Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [106]
Marge nodded. Her mood was guarded. “We’ve got tons of charges to work with, Pete. Two of the boys were in possession of crystal meth and crack cocaine, one boy had a pipe and a bag of what’s probably E, the girls had pot and pills, and the blonde also had crystal meth. The brunette—Darla Holbein—is seventeen. Two of the boys—JJ Little and Nate Asaroff—are also seventeen. Cameron Cole and Kyle Kerkin, along with Dylan Lashay, are over eighteen.”
“And Kerkin was the one with the Glock?”
“Yes. He had a Glock and he is over eighteen.”
“Where’s the gun?”
“Drew Messing is running it through the system. He should be done by now.”
“Any other guns besides the Glock?”
“Nope.”
“Gabe’s not positive who shot him.”
“Dylan was the only one with residue on his hands.”
“You’re sure.”
“Yep. We swabbed them all.”
“Have you talked to any of the kids to get their side of the story?”
“Of course. They say they were just walking along when Gabe and the girl held them up and tried to rob them.”
“Gabe shot himself?”
“I don’t even know if they realize that Gabe has been shot. We certainly haven’t told them anything. They’re all sticking to their robbery story.”
“Nothing was found on either Gabe or the girl—her name is Yasmine Nourmand.”
“They claim that Gabe and the girl were spooked by a Good Samaritan. They ran away, tossing their possessions in the bushes as they fled. They even claim the drugs belonged to Gabe and the girl and they were only holding them for evidence to show the police. Gotta hand it to them. They had their alibis down even before we picked them up.”
“Did any of them call the police and report a robbery?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did any of the group call 911?”
“Don’t know. All the units I met at the park were responding to my call.”
“Gabe called me right away. Doesn’t mean anything . . . just that he reached out for help . . . could be someone will say that I gave him direction . . . which I didn’t. Still . . .” Decker thought a moment. “You’re the lead. I can’t get too involved in this one.”
“No problem. I thought as much.”
“Gabe claims he dropped his sheet music at Coffee Bean before he took off to find the gang. Send someone down there to photograph it and bag it as evidence. It’ll lend credence to his story.”
“No problem.”
Decker said, “Who do you think is the weakest link in the B and W Mafia?”
“They turned out to be a lot more evil than I gave them credit for,” Marge said.
“You and me both.”
“The weakest link?” Marge paused. “I’d say the seventeen-year-old brunette—Darla Holbein. She broke down immediately.”
“Yeah, when I brought Yasmine in, she kept on trying to apologize to her.” Decker took out his pad and jotted down some notes. “Which means that if the gang was being robbed by them, why would Darla immediately start apologizing to Yasmine?”
Marge said, “I’ll mention it to the D.A.”
Decker said, “Who’s the next weakest link?”
“A tie between JJ Little who hasn’t stopped crying and Kyle Kerkin, who wet himself when we found the gun.”
“Kyle Kerkin is over eighteen, right?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect. Darla is with Wynona.”
“She asked for her parents. They’ve already been notified and they’re on their way,” Marge said. “What should we do with Dylan, who’s asking for a lawyer?”
“Give him his lawyer. He’ll be the last one we’ll talk to—after we get all the others to flip on him.”
Yasmine raced into a bathroom stall. She didn’t even have time to close the door. It took a few minutes before she came out, wiping her mouth on toilet paper. She was trembling uncontrollably.
“I can’t stop shaking.”
“That’s all the adrenaline.” Wanda helped her onto a couch in the ladies’ lounge. “Let me get you some orange juice.”
“I still feel sick.” She suddenly panicked. “I wanna go back to the hospital.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I wanna see Gabe.” She started to cry. “I need to see him. If something happens to him, I’ll kill myself!”
Wanda counted to three. “Sweetheart, first let’s call your parents—”
“Oh, please don’t call my mom.” She hugged herself in an attempt to stop her trembling.