Memory Man

Decker and Jamison go back to his storage unit to comb through everything there. Decker hopes the exercise will help him remember someone he offended in his past.

Jamison points out that the killer is deliberately trying to foster a feeling of guilt to throw Decker off his game: “‘He gets inside your head, he wins […] his brain beats your brain, so he gets personal satisfaction. And if you’re not thinking straight, you have no shot at tracking him down’” (252).

After several hours of ransacking boxes, Jamison points out that the only fact they have is that Decker disrespected someone at the local 7-Eleven. Decker cryptically says it may not be a fact at all and leaves.

Decker and Jamison go to meet Lancaster at the station house. Decker asks Lancaster to read back Leopold’s confession statement word for word. Lancaster assumed Leopold meant the local 7-Eleven store near Decker’s home. Instead, Leopold was giving Decker a clue: The numbers seven and 11 refer to a street address.

Decker knows where this address is, but he isn’t sharing the information with Lancaster or Jamison. He simply asks Jamison if she has a car, announcing that they need to go to Chicago.