Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [137]
“Honestly, I think they’re fine; however, I will feel better once Lashay is behind bars.” Decker paused. “Gabe’s certainly okay. Chris will take care of him. I’m not even concerned about Yasmine since her family moved to the city.”
“Is it Wendy Hesse then? I know she comes down to the station house and brings you cookies all the time. Do you feel responsible for her?”
“She is what got the ball rolling and, yes, I do want justice for her.”
No one spoke. Marge said, “But it’s more than that.”
“I’ve seen Lashay hanging around. He drives that red Audi R8. The kid has charges of murder, attempted murder, and kidnapping hanging over his head, not to mention felony weapons and drug charges, and he’s not even trying to blend into the woodwork. What is wrong with his parents?”
“I’m sure he’s conned them just like he conned everyone else.”
“There’s denial and then there’s stupidity,” Decker said.
“I know that. But why are you thinking about it now?” Marge asked.
“Nurit Luke called me yesterday. Dylan’s lawyer, Sanford Book, wants to meet with her next week.”
“Ah. You think they’re going to plea bargain.”
“Why else would Book call Nurit?” Decker said. “My guess would be voluntary manslaughter down from premeditated murder.”
“That’s not going to happen. Not with Dylan laughing like he did on the videotape.”
“Yeah, but the camera never ever showed his face.” Decker looked pained. “I’m concerned.”
“We have Kyle calling the person behind the camera ‘Dylan’ over the audio.”
“Yeah, but without seeing him, you could paint a different scenario.”
“Like what?”
“Something stupid. You could say Dylan was in shock and that’s why he laughed. Or it wasn’t really Dylan with the camera. Or Kyle was trying to implicate Dylan to get back at him for some reason . . . because Dylan broke his heart.”
“That’s stretching it.”
“That’s what defense lawyers do. They stretch the truth.”
Marge said, “Nurit’s a great lawyer. She isn’t afraid to go for broke.”
“That’s what worries me. Suppose she goes for broke and we strike out?”
“Not with those charges.”
“I hope you’re right.” Decker shrugged. “Let it go, right. It isn’t up to me.”
“Exactly. Let the attorneys battle it out. Even if they plea murder one to voluntary manslaughter, with the other charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, possession of stolen firearms, and drug charges, I would say that Dylan will do heavy time.”
He exhaled. “I’m usually pretty optimistic. I just have a bad feeling about this.”
Marge was quiet. “Isn’t your vacation coming up soon?”
“Two weeks.”
“That’s great. Where are you going?”
“To that fantastic tropical isle of Manhattan. We’re going to New York to help settle Hannah into Barnard and Gabe into Juilliard. Then we’re going to visit my folks in Orlando.”
Marge smiled. “Florida’s nice.”
“Not in the summer,” Decker groused. “One of these days, Rina and I are going to take a real vacation. And when we do, I might never come back.”
When Decker found out that it was New Mexico state police detective Romulus Poe on the line, he thought that, at last, he was in for some good news.
He thought wrong.
Poe said, “No sightings of Garth Hammerling, but we do have a dead girl.”
Decker’s stomach dropped as Poe described the psychosexual murder scene. He said, “Are you sure it’s Hammerling?”
“No, we’re not sure. But she has DNA and you have DNA and I thought if my DNA can get together with your DNA, I’ll know who I’m looking for.”
“I’ll send you the profile we have.”
Poe was silent for a few seconds. Then he said, “I am so goddamn pissed about this. It’s like you handed me this guy on a silver platter and I screwed up.”
“You didn’t screw up, but I know the feeling.”
“He was on my radar. I don’t know how he slipped out.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Decker said. “He slipped from California, he slipped from Nevada. If the cellular evidence matches, it’ll be just one