“This is a surprise,” Conklin said.

“I need to talk to you.”

Eyeing him suspiciously, Conklin said, “Come in.”

The house was almost as much of a wreck as the man who lived there. A stale, musty smell had overtaken the place. Dishes were piled in the sink and on the coffee table in the living room.

“Is your wife home?”

“She’s long gone,” Conklin said with a bitter edge to his voice.

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“What do you want, Jake?” He sat in a recliner that faced the television. “I’m sure this isn’t a social call.”

“I want to talk to you about Stahl.”

“What about him?”

“As you’ve probably heard, we’re reopening some of his old cases, which led to arrests in the Worthington and Deasly cases.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“We’ve discovered some irregularities.”

“Ah, I see,” Conklin said with a harsh laugh. “So you automatically came to me.”

“You’re the last one I came to.”

“Last one what?”

“The last captain at the time Stahl’s bullshit reports were archived that I haven’t talked to.”

“And you think I did it?”

“I’m here to ask if you did and if so, why.”

“It wasn’t me. You know I never had a thing to do with that son of a bitch if I could avoid it.”

A sinking sensation overtook Jake. That left Skip Holland, and there was no way he would’ve done it. Jake would bet his very life on that. “Do you have any thoughts on how it might’ve happened?”

“I don’t.”

He stood to leave. “Thanks for your time.”

“That’s it? You come here and accuse me of yet another crime and go on your merry way?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Good to see you, Jake.”

“Uh-huh. Take care.”

He walked to the front door, eager for some fresh air after the staleness of Conklin’s home.

“Jake.”

He stopped but didn’t turn back.

“I’m sorry, you know. If I had it to do over, I would’ve done everything differently.”

“That’s the thing about life, Paul. There are no do-overs.” Jake walked out feeling disgusted and dirty for having darkened the doorstep of a man who’d lied to them for years. After he took a few deep breaths of the cold fresh air, he called Joe. “Conklin says it wasn’t him, and I believe him. That leaves Skip, and there was no way. Just no way.”

“There had to be another path to archiving besides the captains,” Farnsworth said. “Let’s put Archie on a deep dive into the system at that time to see what workarounds Stahl might’ve uncovered.”

“I’ll talk to him in the morning.” After a pause, Jake said, “Conklin apologized. Said if he had it to do over, he would’ve done everything differently.”

“Whatever,” Joe said on a huff. “I hope you told him to eff off with that crap.”

“I told him there’re no do-overs in life.”

“Well said.”

“His wife left him.”

“Can’t say I blame her.”