cut a deal by ratting on whoever paid them. And despite what I told Southern, we had no direct proof that he did anything intentionally wrong. I just called him on it, and he reacted the way he did. It was clearly because of a guilty conscience. Just look at the suicide note. ‘Sorry for everything’? ‘I hate myself’?” He added, “But I didn’t think he’d kill himself over it. I was clearly wrong about that.”
“So what did he have a guilty conscience about?” asked Jamison.
“For that, we’re going to have to talk to his wife,” answered Decker.
* * *
Later that evening Liz Southern looked pale and worn as she sat up in the bed of a guest room in a house belonging to a close friend of hers. She cradled a large cup of tea, and her bloodshot eyes spoke of the misery she was enduring. She looked at Decker with an unfriendly gaze as he sat down next to the bed. Kelly and Jamison stood immediately behind him.
“You couldn’t wait even one damn day?” she said harshly. “My husband killed himself!”
“If we could wait, we would. But we can’t. So anything you can tell us will be much appreciated.”
“I don’t know why Walt did what he did.”
Decker leaned forward in his chair. “Then let’s work through it together. Starting with what he wrote in the note.”
Southern closed her eyes and sighed.
“It’s important, Liz,” chimed in Kelly.
“I know that, Joe!” she snapped, her eyes now open and blazing at him.
Decker cleared his throat. “If Walt was forced to fudge the autopsy results for Cramer and Ames, we need to know how and by whom.”
“I have no idea why he would do that. I still don’t believe that he did intentionally mess up those reports. If it’s anyone’s fault he’s dead, it’s yours! You accused him of all those terrible things.”
Decker sat back, not looking convinced. “If the guy was innocent of what I accused him, no way he’s taking his own life. Before he walked out of the room he mentioned his lawyer. That’s not a guy looking to off himself over what I said.”
“Then why would he kill himself instead of calling his lawyer?” she shot back.
“I think he was just blustering, grasping at anything he could in the heat of the moment. I think as he walked to his office, reality set in. And that’s when he made his decision.”
“You really want me to provide dirt on my dead husband? Is that what you’re asking me to do?” she added shrilly.
“What I’m asking you to do is help us solve a series of murders. And whoever blackmailed your husband and drove him to kill himself deserves to be punished. We need your help to get to them.”
“Well, if you hadn’t accused him like you did—” she began.
“If I missed something like that, I’m in the wrong line of work,” Decker interjected. “You know something of the forensic business. Do you think he could have really missed big items like that on two separate posts?”
Southern drew a deep breath and settled a shrewd gaze on him. “I think you’re in the exact line of work you should be in, Agent Decker.”
“Okay,” he said expectantly.
Southern reached out and plunked a tissue from a box on the nightstand. She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose before crumpling the tissue in her hand. “My husband was a good man.”
“I’m not suggesting he was a bad guy,” said Decker.
“But he had . . . issues.”
“What sort of issues?”
The woman’s eyes welled up with tears. “He . . . was into some things that others, particularly around here, might have found . . . troubling.”
“What sort of things are we talking about?”
“Was it something criminal?” said Kelly.
“No, but it would have done a lot of damage to his reputation.” She let out a long breath. “He was having an affair with the wife of a friend.” She clutched the edge of the sheet, and her eyes filled with tears.
“How did you find out?” asked Kelly.
“Text messages. Something I saw on his computer. Late-night phone calls. And I had him followed.”
“Did you . . . confront him about it?” asked Decker.
She grabbed another tissue and wiped her eyes. “Yes. At first, he denied everything. Said I was mistaken, said it was all a misunderstanding. But he finally admitted it. We talked about getting a divorce, but we hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”
“That must have put a strain on your marriage,” said