“I’m sold. While you’ve been lobbying for it, I know you’ve been researching hate groups on the Net. If you could talk to Tom Webster about hate groups, it would be helpful to me.”

“My pleasure!” Rina said. “If he wants the total picture, I’ll introduce him to some people at the Tolerance Center.” A pause. “You’re not just doing this to make me feel good, are you?”

“No, honestly. I spoke with Tom about it today. Why should he struggle when you’ve done all the background work? It would help me tremendously.”

“Great!” Rina felt her spirits lighten. “In the meantime, now that our family’s together, maybe we should do something.”

“Like what?”

“How about a movie…” She hit her head. “You’ve got to get back to work, don’t you?”

“Yes. But don’t let that stop you all from having a good time.”

“Sure.” Rina’s smile lost some of its brilliance.

Decker said, “While you were at the airport, I talked to Jacob.”

“About Ernesto’s death?”

“Yes.”

“And.”

“Naturally, he’s very upset. It’s horrible. I hope I helped him, but I don’t know if I did.”

“You must have said something right. Yonkie actually looked happy over dinner.”

“It’s probably Sammy’s presence. He really loves his older brother. I didn’t realize how much until I saw the two together.”

“They’re very close.”

Decker felt his throat clog. “Thank you for providing me with such amazing children.”

Rina threw her arms around her husband’s neck. “Let’s see if you still say that after you get the tuition bills.”

Oliver raked fingers through black, and by now, greasy hair. He felt hot and sticky and really needed a shower. “If what Jacob says is true, that the Baldwins were using pull to get kids into college, I can suddenly see some new reasons for someone wanting them dead.”

It was nine in the evening, and Decker had decided that they should meet in an interview room because there was more space. He sat at the head of the table. The left side held Webster, Martinez, and Wanda Bontemps. The right side had Oliver and Dunn. Arranging themselves by partnership rather than by sexes. They were spent, but Decker gave them a great big A for effort. File folders and papers were spread over the table, intermixed with empty paper plates of pizza and lukewarm Styrofoam cups of coffee.

Waiting for all the initial reports to come in. Ballistics was especially important. All were anxious to see if the bullets that killed Dee Baldwin matched the bullets responsible for the deaths of Ernesto Golding and Mervin Baldwin. Decker had put a rush on it, but a rush only meant something if someone in the lab was willing to speed it up.