“Can we go over the phone call one more time?” she asked Decker. “I keep feeling I’m missing something.”

“Join the club,” Decker told her. “I never got a sense that the guy was ready to pop himself. More angry than upset.”

“Angry about what?”

“That I wanted to go over the Bennett Little case with him.” He explained the details to her. “It had been cold for a number of years. I think it was a personal affront to the man.”

“But every homicide cop has a number of cold cases.”

“This one was very public…played out in the papers. To a guy like Vitton, maybe it represented failure.”

“Why would he shoot himself now?”

“Maybe he didn’t want to feel humiliated if the case got solved.”

“Was he obstructionistic?” Shirley asked.

“He clearly wasn’t interested in digging up bones. Maybe he was more involved than he was letting on.”

“Meaning?”

Decker threw up his hands. “Cal was known as a guy who played it close to the vest. His own partner said it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Maybe someone paid him off not to look too carefully into the homicide. If his dirt got exposed…that might drive a lonely man to pull the trigger.”

“Anyone specific in mind for the payoff—if there was a payoff?”

“No, just talking in generalities. I’ll look a little deeper into Cal’s life, starting with his ex-partner, Arnold Lamar.”

“He sounds like someone I should talk to.”

Decker gave Shirley Redkin his phone number. She said, “How close are the two of them?”

“I think they were very close once, but they each went their separate ways. But he needs to be told. I’d like to call him up after you’re done with me. Do you mind if I break the news to him?”

“Go ahead. What I’d like is for him to come down to the station for a chat.”

“I’ll set it up. This afternoon sound okay, Detective?”

“That sounds fine, Lieutenant.”

“Mind if I sit in?”

“Fine with me. Maybe we’ll both learn something.” Shirley closed her notebook. “The cold case must be very important for a detective lieutenant to devote so much time to it.”

Decker smiled enigmatically. “I do my job; I’ve got no complaints. Life is good for some of us. Then there are guys like Cal Vitton who harbor different opinions.”

CHAPTER 9

WHAT?” MARGE SHRIEKED.