Decker said, “For a boy like Ernesto to vandalize…I was thinking that he somehow had been influenced by some pretty rotten people. People he wouldn’t mention to you, but perhaps Karl might know—”

“If you suspected that Karl knew something about the vandalism, why didn’t you talk to him when it happened?” Carter growled out.

“I believe I had asked to talk to him,” Decker said. “I think you had said no.”

Carter looked away. “I don’t remember that!”

“Well, maybe I’m wrong,” Decker said.

But they both knew he wasn’t wrong.

Jill bit her lip. “Karl doesn’t even know yet…does he?”

“You’re the first ones I’ve told.”

“But he’ll find out soon. It’s bound to make the news.” She jumped up and started pacing. “Carter, you have to call—”

Carter bounded out of the chair. “I’m on it.”

Jill said, “Can you please go now? We need some…I have to…” Her eyes watered. “I have to make some phone calls.” She sank back into the couch. “I don’t know if I can do it!”

Decker said, “Is there someone I can call for you?”

“My sister.” Jill gave him the number. “I really don’t feel well.”

“I’ll call her right now.”

“I’ll be in the bedroom upstairs.”

“Can I help you up?”

“No, I can…” She trudged over to the staircase, an old woman bound in shackles that would never come off. Climbing one step, two steps, then three and four. She stopped, turned, and faced him. Her voice was filled with tears. “When did you want to meet with Karl?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Come back in an hour.” She continued her climb to hell.

Decker looked around the chockablock furnishings and eventually found the phone. Three lines; one was lit up in red. Decker punched in the second line and called Jill’s sister. Her name was Brook. He told her to please come by her sister’s home now. When Brook asked for an explanation, Decker said he’d talk to her once she arrived on the premises. As a rule, he didn’t deliver this kind of news over the phone.

Carter came back. “Where’s my wife?”

“Upstairs in the bedroom,” Decker said. “I’m waiting for her sister.”

“Which one? Brook?”

“Yes. There are others?”

“Philippa,” Carter said. “She lives in San Diego. Jill’s not that close to her. But I suppose she’ll have to be…told.” He looked about at nothing in particular. “I have to go pick up…my son…Karl. They’ve pulled him out of class. I didn’t tell anyone why…just that it was an emergency.”

“Would you like me to pick him up?” Decker offered. “Not to question him, just as a taxi service so you can stay with your wife.”

Carter looked somewhere past Decker’s shoulder. “No questions?”