“Fifty bucks for the jacket.” Oliver smoothed the lapel. “Brand new. I found out about Ben and Melinda Little’s finances. They were in good shape.”

The way Oliver spoke made Decker wonder. “Do you mean good shape or very good shape?”

“I mean outstanding shape.”

“As in way too good for a teacher?”

“As in skirting the boundaries of what would be logical,” Oliver told him. “And that got me thinking. How did a guy on a teacher’s salary without a working wife afford such a nice house and an expensive car?”

“I thought he was also a vice principal…which probably meant he had a little more lunch money.”

“At the time, he was making forty-one thou a year plus health and benefits, which was pretty good back then, but it doesn’t explain how he amassed personal savings and the Mercedes and the kids’ college funds, and, I found out, he was also making payments on a motorboat. Not a big one, but still. And he also had a trailer and a camper to tow it.”

“Nice stash. Did you ask Melinda Little about it?”

“Yes, yes, yes. Melinda told me that Ben loved to camp and spend weekends at Lake Mead. She stopped paying for the boat after he died, and the company repossessed it. The trailer she sold for a discount—they’re worth next to nothing on the resale market—and basically broke even. If I was looking for an infusion of cash from the sales of the vehicles to fund her burgeoning gambling habit, I didn’t find it.”

Decker nodded. “But the question you asked is a good one. Where did he get all the money?”

“Melinda claimed that Ben took care of the finances, and she never questioned where the money came from. She was provided for, the kids were provided for, and that was good enough for her.”

“Do we know if Ben had other jobs?”

“Like what?”

“My kids go to religious day school. Their Hebrew studies are in the morning and the English studies are in the afternoon. A few of their secular studies teachers are public school instructors who moonlight for a little extra spending cash.”

“That might explain the car or the boat or the camper, but not the car and the boat and the camper.”

“What did his bank deposits look like?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. Most of the money was direct deposit from work.”

“If he owned the camper and the trailer, how did he pay for them?”

“My next step.”

“And what about the Mercedes? Was he making payments on that as well?”

“Melinda was pretty sure that the Benz was paid off.”

“And she wasn’t suspicious of where the money was coming from?” Decker asked him.

“I don’t think she cared. When I hinted that Ben might have been involved in illegal activities, she thought the suggestion was ludicrous.”