“A code we were trying to crack. Now it’s obvious. None of the others could know because none of them have college-bound teenagers. Scott’s sons didn’t go to college. Neither did Bontemps’s daughter. Webster has school-age kids, and Vega hasn’t reached that point yet. Only me. I’m a very dull boy sometimes.”

“What are you talking about?” Rina exclaimed.

“Rina, what’s a standardized test starting with M?”

“How would I know? I haven’t been in school in eighteen years. Are you coming home?”

“Yes. So you don’t know of any test that starts with M?”

“Oh, for goodness’ sakes, can you ever stop thinking about work?”

“I’m on my way home—”

“How about the test to get into medical school?” Rina threw out. “I think it’s the MedCat or the MCAT. Something like that.”

“You’re a genius.”

“Great!” Rina was irritated. “Will you come home to your son now?”

“Absolutely. I bet L is for the LSAT. Jesus, I took the LSAT.”

“Way back in the Stone Age.”

“Now you’re being nasty.”

“You deserve it.”

“How about E?”

“E?”

“Yes, E. What about E? What tests begin with the letter E? A test for economics or something?”

She thought a moment. “Are we dealing only with college tests?”

“I don’t know. What do you have in mind?”

“How about the ERBs? Hannah’s school gives them every year. Some schools give the Iowa instead—”

“So that’s the I,” Decker said. What was Baldwin doing? Helping kids prepare for their standardized tests? And what, if anything, did it have to do with Ernesto’s murder? His second phone line lit up. He asked Rina to hold a moment.

It was Martinez.

The news didn’t surprise him. But it did sadden him.

To his wife, he said, “I’m sorry, Rina. I’m not going to make it home. You may as well take Jacob with you.”

“That sounds bad.”

“They found Dee Baldwin’s body. An apparent suicide, but it could be homicide. I’ve got to go.”

“Oh, my goodness! I’m so sorry, Peter.”

“Tell Jacob not to worry. It’s under control.”

“Is it?”

“Not yet. But it will be.”

He spoke bravado. He spoke lies.

20