“Which one?”
“Not one of the well-known ones. I’m a good Methodist. Go to church every Sunday. And I still had to look it up.”
Green glanced down at his notebook and flipped through some pages. “Slaves, accept the authority of your masters, with all deference. For it is to your credit if being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.”
He closed his notebook and looked up at Jamison.
Jamison said promptly, “It’s from the First Epistle of Peter, two-eighteen.”
Green looked at her in surprise. “That’s right. How did you know that?”
“My favorite uncle was a minister. I helped him teach Sunday school. He got me to read the Bible backward and forward. He was also a respected religious scholar and introduced me to a lot of writing and arguments on the subject.”
“So, can you put on your religious scholar hat and give me some context on the verse?”
“Peter was imprisoned and beaten for his beliefs. So he might have been talking about keeping his own faith through that terrible experience. And there were a lot of slaves back then. It might have been a justification for keeping slaves and trying to tamp down any sign of insurrection. I mean, if God says it’s okay?” She frowned. “Pretty diabolical, actually.”
“Anything else?”
“Many religious scholars don’t believe that Peter even wrote that epistle.”
“Why?”
“Because the writing indicated an advanced knowledge of the Greek language and a scholarly background in philosophy that Peter simply didn’t have. And widespread persecution of Christians didn’t commence until long after Peter’s death.”
Green smiled. “Well, you’re a fount of knowledge. Thanks.”
However, Jamison frowned again. “But I don’t see how that gets us any further along with the case unless you have any slave rings operating around here.”
“It could be that it’s a warning. Cross us and this will happen to you. But killing people who didn’t even know each other and have no demonstrable connection? I don’t get that. It could just be random, I guess.”
Jamison mulled this over. “Look, Baronville isn’t exactly a huge metropolis. Yet you have three separate crime scenes occurring very close together involving a pair of victims at each. Here there’s a cryptic Bible verse written on the wall. Then there’s animal blood at the crime scene we stumbled onto. What about the place where Decker and your partner are now?”
“A guy had a death mark on his forehead,” said Green. “I guess that counts as weird.”
“My point is, I can’t believe that all these murders are not connected somehow. I really think we’re dealing with one killer, or one set of killers, Detective.”
Green sighed resignedly. “Great. Serial killings in Baronville. The town is trying to get back on its feet and this crap is going to hit the national pipeline at some point and make it a lot harder for us to attract people here.”
“You ever think about calling in reinforcements? State police?”
“Frankly, they’ve got their hands full. We’re not the only town with problems. And state budgets have shrunk.” He paused. “Decker sounds like he’s good at this, though.”
“He’s the best I’ve ever seen. I think he’s the best the FBI has ever seen.”
“Well, then maybe we have a chance. Despite a few biting comments he’s made, Decker seems easy enough to work with.”
“Oh, just give it time,” said Jamison, hiding a smile.
Chapter 10
NOT HUNGRY?”
Jamison stared across the table in the restaurant where she and Decker were eating dinner. They had each filled the other in on the respective crime scenes they had visited that day. And he had also told her that Lassiter was going to brief Green on Decker’s doubts about the ME’s time-of-death determination.
Decker, who had been picking at his meal, which had prompted Jamison’s query, set down his knife and fork and picked up his glass of beer.
“Six murders,” he said. “People with no clear connections. No obvious similarities, but maybe they’re still all part of the same jigsaw puzzle.”
“And we have to somehow make those pieces fit,” said Jamison, who had put down her fork and knife too. She had chosen a glass of merlot over beer. She picked it up and took a sip.
“And if they don’t?” he said.
She set her wine down and fiddled with her napkin. “But I told Green that I think these cases have to be connected. I mean, six weird murders in a place like this? What are the odds of them not being connected? Which means the two we found are tied to the other four.”
“But we don’t seem to be making much progress.”
“Decker, we haven’t even been working the case for a full day. It takes time. You know that better than anyone.”
“We don’t have that much time, Alex. We only have a week of vacation.”
“Damn, I forgot about that.”
“And something tells me this sucker is going to take longer than that.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Work the case hard for now, but if we start bumping up against the end of our vacation we’ll need to talk to Bogart and have him extend it, or let us work the case on behalf of the FBI.”
Jamison frowned. “Somehow I don’t think it’s that simple, Decker.”
“Well, it should be. Six people are dead who shouldn’t be.”
“I get that,” she said nervously, as Decker’s raised voice made several people at other tables look around at them. She added quickly, “So I told you what I learned at the house: the two victims, the Bible verse on the wall.”
“Right,” said Decker absently.
“What do you think about it?”
“I think it’s a little much.”
Jamison looked perplexed. “What does that mean?”
“I asked Lassiter a question and now I’ll ask you. Why Baronville?”
“Why Baronville what?”
“Six unusual and inexplicable murders in this town. What’s so special about this place that it garners that much unusual homicidal activity?”
“Even towns like this have their share of bizarre crimes.”
“That’s true, but there’s something about this one that just seems off.”
“But you do think they’re connected?” she asked.
He nodded. “They’re not copycats, though, because most of the critical details are different. I think we’re looking at the same person or persons doing this.”
“So was your perfect recall any use today?”
“I have nothing to remember that would be helpful.”
“Really? Nothing?”
He said, “Actually, I heard a car drive away a few minutes before I saw the sparking from the electrical short.”
Jamison sat straighter in her chair. “You told me that before, but did you see the car?”
“No. There was no clear sightline from where I was.”
“Well, only three elderly people live on that street. So maybe they don’t even drive. And there weren’t any cars on the street when we drove over there. You think it could have been the killer leaving the house after dumping the bodies?”
“Could be. Blowflies can find a body very quickly.”
Outside, it had started to rain and the temperature had dropped, bleeding off the earlier warmth of the day.
She said, “I told Green we’d come in tomorrow morning and share any ideas. How did you leave it with Lassiter?”
“I didn’t leave it any way with her. She dropped me off at the house and that was that. Besides, I don’t have any ideas.”
“Some might come to you in the night.”
“Doubtful.”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to work this case, Decker,” barked Jamison. “So stop whining and start doing your job.”
Decker glanced sharply at her, only to see that she was smiling at him.
He grinned sheepishly. “You’re right. I’m being an idiot.”
“Wow. I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of times you’ve said that I was right.”
“You’re right more often than you think.”
Her expression changed. “Zoe told me what you said. About my ability to read people and to see things others don’t.”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”