CHAPTER 19

DECKER WOKE UP with the sun, mainly because the curtains in his room were threadbare. He showered, he shaved, then he went down to the lounge for a cup of coffee. McAdams was already there, his breakfast consisting of toast, juice, and a mug of java. He was reading the Wall Street Journal. When he didn’t look up, Decker said, “Good morning.”

He put down the paper. “You have a very light step.”

“Years of sneaking up on criminals.” Decker sat down. “You’re up early.”

“The window faces east and the place doesn’t provide you with eye masks.”

“Yeah, I could have used one of those this morning,” Decker said. “I’m hungry.”

“They don’t have much of a kitchen, but they do have bagels.”

The server came up, a woman in her sixties with a gray pageboy framing her face. “Good morning. I’m Sandra. Coffee and OJ?”

“That would be great,” Decker said.

“And we have toast, muffins, croissants, and bagels.”

“Bagel, please.”

“Plain, onion, or cinnamon raisin?”

“Cinnamon raisin.”

“Toasted?”

“Sure.”

“Butter or cream cheese or both?”

“Cream cheese.”

When she left, Decker said, “Too many choices this early.”

McAdams smiled. “What’s the plan, boss?”

“I want to go back to the bar now that it’s daylight and poke around the area.”

“Businesses that are open during the day aren’t usually open at night. I’m sure no one saw or heard anything. And if they did, how well are they going to remember something from three months ago?”

“We can check for CCTV. Also, let’s retrace several routes from the bar to Elsie’s place to see if we can find anything.”

McAdams was perplexed. “You mean like a crime scene?”

“That would be the best-case scenario. Worst-case scenario would be spending hours looking and finding nothing.”

The server was back with food and drink. She filled up the coffee cups and put the pot on the table. “I’ll just leave this here.”

“Thank you.” Decker took a sip of coffee. Next, he slathered cream cheese on his bagel and took a bite. “This is my thinking. Baer wouldn’t have done anything to Pauline in the commercial area. Too many people around. Plus, the town’s sidewalks are very well lit and there’s CCTV. But if they were walking back to Elsie’s, they might have been using residential streets. Baer would have had the cover of darkness.”

“Neighbors can hear or see things. And there’s CCTV in residential areas too.”

“So maybe they cut across a park or empty field somewhere. Plus, the neighborhood backs up to forest.”

“If Baer killed Pauline on the way to Elsie’s house, why is there so much blood there?”