“Stopping smoking will really improve your lungs.”

  “I’ve stopped more times than I can count.”

  She climbed up the pool steps, revealing she had on a one-piece bathing suit with a short skirt. She dried off with a big towel that had been set on one of the chairs, then wrapped herself in it and sat down at a table. In front of her was a glass with what might be gin or vodka.

  She took a pack of cigarettes off the table and lit one using her Zippo lighter. She blew smoke out, held up the drink, and said, “You want one? You can’t be on duty at this hour.”

  “You got any beer?”

  “In that fridge over there.”

  He snagged a Corona from a small fridge set up in the outdoor kitchen, popped the top, and sat down across from her.

  She said, “Now, would you care to explain what you’re doing here and why you thought it was a good idea to try to give me a heart attack?”

  “I’m sorry about that. I came by before and knocked but you didn’t answer.”

  “I’ve been on the lanai for the last hour. I like to come here at this time of night. It’s so dark and quiet and peaceful.”

  “I was over talking to Mrs. Perlman. She didn’t have the answer to something and thought you might.”

  She blew smoke out. “Okay, shoot.”

  He told her about the man Perlman had mentioned who had come here from up north.

  “She said they dated for a bit, and when it ended, Julia was…troubled? Do you know anything about that?”

  Kline nodded. “She told me about him. His name is Dennis Langley. They went to law school together. He moved down here while she was still married. He followed her around like a lovesick little puppy dog. After the divorce, he finally made his move. They went out. They had some good times. They might have had sex. Julia never shared that. And then, it was over.”

  “What happened?”

  “Julia didn’t want to continue it. She thought he was too controlling.”

  “That’s what Maya Perlman said, although she didn’t know his name. Why do you think she didn’t tell Maya?”

  “I bet Maya knows Langley, too, both being lawyers. And maybe Julia didn’t want it getting around that she was dating the guy. Julia told me to keep it to myself, which I did. Until now.”

  “Where is Langley located?”

  “He practices law here in town.”

  “What sort of law?”

  “Criminal. He’s good from what I heard. You think he might have killed Julia?”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time a guy who got dumped did something like that, would it?”

  “What the hell is wrong with men anyway?”

  “We’re too used to getting our own way. And way too much testosterone. And then there’s the lack of brains.”

  She raised her glass. “I vote for the last one.”

  “What can you tell me about Langley?”

  “He’s Julia’s age, tall, handsome, outgoing, charming.”

  “Sounds like quite a catch.”

  “Yeah, but from what I heard, so was Ted Bundy.”

  “When was the last time you saw him around here?”

  “I’ve never seen him around here. But I know who he is, and I have seen him around town. It’s been about six months since they broke up.”

  “And she broke up with him? That’s what Cummins said?”

  “Yes. Seems silly to talk about breaking up with people when you’re in your forties and fifties. The same as having a ‘boyfriend’ at my age. But then I don’t, do I?”

  “Do you want a boyfriend?”

  “Depends on the time of day you ask me. Or how many drinks I’ve had.”

  Decker smiled.

  She smiled back and said, “I know we don’t know each other very well. But I’m a quick reader of people and I wasn’t sure you had a smile in you.”

  “Sometimes I surprise myself.”

  “I don’t see a wedding band. Are you divorced? Or never married?”

  Decker’s smile faded. “Neither. I lost my wife a while back.”

  “Oh, I’m very sorry. And I made your smile go away. Just the sort of stupid thing I do.”

  He shrugged half-heartedly. “It’s not stupid. It was a perfectly legit question.”

  “I’m sure you miss her very much.”

  “I do.”

  “Do you have kids? Do you take care of each other? That can help. I know that from personal experience.”

  “I had a daughter. But I lost her, too.”

  “Omigod. Was it an accident? With the two of them?”

  “It wasn’t an accident. Someone…killed them.”

  Decker had no idea why he was telling her this, but for some reason it just felt right. Or necessary. Or something.

  “Oh my God, I am so sorry.” She reached out and gripped his hand. “But let me just say this. You were all together for a time. And that is something you can always hold on to. I…I told you my kids were grown and off living their lives. That wasn’t entirely accurate. Three of them are. But I lost my oldest to cancer when she was barely six years old. I cried for maybe the next ten years. And then I stopped crying.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I started remembering her when she was alive and healthy over sick and dying. I occasionally lapse.” She held up her drink. “Like with this. But for the most part it’s worked out okay.”

  “And you don’t feel guilty for—”

  “—for still being alive? Of course I do. But you can either get past that, or you can kill yourself.” She eyed him keenly. “I would not recommend the latter. I mean, I really wouldn’t.”

  “You sound like you speak from experience on that, too.”

  “I speak from more experience than is good for me. And if you really want to feel guilt, try taking your own life. It’s like you’re spitting all over their graves.”

  “Why is that?” asked Decker, looking at her intently.

  “Because you’re trying to take something away from yourself that was taken away from them without their consent.”

  “I’ve never heard it described that way before.”

  “I never thought of it, either, until it hit me right in the heart.”

  Chapter 39

  BACK AT HIS HOTEL ROOM Decker sat down on the bed and opened the file Kasimira Roe had provided him on her father.

  There was a photo of Kanak Roe included. He looked to be about sixty at the time the picture was taken. His face appeared like it was cast in marble with steel accents. A formidable, perhaps indomitable man. He had come to this country with nothing and built an impressive business. To do that you had to be tough and resilient and maybe ruthless, too.

  He learned about the man’s stint with the Secret Service, his guarding of multiple presidents. And then, instead of pulling his full time with the Service and locking in his pension, Roe had left and come down to Miami to start the protection business that would eventually become Gamma.

  From the file Decker learned that the business had grown rapidly, and Gamma had a long list of impressive clients. And Kasimira had taken it to ever higher levels.

  He then turned to the day that Roe had vanished. The man had left his boat slip in Key West for what apparently was planned as a day cruise.

  The boat had sleeping quarters belowdecks and a small kitchen. Kasimira had told him that her father normally would go out in the early morning and return well before dusk to his home in Key West. But that day he hadn’t come back.

  He did wonder why a terminally ill, and presumably weakened, man would head out by himself to go deep-sea fishing. Decker had never done any deep-sea fishing, but he had watched people do it on TV. It took a helluva lot of strength and stamina to fight some of the big fish and land them. And to do so by yourself was difficult enough even if you were young and healthy.

  But maybe, as his daughter had suggested, he just wanted to take the boat out one last time.

  He hadn’t been clear on why Kasimira would allow her father to do that, but in a note in the file she had explained that she only found out about her father’s plans the next day, when he didn’t return to the slip. As she had mentioned during their meeting, apparently the only person who knew what he was planning was an old fishing buddy of Kanak’s, who had not been there that day, and thus didn’t know his friend had failed to return.

  There was no information on exactly what terminal illness Kanak had, but Decker wasn’t sure it mattered. The man had been given a death sentence, regardless of the cause.

  He briefly imagined Roe setting off in his boat and heading out into the open ocean knowing he only had a few months left.

  Will I come to that point, sooner than I want to? And what will I think about when the days grow short?

  Decker believed he would think about his wife and daughter. About possibly seeing them again, if there really was life after death.

  But Kasimira seemed to have been very close to her father, thus Decker deemed it unlikely that the man would leave her in the lurch like that. So had someone else prevented him from coming back from that trip?

  He closed the file, sat back on his bed, and picked up his phone. He punched in a number that had been in the file. It was Kanak Roe’s friend, the one he had told about taking the trip. His name was Daniel Garcia. The men had become friends, not over business, but over their love of fishing. It was late enough that he didn’t expect anyone to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Garcia?”

  “Yes?”

  Decker explained who he was and why he was calling.

  “Yes, Kasi told me you might be phoning. How can I help you?”

  “You can tell me what you know about Kanak Roe heading out that day.”

  “If I knew he wasn’t coming back I would never have let him go.”

  “I understand that. Do you know what his illness was?”

  “Pancreatic cancer. Nasty shit. They almost never catch it until it’s too late. You got about a year to live after a stage-four diagnosis. Kanak had about three months left. He was on all sorts of meds and painkillers.”

  “Was he in any shape to take the boat out by himself?”

  “I mean, the crap he was on, he could function. Yeah, he was in pain, but if you saw him you wouldn’t know he was dying. Look at the Jeopardy! guy, Alex Trebek. He was working pretty much right up to the end. One tough dude. Same with Kanak.”

  “But did you really think he was going deep-sea fishing? I mean, that’s not easy to do even when you’re healthy and strong.”

  “Look, if I really thought he was going fishing on that boat I would have gone with him. That’s at least a two-person job. No, he just wanted to take the Kasi out maybe one more time.”

  Decker had learned from the file that Kanak Roe had named his boat after the nickname he used for his daughter.

  “I see.”

  “The Kasi was a great boat. A thirty-eight-foot Scout with a twelve-foot beam. Triple Yamaha engines. Had a beautiful cabin, where most deep-sea fishing boats are bowriders. Sleeping berth, stove cooktop, flat-screen TV, shower, sink, and toilet, even an AC unit. And with the tri-engines that baby could really go. I’ve been out on it a bunch ’a times with him.”

  “And when he didn’t come back?”

  “I had to head out of town that day. I didn’t get back until later the next day. Went down to the marina. The Kasi is two slips over from my bucket. Saw the slip empty and then started raising the alarm.”

  “Surprised no one did it before then.”

  “People come and go at all hours from that marina. And they don’t have folks there twenty-four seven monitoring who comes and goes. But I called Kasi. She jumped on a chopper and flew down straightaway. Along the way she tried but couldn’t reach her father. I went over to his house in Key West, but the place was empty. His SUV was in the garage. He must have taken a cab or Uber to the marina.”

  “Did he usually do that?” asked Decker.

  “Sometimes, when he didn’t feel like driving.”

  “So, his daughter didn’t talk to him every day, then?”

  “She usually did. But she had just gotten back from a business trip. In fact, she had just returned to her place in Miami when I phoned.”

  “She said there were smugglers out there,” said Decker.

  “There are, but they don’t do their thing during the day. And why would they bother another boat? Just make trouble for themselves.”

  “He might have seen something he shouldn’t have out there.”

  “Maybe,” Garcia said in a doubtful tone. “But then what happened to the Kasi? Hard to hide a fifteen-thousand-pound boat. And they never found any sign that it sank, blew up, or was scuttled. And it’s hard not to have something hit the surface. Oil slick, debris. You can’t pick up every piece.”

  And a human body, Decker thought.

  “When was the last time you spoke with Kanak?”

  “Two days before he went out. He talked to me about the trip. That’s when I knew he wasn’t going fishing. He knew better than that. I mean, you really got to have somebody at the wheel while you’re fishing for the big boys. You use all sorts of different equipment, an array of poles and lines all over the place. And different baits, including surface, weighted and kite, downwind, upwind, teasers, dredges. Lot of stuff going on.”

  “How far out would you go?”

  “Well, the marlins, sailfish, and yellowfin are usually at least fifteen miles out, that’s been my experience anyway. That’s why they call it deep-sea fishing. We would go out about twenty to twenty-five miles. Water gets really choppy and bad weather can spring up, but Kanak was an old hand. We’ve ridden out many a storm together. Hell, we almost got blown to Cuba once. That was an experience. But the day Kanak went out there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.”

  “But with his physical condition, weren’t you worried about him?”

  “To tell the truth, I didn’t believe he was going out any more than three or four miles. Just to see the ocean up close one more time.”

  “What do you think happened to him, then?”

  “Damned if I know. It’s like he rode that boat all the way to heaven.”

  Chapter 40

  T​HE NEXT MORNING DECKER MET White for a quick breakfast and told her about his late-night meetings with Kline and Perlman, and his call with Danny Garcia.

  “Surprised Kline didn’t mention Langley when we spoke with her the first time.”

  “In her defense, we really didn’t ask her.”

  “So we need to talk to this guy.”

  “We do. I got his address.”

  “You want to roll Andrew into this?”

  “Do we have a choice?”

  “You really don’t like him, do you?”

  “He’s not really my kind of guy.”

  “Am I not your kind of guy?”

  Decker let out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t pull my chain. I didn’t get much sleep.”

  “This Langley might be interesting.”

  “He might be. Or he might be a dud. I’ll give you the address. Call Andrews and have him meet us there.”

  * * *

  Dennis Langley’s firm operated out of an elegant brick townhome. The space was outfitted with costly furnishings and refined taste. Decker and White were escorted to Langley by a tall, lovely young woman named Rose, who described herself as “Mr. Langley’s personal assistant, paralegal, office manager, and accountant all rolled into one.” She had also told them, in answer to a question from Decker, that Langley had two young associates working with him.

  Langley was, as Kline had described him, tall, handsome, fit, and dressed in an elegant fashion. His dark hair had a few gray strands that lent not a sense of age but of elegant gravitas. He welcomed them cordially and motioned them to chairs in his large office space. Decker noted the adoring look that Rose gave her boss as she slowly left the room, taking care to swivel her hips just so and run a hand through her long hair probably just in case her boss was watching.

  Andrews sat next to Decker and looked fidgety and upset. Decker kept his gaze on Langley, while White put her hands in her lap and took in the entire room, which was as luxuriously appointed as the rest of the space. There was a wall of photos and certificates and shelves full of what looked to be awards from local bar associations.

  “I was wondering when you were going to get around to me,” said Langley. His voice, deep and baritone, was as far from Duncan Trotter’s trembling falsetto as it was possible to be.

  “You could have voluntarily come forward,” said Decker.

  Langley smiled. “Not in my DNA. But here I am now to answer your questions.”

  “You don’t seem too upset about Judge Cummins’s death,” said Andrews suspiciously.

  “We broke up a while ago. I’m actually seeing someone else. But don’t get me wrong, Julia was a wonderful person and I hope you catch whoever did it.”

  Spoken like a man who knows he’s a possible suspect, Decker thought.

  He said, “Just to get the preliminaries out of the way, where were you between the hours of midnight and two on the night she was killed?”

  “Well, I was in bed at that time, like most people.”

  “Can anyone vouch for that?” asked White.

  “My girlfriend, Gloria. I was in bed with her at her place.”

  “Her last name?” asked White, her notebook open.

  “Gloria Chase.”

  “And she lives where?”

  “Here in Ocean View. About ten minutes from my office.”

  “We’ll need to speak to Ms. Chase to confirm your alibi.”

  “You just have to ask.”

  “How often would you go over to Cummins’s house when you two were seeing each other?” asked White.

  “I never went to her house.”

  White blanched. “You were dating the woman but you never went to her house?”

  “She never asked me to. I wanted to, of course, but she preferred coming to my place.”

  “Was your relationship sexual?” asked White.

  “That’s pretty personal.”

  “So is murder.”