Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [136]
Donatti said, “You look tired.”
“Maybe a little.” His eyelids felt very heavy. “Must be the drugs. Where are you staying for the night?”
“Here.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“It’s midnight.” Donatti yawned, took off his shoes, and plopped his feet encased in socks on the hospital bed. “Even if I had a reservation somewhere else, I’m too lazy to move. It’s late and I’m beat. Go to sleep.”
Gabe was silent. Then he said, “Maybe I’ll try to go to the bathroom.”
Donatti threw his head back and closed his eyes. “Go for it.”
“Do I have to save that, too?”
“No one said anything about saving your shit. But don’t worry about that, son. Even if you flush it down the toilet, there’s always life to replenish the stock.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
Despite the emphatic protests of the A.D.A. Nurit Luke, the presiding judge did set bail for Dylan Lashay at five million dollars plus a surrender of his passport. Within three days, the boy was out and about, flaunting his freedom in a brand-new Audi.
Kyle Kerkin’s lawyer reached a plea agreement with the D.A.’s office. The teen would be the state’s witness against Dylan Lashay in the murder case of Gregory Hesse in exchange for the reduced charges of involuntarily manslaughter, kidnapping, and weapons violation. The plea included an eighteen-month sentence of prison time to be served at CMC (level II) in San Luis Obispo with a chance for early release depending on his behavior.
Cameron Cole was not implicated in Gregory Hesse’s murder, but she was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping along with possession of stolen property. She also reached a plea agreement of one year of jail time served in Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.
Despite Decker’s best efforts, he couldn’t find any way to link Dylan Lashay with Myra Gelb’s suicide. There was no doubt in Decker’s mind that Dylan stole the gun from the Hollys’ house. (Charge denied.) Decker was also positive that Dylan sold Myra Gelb the weapon. (Also denied.) But since the booty taken from the Holly house was found in Cameron’s possession, not Dylan’s, the stolen property was the heated debate of a “he said, she said.” And with both of the parties shown to be adroit liars as well as psychopaths, the judge felt it was easier to go with the path of least resistance. Many charges were heaped upon Lashay, but burglary and Myra Gelb’s death were not among them.
No personal link was found between Gregory Hesse and Myra Gelb, other than a few phone calls while working on the school paper. Perhaps Myra got the idea of suicide after Gregory’s demise. She knew where to find a gun as did almost everyone in B and W. Myra had had problems before, and it could have been that the death of a schoolmate sent her over the edge. Even so, Decker just couldn’t shake the idea that if he worked a little harder, if he dug a little deeper, he could have found something: the detective’s curse. But there was always the future. No case is ever fully closed.
What really troubled him more than anything was Dylan’s freedom while he was awaiting trial. He expressed his concerns to Marge on a hot summer day in August three and a half months after Gabe was shot. The station house’s air-conditioning was languid at best, and the two of them were sitting in his office fanning their faces with blank sheets of paper even though Decker had an electric desk fan blowing around tepid air.
“Dylan’s been out for months,” Marge said. “Why is this still eating at you?”
“It just is.”
“You can’t allow that, Pete. If you do, he wins.” Marge wiped her face with a tissue. Even wearing lightweight