“Sometime during the period when the band was together. Liam couldn’t get any more specific because his memory was fogged by drugs. But even if he didn’t remember exact dates, I’ll bet that she does. Pounce on her. Press for details. Tell her you’re going public unless she tells you the damn truth.” Decker glanced at the wall clock. “I’m going back to hunt down Ryan before someone else gets to him.”

Marge said, “You think Rudy Banks is behind his disappearance?”

“Maybe Rudy…maybe Melinda. In his present state, Ryan Goldberg is certainly naïve enough to go with either of them and not question their motives.”

“What motives are we talking about?” Oliver asked.

Marge said, “Maybe Melinda hired Rudy to kill her husband, and Rudy hired out Goldberg to actually do the murder. If Goldberg was a little off to begin with and he loved Melinda, he’d have a reason for wanting Little dead. Then maybe once Rudy got wind that we were reopening Bennett Little’s investigation, he killed Goldberg to keep him silent about Little.”

Oliver scratched his head. “You were hot on Leroy Josephson as the bad guy just a few minutes ago.”

“He still could be,” Decker said. “If Wenderhole is believable, Leroy was the one at Clearwater Park with a wad of cash in his wallet. And it was Leroy who was crying and sobbing like he did something wrong.”

“So where’s the link between Josephson and Goldberg?”

“Maybe through Rudy,” Marge said. “I’m thinking that Josephson must have had some help to pull off the murder and that help was Goldberg.”

Oliver said, “Didn’t you just say that you thought Darnell Arlington had figured into Josephson’s involvement?”

Marge was thinking out loud. “Maybe Rudy called Arlington, his former drug runner, and told him to call up one of his buds to help out Goldberg.”

Oliver said, “Rudy’s doing all this murder for hire, putting himself on the line. What would be in it for Rudy?”

“Insurance money,” Marge suggested. “Melinda promised him a bundle.”

“Rudy already had money from the band,” Oliver said.

“Maybe Rudy loved Melinda,” Decker suggested.

Oliver gave him a sour look. “The woman screws his entire band and you’re telling me that Rudy Banks, a psycho by everyone’s definition, falls in love with her?”

“A bad boy liking an even badder girl.”

Marge laughed. “Badder?”

Decker smiled. “Maybe Rudy loved Melinda or maybe he hated Bennett Little. Or maybe both. The only good thing I can take out of Ryan’s disappearance is that perhaps it means that Rudy’s still in town.”

Marge said, “If Rudy’s still in town and kidnapping people, do you think Melinda Little’s in danger?”

Decker said, “You might want to bring that up when you talk to her. It’ll no doubt make her more amenable to the truth.”