“I didn’t say it was too much to handle. I’ve been a detective for almost thirty years. I’ve been in combat. I can handle this. Let me just see this out.”

“Not on my watch.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“Don’t swear at me.”

Rina cleared her throat. The men turned in her direction. “Uh, as much as I hate to agree with my husband, I think he’s right, Mike. Pulling him off isn’t going to take the heat away from him. If anything, it’ll make it look like Peter really knows something and that you’re trying to protect him.” Silence. “And from a personal point of view, I might also add that you will never find a detective as good as Peter is.”

“Thank you,” Decker said. “Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.”

Decker looked at Radar. “Well?”

“What about Tyler?” Radar said.

“We can send him back to New York.”

Rina said, “These guys are pro. Tyler’s way more vulnerable in an anonymous city than he is in Greenbury. It’s easier to take care of him here because anything unusual will stick out.”

Mike said, “I’ll put an officer on him.”

“Agreed,” Decker said. “But I still want Rina out of here.” He looked at his wife. “You need to go to L.A.”

“Peter, I’m not involving my parents in this mess.”

“I’ll put an officer on her, too,” Radar said.

Rina said, “Have Tyler move in with us. That way you only need one officer and I can shoot a gun should the occasion call for it.”

“You can’t be serious,” Decker said.

“It’s actually not a bad idea, Pete. It’ll be a lot easier to guard one house than two. And it’ll be easier to rotate people because we’ll have more manpower.”

“So it’s settled,” Rina said. “Tyler will move in, Mike will put a guard on the house, and Peter is still on the case.”

Radar said, “I don’t want you going at this alone.”

Decker said, “If I could team up with an old colleague from L.A., I’d agree with you. But it takes a long time to get a trust and a rhythm between two people. I’m better going solo.”

“No, no, no, no,” Rina said. “You are not doing this alone.”

“Last night, if I hadn’t been so worried about Rina or Tyler, I could have chased down the perp. I’m not training someone new.”

“Speaking of which, Marge called.”

“When?”

“Last night. I forgot to tell you.”

“Great.”

“I can’t think of everything!”

Decker said, “Sorry.”

“Who’s Marge?” Radar asked.

“An old colleague from L.A.”

Radar made a face. “So now you’re outsourcing?”

Decker felt sheepish. “We worked together for years. We keep in touch.”

“Decker, if she called you back, you must have asked her to do something.”

“He’s got you there,” Rina said.

“Whose side are you on?”

“Flexible.”

Radar said, “What did you ask her to do?”

“Look up Chase Goddard and see if he’s done anything arrest worthy in his past. Her police department has bigger databases than ours.”

“Well, as long as the cat’s out of the bag, she told me to tell you that she didn’t find anything on him. She’s going to try to see if the LAPD database might have something.”

“Chase Goddard,” Radar said. “The gallery man you visited yesterday afternoon when you saw the silver van.”

“Yep.”

“I’ll see what I can find out about him from Boston,” Radar said.

“Thank you.” No one talked for a moment. Then Decker said, “So it’s settled?”

“You are not working solo, Peter,” Rina said. “I’m in your corner but you have to be reasonable.”

“I agree,” Radar said. “You’re a target. You can’t handle this alone.”

“I’m not going to involve anyone on the force, Mike. Not with this bull’s-eye on my head.”

“For God’s sake, Decker, we’re all cops! We know what we signed up for. I am the captain of Greenbury PD and I’m calling up Ben Roiters. You cannot work alone.”

“Then I’d rather you pull me off the case than involve Ben,” Decker said.

“Peter, why don’t you call Scott?” Rina said.

“Am I senile or wasn’t he just shot a year ago.”

“Who’s Scott?” Radar asked.

“Peter, every time you talk to him, he complains how bored he is with retirement.”

“That doesn’t mean he wants to start working again.”

“Who’s Scott?”

“Why don’t you ask him? What harm would it do?”

“Who the fuck is Scott?” Radar asked.

“Scott Oliver,” Rina said. “He and Marge Dunn were partners.”

“The woman you’re using to outsource,” Radar said.

“Old relationships die hard, Captain,” Rina said. “Marge is currently working as a detective but Scott had retired. He’s not married, he doesn’t have any hobbies, and he’s going out of his mind with boredom. When he isn’t yakking to Marge about how tedious life is, he’s calling Peter. The main thing is he’s a great detective.”

“He’s old,” Decker said.

“He’s the same age as you are.”

Radar said, “He’s good?”

“Great,” Decker admitted. “Very experienced.”

“And he’s cool under pressure. You’ve always told me that he’s the one guy you’d want in a hot situation.” Rina turned to Radar. “What do you think?”

“It’s a possibility. I’ll need to interview him.”

Rina said. “At least call him, Peter. If he doesn’t want to do it, he’ll say no.”

“He won’t say no. He’d do it for me. I know that because I’d do it for him.”

“He’d do it for the joy of feeling alive again . . . like someone else I know.”

At that moment, a doctor in green scrubs came out to the group. Decker, Rina, and Radar stopped talking and looked anxiously at the man who introduced himself as Doctor Alex Harrow.

“He’s out. And he’s a very, very lucky man. A few millimeters more and the bullet would have hit the femoral artery.”

“Thank God,” Rina said. “He’s going to be all right, then.”

“After a fashion. He’s still got some recovering to do. The bullet in his leg did knock some bone. It’s cracked—a little bigger than a hairline fracture, but the bone didn’t break apart. The orthopedic surgeon thinks there’s enough bone to regenerate what the bullet nicked away. If not, he may need a bone graft. It’s too early to tell.”

“I take it he won’t be able to walk,” Radar said.

“He’ll be in a leg cast for six weeks. He’ll need a wheelchair. When he gets his strength back in his arm, he can probably manage with crutches.”

“Can we talk to him?” Radar asked.

“In a couple of hours. He’s still in recovery.” The surgeon looked around. “Any wife or parents?”

“No wife,” Decker said. “He didn’t want me to call his parents.”

“Yeah, he probably didn’t want to worry them. But it might be a good idea to call them now that he’s out.”

“Thank you and of course, you’re right.” Radar waited until the surgeon left and then he eyed Decker. “Call them.”

“Mike, he doesn’t want them here.”

“This isn’t a request, it’s an order.”

“He told me—and I quote—‘I fucking hate my parents. Don’t call them.’ ”

“He was delirious. They have to be notified, Decker.”

“He’s a grown man.”

“I’m not going to argue about this. I said it’s an order.”

“Fine. I’ll call them.”

“Good.” He exhaled forcefully. “I’m going back to the station house. I’m going to bring everyone up to speed with what I know—and they’re going to bring me up to speed with what I don’t know. We’ll get a murder board going because it’s clear this isn’t going to be a simple solve. Then, after that, I’m going to work out a watch rotation for your house. I don’t want your lovely wife to feel endangered.”

“I appreciate that, Captain,” Rina said.

“And I’ll be damned before I’ll be the first captain in this quaint city to lose a man in the line of duty. I have my pride. And I do care about all of you.”

“I feel the love, Mike.”

“Don’t get mouthy on me, Decker.”

“Just trying to add a little levity.”

“I suppose I should find out about this codebook. I’ll call Summer Village.”