Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [105]
“She’ll wait with him until you get here. Even overnight.” Decker gave him all the essentials—the name and address of the hospital, his cell, Rina’s cell.
“I need the hospital fax number to give permission for them to operate.”
“I’ll get it for you.” Decker paused. “I’m sorry, Chris.”
“For what? You didn’t shoot him.”
“Gabe was in my care. I feel responsible.”
“His mother and I dumped him on you. Besides, you can’t keep watch twenty-four/seven.” A pause. “It’s the age. Stupid boys playing grown-up with guns.” Another pause. “Was I that fucking stupid when you met me?”
“You were clever, but you were also stupid.”
“Yeah, I’d like to think I was different, but I probably was a dumb fuck. Only difference was if I would have shot someone, he would have been dead.”
When Decker brought Yasmine into the station house, she was clinging to his arm. She had been crying nonstop, threatening to kill herself if Gabe didn’t make it. The squad room was packed, barely controlled chaos filled with teenagers, detectives, police officers, and mounting piles of paperwork. Normally, things were quite civilized. Today it actually looked like a TV set. Detective Wynona Pratt—a newcomer to Homicide—was sitting in the middle of the squad room, talking to a young girl with long dark hair. As soon as Yasmine laid eyes on the teen, she started to shake uncontrollably. The brunette was trembling just as hard, crying out to Yasmine, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
To Wynona, Decker said, “Get her into an interview room immediately.”
The big-boned detective made a face. “They’re all occupied, Lieutenant.”
“Then use my office.”
“Gotcha.”
Yasmine was squeezing Decker’s arm, sobbing. He looked around for help. Wanda Bontemps came to the rescue. “What do you need, Lieutenant?”
“Any other rooms available?”
“No. We can use the ladies’ lounge.”
“Okay, take her there. But before you ask her anything, I need to call up her parents—”
“Noooo,” Yasmine wailed out.
Decker was firm. “Yasmine, your parents have to be notified. I should have done it when I was at the hospital. I just didn’t have time.”
“My mother will kill me.”
“I guarantee you when she finds out the circumstances, she’ll be overjoyed to see you breathing.” To Wanda, Decker said, “This is Detective Bontemps. She’ll take good care of you until your mother gets here.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Yasmine gagged.
“I’ll take you to the bathroom.” To Decker, she said, “I’ll call her mom.”
“Even better,” Decker told her. After Bontemps hustled her away, he spotted Lee Wang and called him over. “Do you have a minute?”
“I’m with one of the boys.”
“Which one?”
“Jerome John Little, better know as JJ.”
“Where is JJ now?”
“Room four. Willy’s with him.” Willy was William Brubeck, a vet of over thirty years. “He’s seventeen. Do you want me to notify his parents?”
“If he’s talking, let him talk. If he asks for his parents, we have no choice. Tell Willy to go for it. I got another job for you.” He waved over Marge as he talked to Lee. He handed him an evidence bag. “Run these guns through the system. There are two of them—a Luger 9 mm semiautomatic and a Smith and Wesson .22LR. Find out if they’re registered, who owns them, and if any of them are stolen.”
“Not a problem.”
Marge blew out air. “You said arrest anyone we could and we did just that. One of them, Kyle Kerkin who has long hair, was in possession of a firearm—a .32 Glock. Dylan had crystal meth in his back pocket. When we arrested him on possession, he fell apart. That’s when we asked if we could swipe his hands for gunshot residue. He was so unnerved, he said yes. He tested positive.”
“Fantastic! How old is Dylan?”
“Eighteen.”
The smile on Decker’s face was ear to ear. “Even better!”
“The bad news is now that he’s had a little time to think, he wants a lawyer.”
“Doesn’t mean the evidence will get thrown out, especially if he’s an adult.”
“Absolutely. Besides, he’s not going to talk his way out of a possession charge.”
“Right now, Dylan’s got worse things to deal with . .