“Right.” He closed the door, and the three of them walked into Stoltz’s office, leaving a police officer with Baer.

“Have a seat.” She pointed to some empty chairs. “Man, he’s a piece of work.”

“I’ve seen worse.” Decker sat down. He turned to McAdams. “What’d you think?”

“Part of it sounded plausible.” McAdams shrugged. “I’m probably easily conned.”

“I’m thinking about the scar across his fingers. It could be a slip while you’re stabbing someone. But it looks like a grab-the-knife wound.”

Stoltz said, “I wouldn’t believe a word that comes out of that guy’s mouth.”

“He handed you some good lies?” Decker asked.

“Not even good ones,” Stoltz said. “The stolen goods weren’t his. He was holding the goods for a friend. He bought the goods from strangers and didn’t know the pieces were stolen. Not very original at all.”

McAdams said, “The story he told us was pretty original. He admitted to helping Elsie bury Pauline, just not to the stabbing. But that, of course, could be a deflection.”

“When is arraignment and bail?”

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Stoltz said. “He isn’t going anywhere.”

“Good. That gives me some time to think about things.” Decker paused. “Where is the car he was driving?”

“It’s been impounded,” Stoltz said.

“We need to get it processed. It should have a wealth of information.”

“We’ll get someone from Springfield. It’ll be taken care of.”

“Thank you.” Decker stood up. “Once that’s done, we’ll have more than enough to hold him for murder.”

“Once we’re done, he’s all yours.” She stood up as well. “Where do you go from here?”

“I’m not sure,” Decker said. “The only other witness we possibly have is Elsie Schulung. Trouble is, we can’t find her. In the meantime, he’s behind bars. Good luck to you.”

“And you as well,” Stoltz said. “Can I offer you two anything?”

“No, I think we’ll be on our way,” Decker said.

“We’ve got a long drive ahead,” McAdams said. “Anywhere to grab coffee and a bagel?”

“The diner down the street has bagels in the morning, I don’t know about now. They definitely have coffee.”

“Thanks for the tip,” McAdams said. “This was helpful, even if it wasn’t what we expected to hear.”

“Sometimes it works that way,” Stoltz said. “Whatever the convictions and however temporary, at least for now, we got a bad guy off the streets.”

CHAPTER 27

THEY STARTED BACK in the afternoon, equipped with six bagels, a pint of cream cheese, and a thermos of coffee. Decker took the first shift behind the wheel. Eyes focused on the road, he said, “Now that you’ve had a chance to play it out in your mind, what do you think?”