”

“You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“I do. I’m leaving for Philadelphia in the late afternoon by train. The kids are taking me out to a vegetarian Indian restaurant called Spice and Chai. I’ll save you samosas.”

“I see my absence has made no dents in anyone’s plans—as usual.”

Rina ignored his self-pity. “I talked to Cindy last night. Of course, she’s disappointed. But I represent the both of us. I should be back Wednesday afternoon. I’ll send your love.”

“Just like old times,” Decker said. “And not in a good way.”

“Peter, when was the last time Greenbury had a homicide?”

“A whodunit? Maybe like twenty years ago.”

“So if you have to do this again in twenty years, I can live with that. They are very lucky to have you on the force right now. Does Mike know anything about procedure?”

“He’s a smart guy, but he hasn’t done it for a while.”

“How’s the investigation going?”

“Step by step.” Decker chose his words carefully. “Rina, I love our decision to move east. I love living in a clean environment. I love being close to the kids, and I don’t even mind the cold. I hope the homicide is a weird thing and I return to recovering stolen iPads and rescuing cats from trees. I don’t need the thrill of the case to be happy.”

“But what you’re doing right now feels natural, right?”

“I guess it takes time to decompress.”

“This case is basically feeding crack to an addict.”

Decker laughed. “I’m slipping into all my old bad habits. No sleep and too much coffee.”

“At least you don’t smoke anymore. How’s the kid working out? Or is he even in the picture?”

“Better than I thought . . . once we jumped a couple of hurdles.”

“I heard that,” McAdams said.

Decker covered his phone. “We’re talking about the Summer Olympics. Hurdles are my favorite event.” He returned to the phone. “Give Cindy, Koby, and the boys my love. Tell them I promise I’ll visit real soon.”

“Do you really want to tell them that you promise?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Melancholy slipped into Decker’s voice. “Maybe just give them my love and we’ll leave it at that.”