“Nothing specific to ask at the moment.” A lie. “Just walking down all avenues. Mr. Golding, do you have any information that might help me?”

“No! Of course not! Why did you ask that?”

“Please don’t take offense at anything I ask, sir. And I beg the same of you, Mrs. Golding. I am so sorry. The last thing I want to do is contribute to your pain.”

Jill stared at him through deep pools of sorrow. “So you don’t know who did it?”

“No,” Decker replied.

“And Dee Baldwin is missing?”

“Right now, we can’t locate her, that is correct.”

Jill clasped her shaking hands. “So what do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is Dee involved?”

“I don’t know.”

“And it was brutal?” Jill asked.

“It was instantaneous,” Decker replied.

Jill’s lower lip trembled. “He didn’t suffer?”

“No.”

“How do you know?”

“I know. He didn’t suffer.”

Jill started crying again. “I want to see my son,” she sobbed. “I need to see him!”

“As soon as it’s okay, I’ll take you down personally—”

“You already said that!” Carter snapped.

“I know. I’m repeating myself.”

“Can’t you speed things up?” Carter barked.

“The case is my top priority,” Decker said. “I’m moving as fast as I can, because that’s what we both want. That’s why it’s so important for me to get information early on. I hate to belabor this, but when do you think I could meet with Karl?”

Jill dried her eyes on a crumpled tissue. “What do you think Ernesto was hiding from us?”

“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But kids hide things. Even kids who love their parents. And Ernesto loved you both very much—”

Carter made a snorting sound. “Don’t patronize me—”

“I’m not, sir. He told me that he loved and admired you both very much. Actually, he told me that the first time we talked alone…the day he confessed to the vandalism of the synagogue.”

Another protracted silence. Then once again Jill started to weep. “Thank you for saying that.”

Decker waited a moment before speaking. “This is just a gut feeling, so I could be completely wrong. I’m just wondering if this wasn’t connected to the vandalism. That maybe Ernesto had dealings with some dangerous thugs. That maybe he had gotten himself into a bad way and was too embarrassed to tell anyone.” A long pause. “I don’t know. I’m just pecking around.”

“Do you have some specific thugs in mind?” Jill demanded to know.

“When the temple was first vandalized, we checked out some neo-Nazi groups—”

“Ernesto wouldn’t know anything about that!” Carter insisted. His voice rose in pitch. “Why would he know anything about that?”