Memory Man

On the flight back to Burlington, everyone pores over the report of the Leopold murders. A thought occurs to Decker, and he asks if the plane has any string or rope on board. When he’s given a piece of rope, he spends the rest of the flight tying knots and thinking.

Decker says that a lot of people are dead because of some ignorant folk. Bogart retorts that only Leopold and Wyatt are to blame. Decker says, “‘And human beings have limits […] Some are hard as steel, but some are fragile, and you never know which one you’re going to get’” (363). Decker adds that he can’t fully blame Wyatt for her crimes.

Back in his hotel, Decker is still racking his brain for a reason why Wyatt targeted him. When nothing leaps to mind, he goes back to the police station to look through the evidence collected so far. Once he reaches the bag containing his uniform and badge, he absentmindedly rubs the badge through the plastic. It acts like a magic lamp and gives him the missing memory that explains everything. 

Late in the evening, Decker goes to the school library to use a computer. Most of the investigators have gone home for the day. He sets up an account and password on the “Justice Denied” website. Convinced that Wyatt and Leopold are monitoring it, he sends a request for a face-to-face meeting.

They respond by asking why they should meet him. Decker says, “This needs to end sometime. Why not now? I’m the only one left” (368).

They tell him to go to a specific location and wait for his next instructions there. Decker packs up his few belongings and leaves the hotel. He doesn’t expect to return because he may not survive the night.

Decker follows staged instructions involving two bus trips and a car ride before a white panel van picks him up at a rest stop in northern Indiana.

Once inside, as Wyatt drives, Leopold holds Decker at gunpoint and forces Decker to change into an orange prison jumper. Decker’s shoes, clothes, and phone are tossed out the back of the van. As they continue to ride, Decker speaks to Wyatt.

He finally discloses the key memory that focused her wrath on him. At the institute, he stood up in a group session and announced that he wanted to become a police officer. Wyatt has since called him “bro” because he belongs to the brotherhood of football players and police, both of whom abused her. In her mind, Decker is just like them.

Decker keeps talking, going over the facts of the case. Wyatt fills in some missing details. Leopold confirms that they intend to kill him at the end of the trip.

The trip eventually ends at an abandoned plumbing supply store. Wyatt and Leopold march Decker inside and restrain him in a chair using duct tape. They take seats on crates facing him. Decker keeps them talking, asking questions to elaborate on the specifics of their crimes.

When Decker says that Wyatt’s parents’ blackmail scheme ruined Clyde’s life, Wyatt grows angry and stabs Decker in the thigh. Leopold tapes up the wound, unwilling to let Decker die so quickly.

Decker reveals that Leopold started the “Justice Denied” website to lure in unsuspecting victims. Leopold helps them plan revenge murders for his own amusement, depletes their savings, and kills them so no one can identify Leopold.

When Wyatt protests that Leopold is a victim himself, Decker says that Leopold killed his own family by hanging them. The knot is a sailor’s knot that he learned in the Russian navy. Decker tied one himself to see if the pattern matched the crime photos taken after the Leopold murders.

Decker says that Leopold depleted the Wyatt family fortune. He also says that Leopold will ultimately kill Wyatt to cover his tracks. Wyatt confronts his accomplice and asks Leopold if this is true. Leopold admits that Decker is right and abruptly shoots Wyatt.

During the moment when Leopold turns his gun away from Decker to shoot Wyatt, Decker heaves himself sideways and pins Leopold to the ground.

Decker, still restrained in the chair, manages to press his left arm and shoulder against Leopold’s gun hand, keeping Leopold from firing the weapon again. With his other shoulder, Decker edges up toward Leopold’s windpipe.

Decker presses all his bulk against Leopold’s neck and chest to cut off Leopold’s air supply: “He rammed his body down with all his strength. In his mind his DVR whirled. Every victim, every face raced through his mind while he was slowly killing their killer” (392). The struggle takes several minutes, but eventually Leopold suffocates.

Decker rises and frees himself from the chair. He finds Wyatt dying from a gunshot wound to the chest. Decker waits until Wyatt passes away, knowing that his memories of Wyatt and Leopold will never disappear; they are all bound together in life and in death. 

On Christmas Eve, Decker seats himself on a bench across from Mansfield High. His hotel is throwing a resident Christmas party that he doesn’t want to attend.

He reflects on the events that occurred after the killers’ deaths. Both the FBI and the police had wanted to pay Decker for his work, but he refused. Decker knows he didn’t intend to cause harm, but he still feels responsible for Wyatt’s rampage: “I stood up in front of Belinda Wyatt and said I wanted to be a cop […] She never forgot that and twisted something innocuous into something sinister” (399).

Even though Decker refused payment for his work on the case, he realizes that he still needs to find a job soon. At that moment, Bogart joins him on the bench. He’s already bought Decker a warm, new set of clothes to replace the ones he lost and offers him a job with the FBI.

Bogart is assembling a special task force to handle the toughest types of cases. He’s looking for talent wherever he can find it and believes Decker is a good fit. Decker hesitates because he would have to leave Burlington. Jamison strolls up to reassure Decker that she’s been hired too. Decker accepts the job on the spot but tells the other two that he wants to be alone for the rest of the evening.

Jamison promises they’ll return the following day: “‘And you won’t be by yourself ever again. I think you’ve been alone long enough’” (402).