DECKER TOSSED MARGE the keys to the Crown Vic. “You drive. I need to think.”
No one spoke for the first ten minutes of the ride back to the Valley. Oliver put his hands behind his head, lay back, and closed his eyes. Decker had popped open a can of root beer and was sipping it while reviewing his notes and making diagrams. He said, “Okay, let’s have a go at it. Melinda Little Warren. Lying or not lying about her involvement in her husband’s murder?”
“Even though she is a liar, in this case I vote not lying,” Marge said. “She spoke to us without a lawyer.”
“To play devil’s advocate, maybe she knew that once a lawyer was involved, her current husband would find out about her past and dump her.”
“True, but if she was in real trouble, I don’t think she would hesitate to hire the best legal mouthpiece in the country. She certainly could afford it.”
“Or at least her husband could. How much money does she have on her own? And what if her current husband is like her past husband? What if he holds all the purse strings and she knows he’d be reticent to hire a lawyer to defend her?”
“All true, but the fact that she did speak without a lawyer to me means either she thinks she’s clever enough to beat the system or she doesn’t have anything to do with Ben Little’s murder. Plus she was checked out thoroughly by Vitton and Lamar, and they couldn’t dredge up anything against her except Ben’s insurance policy. I think Ben was worth more to her alive than dead. He allowed her to tap into her trust fund. And, as a woman, I think part of her really liked her husband.”
“Ditto,” Oliver chimed in with his eyes still closed.
“Are you agreeing with him or me?” Marge said.
“You.” Oliver straightened up. “Melinda’s arrogant, and a liar and a thief. She could even be a murderer. But I don’t think she murdered Ben Little. I believe her when she said she had enough of the sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I think she was grateful to get out of the scene with her marriage intact and get rid of those losers.”
Decker said, “You think she was happy in a loveless marriage?”
Marge said, “Some women can deal with passionless marriages, especially if they occasionally get it from an outside source. Melinda seems to me to be one of those.”
Oliver said, “I also don’t think that she set up Ryan Goldberg to murder Ben. She wouldn’t be involved with a loser unless she was planning to whack him afterward. Otherwise he’d be an albatross around her neck.”
Marge said, “I agree with that as well.”
Decker said, “May I remind you two that Goldberg is missing? Maybe she did have him whacked.”
“If she was going to whack him,” Marge said, “she would have done it long ago.”
“Then how about Ryan murdering Ben on his own?” Decker asked.
Marge was noncommittal. “Melinda told us that Goldberg swore he didn’t do it.”
“That’s meaningless.”
“You met Goldberg, Pete. What do you think?”
“At first glance, he seems too compromised mentally to pull off a murder. But like you said, I didn’t know him then, and I don’t know him now. He could be a gentle giant ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. It may be that point one percent that we should be concerned about.”
Oliver made a face. “He stalked Melinda. That’s not a passive guy.”
Marge said, “But he stopped after Ben Little died.”
“That fits with what Liam said about Ryan moving on to someone else,” Decker commented on. “Goldberg was a serial romantic, falling in love with the women he screwed. On the other hand, Mudd had a major breakdown. Maybe his crack-up was precipitated by his murdering Ben Little.”
Oliver said, “And from talking to Melinda, you could tell that she really was frightened by him. So scared that she didn’t even report him to the police.”
Marge said, “Was Ryan so out of it that he could have thought that murdering Ben Little was the only solution to getting Melinda?”
“Maybe,” Decker said. “But if he murdered Ben with the hope of snagging Melinda, why did he suddenly disappear from her life after Little died?”
“How about this?” Oliver said. “Ryan murdered Ben with or without Melinda’s okay. But now she’s stuck. She tells Mudd to lay low. He did, and while he was hiding out, he felt so guilty that he had a breakdown and forgot about Melinda.”
Decker nodded. “Sure, although I’m not certain I see him as a premeditated killer. If he did kill Ben, it was probably heat of the moment or an accident. A hulking guy who’s not aware of his strength in an argument that got out of hand.”
“Like Lenny from Of Mice and Men,” Marge said.
Oliver said, “Let me remind everyone that Little was shot execution style in the trunk of his own car.”
“He had help, Scott,” Marge said. “We know Leroy Josephson was involved. Maybe Rudy Banks wanted Little dead and didn’t want to do it himself. He hired out Leroy Josephson but knew that Leroy needed help. That’s where Ryan Goldberg comes in. Rudy puts the two of them together: two men he could manipulate.”
“All that’s fine,” Decker said, “but what’s Rudy’s motive for wanting Little dead?”
“Maybe Rudy found out about Little’s insurance policy,” Marge said. “Ben might have been worth more to Melinda alive, but Ben wasn’t worth anything to Rudy Banks. Rudy hated the guy. With him gone, Rudy gets rid of a guy he detests, plus it frees up Little’s insurance policy.”
Oliver said, “But why would Melinda give Rudy any of the insurance money?”
“To keep her past a secret,” Marge said.
“We could postulate or we could actually try to do something,” Decker said. “What’s your schedule like tomorrow, guys?”
“I’m not sure,” Marge said.
“I think I’m pretty light,” Oliver said.
“Book a trip to Ohio. It’s time to revisit Mr. Arlington. Let’s go back and talk to the link we have left. Arlington wasn’t in town when the murder went down, but maybe he set something up. Darnell and Rudy ran drugs together. Darnell had a reason to be pissed at Ben Little. You two go back to the station house, get your tickets and between now and tomorrow, think up a plausible scenario involving Rudy and Arlington that culminates in Little’s murder. Then take your theory, splash it in Arlington’s face, and see what he says.”
“Got it,” Oliver said.
“What about you?” Marge said. “I thought you wanted to go with us.”
“Rudy’s missing, Ryan’s missing. I think I need to be in town for a spell.”
THE COACH WAS dressed in black jogging pants and a collared, striped black-and-white ref’s shirt. A whistle hung from around his neck. Multiple basketballs were bouncing on a wooden gym floor as his boys were going through drills. “I don’t have to talk to either of you.” Darnell’s voice was molten metal. “I hope you realize that!”
“We appreciate your cooperation,” Marge told him.
Oliver said, “It’s very important that we talk to you. Why else do you think the government would allocate our travel not once, but twice?”
Arlington was still angry, but he held it back. He blew three sharp punches on his whistle, and the dribbling stopped. The big gym echoed as he spoke. “Twenty minutes free practice time. Work on whatever you want, just as long as you’re working. I’m going into my office. I can see what you’re doing. Anyone who shirks is gonna incur my wrath.”
Coach led Marge and Oliver into a glass-walled office that looked over the gymnasium. The floor space was ample—about four times the size of the Loo’s office with shelving that sagged under the weight of trophies. The walls were plastered with certificates of honor as well as black-and-white photos of Polk High winning athletic teams past and present. Arlington’s desk was tucked into a corner, but he elected to stand at the window and watch his charges work.
“You have quite a legacy,” Marge told him.
“Wrong,” he said. “I’m creating a legacy.”
Oliver took out his notepad and quickly glanced at his outline of the story that he and Marge had invented to link Darnell with Rudy. Then he regarded Arlington. “We’re just trying to get at the truth about Ben Little. The guy went out of his way to help you. What are you so angry about?”
“Get off it,” Darnell shot back. “I know how you guys operate. You don’t get what you what, you make shit up.”
Away from his wife and children, Marge could see the drug runner in Darnell. “I want to talk to you about Rudy Banks.”
“I told you I hardly remember him—”
“Now who’s making shit up?” Oliver accused. “You ran drugs for him, Darnell. You and Jervis Wenderhole and Leroy Josephson—”
“Leroy’s dead, Jervis is working as a community counselor for the underprivileged, I’m working my ass off trying to bring home another trophy so I can keep my damn job and feed and clothe my kids. I had nothing to do with Dr. Ben’s death.”
He spun around and glared at the detectives.
“Sergeant, after you left my home, I thought of Dr. Ben and I cried. As an adult, I can finally see what that poor man was trying to do for me.”
His eyes got moist and he looked away.
“I never got no opportunity to thank him. Just a simple phone call to say, hey, your faith in me was not for nothin’…look at me now. I’m doing fine.”
“I believe everything you just told me, Darnell,” Marge said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you and Rudy ran drugs for North Valley High. It doesn’t change the fact that when Ben Little found out about it, he shut down the entire drug operation and expelled you from school.”
Arlington’s steely voice had returned. “If y’all got it so figured out, why wasn’t Rudy arrested for drug peddling at the time?”
“C’mon, Darnell,” Oliver said, “You know what happened. Rudy’s walking was probably part of the deal that Ben made so you wouldn’t get sent to Juvenile. If the operation would quietly cease, Rudy would disappear without charges and you’d be shipped off to Ohio with nothing on your records.”
Marge said, “It probably worked for a little bit. But you know Rudy, Darnell. You know that he wasn’t about to walk away from a cash cow. He went back to work using Josephson and Wenderhole.”
“And then Ben Little found out,” Oliver told him. “He was furious. He thought that you and Rudy were still running drugs behind his back. This time he was going to whack you hard, Darnell. Rudy said that Little had to be stopped and if you didn’t help get rid of him, Ben was going to expose you and this time you’d go to jail.”
“Must have really pissed you off,” Marge said. “You’d finally gotten your shit together, and Dr. Ben—the same man who expelled you from high school—was about to mess you up again—”
Darnell pivoted around, his face wet with fury, his eyes on fire with indignation. He spoke with a hiss. “You two jackasses ain’t worth a penny of what they’re paying you if that’s the best that you can come up with.”
“That’s what Jervis Wenderhole told me,” Marge pushed. “He said he got his information directly from Leroy Josephson. Rudy Banks promised Josephson and Wenderhole a recording contract if he’d help them out with the Little problem.”
“You’re feeding me total horseshit!”
“Like hell I am,” Marge shot back. “Rudy arranged some studio time for you before you were busted and sent to Ohio. You thought that Banks was going to make you a star. So tell me how that’s bullshit.”
“After I got expelled, I didn’t talk to any of them again!”
“You just looked away from me,” Marge told him. “Now who’s feeding who horseshit?”
Oliver said, “This is your chance to make it right, Mr. Arlington. We’re open to your side of the story. We’re just telling you what Jervis—”
“Jervis didn’t tell you nothin’ about me.” He zeroed in on Marge’s face. “He called me after he saw you, Sergeant.” He scrunched up his face in pure hatred. “We were bros, man! We were tight! I know exactly what he said to you. And I ain’t saying anything more, because you’ll turn it against me.” Arlington checked his watch. “I’ve got to get back to the kids in ten minutes.”
“We can meet you after practice,” Marge said.
“What I got to tell you won’t take more than thirty seconds. I didn’t know anything about what happened to Dr. Ben. And I never bothered to find out because when he was killed, I wasn’t on good terms with anyone back in Los Angeles.”
“Dr. Ben tried to call you,” Marge stated.
“Yeah, couple of times. But I was pissed as hell at him, so I didn’t take his calls. And I couldn’t take calls from Jervis and Leroy because Nana monitored the phones and wouldn’t let me talk to no one from L.A., including my own mother.”
A pause.
“I was pissed at her for that at first, but she was right. I had to start from scratch if I was gonna start over. Nana sent me to an intercity Catholic school that had a pretty good track record with its students. I was there and I had a clean slate. I could either fuck up again—there was lots of opportunities to do that—or turn it around. So I decided to give it a shot. And that’s what I did. I tried out for the team and made it. I wasn’t the tallest, but I was fast with my hands and feet and, just as important, I began to work! I was being scouted by some local colleges to play on their teams. Now why would I fuck up my last chance to succeed to do something two thousand miles away to a man who tried to help me?”
“Because you were angry.”
“Not that angry.” Arlington checked his watch again. “I gotta go.”
Marge lowered her voice until it was at a silken pitch. “Yeah, you can go, Darnell. We can’t stop you. But this has haunted you for fifteen years. And I’ll guarantee you that it’s going to keep haunting you until you get it off your chest.”
“Nothin’ on my chest.”
“You have two little girls, Darnell. Could you imagine your girls growing up without their daddy? What do you think happened to Ben’s little boys? Don’t they have a right to know?”
“I wasn’t there!”
“I know you weren’t there. You were right here in Ohio playing basketball. And you can keep on insisting that you don’t know anything about it. Maybe I’ll even believe you. But you can’t lie to your conscience.”
No one spoke. Darnell continued to look out the window, at his boys going through their workout. Suddenly his eyes moistened. “Leroy Josephson…he called me about six months after Dr. Ben died. I hadn’t heard from him since I left L.A. so his call was unexpected. Nana wasn’t home and I answered the phone.” His face began to unfurl. “I shoulda hung up. I knew he was bad news. Leroy was always gettin’ himself into one kind of fix or another…but Leroy was Leroy and we had a history.” Arlington flinched. “You must know some friends like that—all take but no give. You like the dudes, but deep down you know that they’re bums.”
“I know about twenty guys like that,” Oliver said. “In fact, some people might say I’m that kind of friend.”
Arlington raised his eyebrows. “So Leroy’s on the phone, and suddenly I’m back in L.A. and I’m all ghetto. Yo, bro, whaddup…shit like that. Leroy’s crowing about some recording deal that he got for A-Tack…Jervis Wenderhole.”
“I know Jervis is A-Tack, and I know he cut a CD for Primo Ekerling.”
“Yeah, exactly. Leroy’s goin’ on that Jervis cut a CD and is gonna be a big pimp and Leroy was gonna be Jervis’s manager and they already got gigs opening for bigger pimps and shit like that. And that I should get my ass over to L.A. and Leroy would make me a pimp and that if I didn’t have no money to come out, Leroy would give me some because he was flush.”
“Did he say how he earned the money?”
“Nah, he didn’t say. I assumed he scored big on some B and E.”
“Not drugs?”
“Nah, you don’t make much money running drugs unless you are up at the top. All the soldiers get is pocket change and maybe some free shit—whatever you can steal from a rock or a bag.” He licked his lips. “Now I knew Leroy was full of shit, but he sounded true. I was just about to say yes, I’m in. I was working my ass off in school and still bitter about being shipped off. And with Dr. Ben out of the way…I figured that I could maybe even pick up where I left off…selling to North Valley and doing some rap.
“But the good Lord must have been looking over my shoulder. I meant to tell him yes, but what came out of my mouth was a no. He starts trying to up me, and suddenly I’m back in his face, besting him. I told him that I was a star basketball player and I was being looked at for the bigs, which was a total lie, but hell if he was gonna do better than me, know what I’m saying?”
Oliver nodded. “So how did Leroy respond to that?”
“Just by tellin’ me what a fool I was. And then he said that it was probably a good thing that I said no because Rudy was still mad at me for botching up the operation. So then I told Leroy, it wasn’t me who botched the operation, it was Ben Little.”
No one spoke.
Arlington said, “Then Leroy sorta laughed. You know…snickered kinda. Then he said to me…he said, ‘We don’t have to worry no more about Ben Little.’ And I said, ‘I know that. He’s dead. Someone shot him.’ And he said, ‘I know all about that, Big D’—that’s what he used to call me. Big D. Then he says…he says…‘You know, I was there when it went down.’”
Another moment of silence.
“I got mute. Like Leroy just sucker-punched me. I felt sick just like when I first found out about the murder. I mean, I didn’t even know that Leroy and Dr. Ben knew each other. But I suppose that Dr. Ben knew everyone. So I said…I said, ‘You did it, Yo-King? You snipped Dr. Ben?’ Then Leroy was acting all defensive. He said, ‘I didn’t do no snippin’, I just said I was there when it went down.’ Then he said, ‘I didn’t know they was gonna take him down. Things just got bad.’ And I say, ‘Who took him down?’ And Leroy say, ‘Don’t matter who done it. It wasn’t me and it wasn’t Jervis and it wasn’t even a brother. And now it’s over.’ Then he asked me do I want to be a major pimp or no. So I say, ‘No, I don’t got time to be no pimp.’ And that was that. He never called me again, I never called him again.”
Arlington swallowed hard.
“I never even thought about calling the police. I had no proof that Leroy was talking true, and even if he was, I would never pigeon a friend.” Another beat. “It turned out that Leroy wasn’t just blowing smoke about turning A-Tack into a pimp. He did cut a CD and Leroy sent it to me, being all smug. At that time, I was burning with envy. Just burning! I was determined to do better. I figured I really fucked up myself by not going back and joining Leroy. I kept playing the CD and saying, ‘I could do better than that. I could do way better than that.’”
Silence.
“If you know what happened to Jervis and Leroy, you know what changed my mind.”
Marge asked, “How’d you hear about the shooting?”
“My mama told me.” He looked away. “She called me up all excited and told me about Leroy dying and Jervis being paralyzed.”
“What did you think?”
“What did I think?” A beat. “I was sick. I got down on my knees and thanked Jesus for my salvation.” He blew out air. “I tried not to look at Leroy being shot as God’s justice for Dr. Ben, but you think what you think. I didn’t know why it was in God’s plan for Jervis to be hurt. Hell, if Leroy would have called me to pick him up, I would have done the same thing.
“The shooting turned Jervis’s life around. He told me that since he was in a wheelchair, he had lots of time to think about things. He found Jesus and never looked back. That’s what he told me.”
“Did Jervis try to contact you again after you left California?”
“Nah. We faded out of each other’s life for ten years. Then out of the blue, he sent me a Christmas card…telling me what he’s doing. So I wrote him back, telling him what I’m doing. We’ve been exchanging cards now for about five years but nothing more than that. I was happy he found his life, and he seemed happy that I found mine. I hadn’t actually talked to him until last week, when he called to tell me about the interview he had with you.” He looked at Marge. “That’s when he told me that he had gone to Clearwater Park to pick up Leroy. He also told me that Leroy was real jingly, and Jervis knew that something bad had happened. Then I told him about my phone call with Leroy six months after Dr. Ben died. I told him that Leroy said he was there but never admitted to doin’ nothin’”
Arlington stared at the window.
“Maybe Leroy snipped him, maybe he had help. We’re never gonna know because Leroy’s dead.”
“And you’re sure that Leroy never mentioned Rudy Banks in connection with the killing,” Oliver said.
“Leroy didn’t tell me any names. I know that the police talked to Leroy after Dr. Ben’s murder. If they couldn’t get the truth out of Leroy, I figured why should I do their job for them?” He turned to the detectives. “I suppose if you’re determined to arrest me, you’ll do it no matter what I say.”
“We’re not going to arrest you,” Marge said. “But we’re not at that point yet where we have to be concerned with legal matters. We’re just trying to solve an old crime. We’re trying to speak for Ben Little who can’t speak for himself. Thank you for talking to us again. We’ll probably have some follow-up questions if you don’t mind.”
Arlington opened the door to his office and blew the whistle. “Back in formation. I want to see you practice going down the lanes. Keep it smooth.” He turned back to Marge and Oliver. “You can go ahead and ask your questions. And I’ll answer them. But do me a favor, Detectives. Next time you want to talk to me, use the phone.”