Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [125]
“Go on,” Wynona said.
“Cameron really liked him. He was cute and tall . . . taller than Dylan. She liked that. Dylan’s well built, but he’s on the shorter side. But the true reason Cameron liked him was because he stood up to Dylan. He knew way more about guns than Dylan did. Dylan thinks he’s like an expert on guns.” She turned to Decker. “How does your foster son know so much about guns?”
“That’s none of your business, Darla,” her mother said. “Let’s get on with this so we can figure out your future.”
Darla sighed. “Anyway, she liked him, but didn’t do anything about it. Then one day she met him at a bus stop. She took that as an omen that something was meant to be. Whatever that means I don’t know, but that’s what she told me. She told me he was in a rock band and he was going to be famous one day. She had invited him to her house to get high, but he turned her down, saying that he had an important audition. It sounded like, you know, BS to me but I didn’t say anything.” She looked at Decker. “Is he in a rock band?”
Dominick said, “Darla, stop asking questions and just tell the detectives what happened.”
The girl blushed. “Anyway, he didn’t go to her house, but he asked for her phone number. She took his phone number, too. She expected him to call her, but he never did. She texted him, but it was the wrong number. Cam got real upset. She thought he was shining her on and she’s not used to that. Then . . . oh boy . . . she saw him with another girl—some ugly dumb brownie . . . that’s how Cam described her. She saw them kiss. They were clearly an item. It made her very mad . . . that he lied to her. More than that, that he liked a brownie over her. It was like instant hatred.”
Wynona nodded, encouraging her to go on.
“I kept telling her to forget about it. That he was an obvious idiot, but Cam wouldn’t let go. Then she got this ‘brilliant’ idea. She told Dylan that Chris had raped her and she wanted him to avenge her honor or something stupid like that. Now Dylan’s a lot of things, but he isn’t an idiot. He didn’t believe her. He kinda laughed her off. But she kept at him. He raped me, he raped me, he raped me. Then one day . . . I was there . . . he turned to her and said . . .” She regarded her mother and father. “You might want to cover your ears.”
Marie said, “Darla, we know bad words. We just choose not to use them. Go on already.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Dylan said to Cameron, ‘What is it, bitch? You fucked him and want me to be all jealous.’ And then he waved his hands in the air and oooohhh and laughed. Like he didn’t care at all. And maybe he didn’t.
“So Cam said, ‘Yeah, I fucked him and he’s a hell of a lot bigger than you are.’ ” She turned to Decker. “That’s what made Dylan mad. So she got him to do what she wanted. The gang decided to crowd the girl. You know, just to scare her. So Cam called Dylan up this morning and said today was the day. I don’t know why she picked today, but she did. Probably ’cause she was in a bad mood.”
The tears returned.
“So we all met early in front of the place where Cam saw Chris with the girl. And we saw her coming to the front door. She pulled out her phone. And before she could make a call, Dylan came up from behind and put a gun to her back. Cam grabbed the phone and threw it in the bushes. Then we surrounded her and said stupid things.”
“What kind of stupid things?” Wynona asked.
Darla’s voice was choked with sobs. “It was all a big joke just to scare her. We were going to let her go.”
“What kind of stupid things?”
“Dylan told her that he was going to . . . you know.” Silence. “That he was going to take her and like . . .” She looked away. “That he was gonna like . . . and then Cam said that it was like . . . something like . . . a gangbang—”
Her mother gasped.
“He wasn’t really gonna do it,” Darla insisted. “The whole thing was just to scare her.”
Wynona said, “To scare her with a gun?”
“It wasn’t loaded!” Darla insisted.
“Did he threaten to shoot her?”
“I don’t remember what was said.” More tears. “Cameron