“Initially, they’ll get long sentences and go off to Quentin or a place like it. If I juvey them, they’re off to the California Youth Authority, which, nowadays, isn’t all that different from grown-up prison except the inmates are shorter. The longest they could be C.Y.A. wards would be till age twenty-five.”

“Meaning they’d be released at the peak of criminal drive.”

“You bet,” he said. “In big-boy lockup, they’d be vulnerable to the Black Guerrilla Army and Nuestra Familia, probably run for cover to the Aryan Brotherhood. So we’d be creating a couple of little Nazis. But most of the C.Y.A. facilities are gang-ridden, too.”

“Why’d you say they’d have long sentences ‘initially’?”

“Because if I adult-certify, there’s a good chance some higher court will lower their sentences and have them switched to lower-security facilities. Meaning they could end up with less time than a C.Y.A. placement. I’ve got the victim’s family to think about. Like you said, the best we can hope for is approximating justice, and Lord knows we’ll never get closure— whatever the hell that means. But there’s got to be something that does the least harm.”

“I haven’t seen the family in the media.”

“They’ve kept a low profile, but the father’s called the D.A. a few times, demanding justice. No one can give him what he really wants— his kid back. And two other kids have ruined their own lives. It’s a rotten situation for all concerned.”

“Beyond rotten.”

“Alex, they’re so damned young. What the hell turned them so bad?”

“Wish I could tell you,” I said. “The precursors are all there— bad environment, maybe bad biology. But most kids exposed to the same things don’t murder toddlers.”

“No, they don’t,” he said. “Okay, send me whatever you feel comfortable putting down on paper. I’ll start your reimbursement voucher churning through the system.”

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10

In the end, resolution came the way it usually does once cases fade from public scrutiny: the product of backroom negotiation and the search for the least of all evils.

Five months after their arrests, in what the papers termed “a surprise move,” both boys pled guilty and were sentenced to the California Youth Authority until they were twenty-five or until it could be proven they’d been successfully rehabilitated.

No trial, no media hoopla. No need for me to appear as an expert witness and my check from the court arrived in a timely fashion.

I talked to no one but Milo about it, pretended I was sleeping well.

* * *

Troy Turner was sent to the N.A. Chaderjian camp in Stockton and Rand Duchay ended up at the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino. The C.Y.A. promised to provide counseling for both boys and special education for Rand.