Decker paused. “Never thought of her reaction like that, but…I guess murder was too hard for her to digest. Her son gave her a sleeping pill, so she was out when I interviewed the kids. I’ll take another crack at her tomorrow.” He sat back in his seat. “So is this random or not?”

Shrugs all around.

Decker said, “Okay. Let’s assume that Sparks was carjacked or lured to the spot by someone he knew. Give me a list of suspects.”

Marge scanned her notes. “Decameron pissed off Sparks. That’s a given, right?”

The team nodded.

“They walked out to the parking lot together. Now Decameron said he smoothed things over. But what if he didn’t. Maybe Sparks threatened to fire him. Then one thing led to another—”

“Then Sparks would have been offed in the hospital parking lot,” Martinez said.

Marge continued. “So listen to this. Maybe Decameron offered to make amends by taking Sparks out to Tracadero’s. The ride started out okay, but something went awry and Decameron went for the jugular.”

“More like the heart,” Webster said. “That was a nasty chest wound. Your scenario precludes premeditation.”

“So it wasn’t premeditated,” she said.

“I’ve never seen Decameron,” Decker said. “Does he look like the kind of guy who could take Sparks down?”

“Loo, the scene was full of blood spatter,” Oliver said. “Knife wounds, gunshot wounds. You should see how Decameron dresses. He’s a fop. He’d never do something that sloppy.”

“So he hired out,” Marge suggested.

“Then that negates the fight as the precipitating event to the murder,” Decker said. “If Decameron hired out, it had to be premeditated.”

Webster said, “Maybe Decameron picked a fight on purpose, did something he knew would piss his boss off. Then lured him to the spot where a waiting gang jumped him.” He paused. “I’m not saying it happened like that. I’m just following through the scenario that y’all are talking about.”

“What do you think, Farrell?” Decker asked.

Gaynor said, “Dr. Azor Sparks had an alter ego—leather boy Ace Sparks. Maybe bikers did him in.”

“Bikers?” Martinez asked.

Decker filled them in on the card with the Harley logo—Sparks’s weekend entertainment.

“I like bikers as the bad guys,” Marge said.

“But why would they do that?” Decker said.

“’Cause they’re bikers,” Oliver said. “They’re assholes.”

“Now I know this is far-fetched,” Gaynor said, pointing as he talked. “But suppose Sparks was operating a crank lab—”

The other detectives groaned. Gaynor said, “Can you hear me out?”

“Shoot, Farrell,” Decker said.

“Maybe he decided to shut it down,” Gaynor said. “His crank lab, that is. And maybe the bikers didn’t like it.”

No one spoke.

“It’s not likely, granted. But we’re just throwing out ideas. Why not that?”

“Sparks as a crank supplier?” Webster shook his head.