She shook her head no.

Decker rubbed his face. “Was he moving?”

“His face had lots of blood on it.” She started to cry in earnest. “I wanted to help him. But I promised I’d keep it a secret. I didn’t know what to do!”

“You did the right thing,” my dad said soothingly. “What did you do after you saw David’s face?”

Her crying got stronger. Louise put her arms around her sister and let her cry on her shoulder. “It’s all over, Sarah. Don’t worry, it’s all over.”

But everyone in the room, including Sarah, knew it wasn’t over.

Decker kept his voice even. “Sarah, did you leave David in the trash can?”

She sobbed loudly. “I ran home. I washed myself. I was real scared.”

“Of course, you were.”

We waited until she had cried it out. It took quite a while. Finally, she looked at me. “I went to school the next day. He wasn’t there. He doesn’t come to school anymore. I want to ask Mr. Klinghoffner about it, but I’m too scared.”

“Then how about if I ask him for you?” I said.

“Thank you.” She smiled with wet eyes. “I don’t see him anymore. Maybe he didn’t like that the other boys had sex with me.”

“I’m sure that’s not the reason,” I told her.

“I didn’t want to do it. They made me.”

I told her I understood. “What did these boys look like?”

She closed her eyes. She was conjuring up something. “Maybe two were Mexicans.”

“Mexicans?” I repeated.

“Yes. Like the janitor in the school. His name is José. He’s Mexican. But he’s a nice Mexican. Sometimes he gives us candy and treats. The bad-boy Mexicans were mean.”

“Did they speak Spanish?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“So you think that two might be Mexicans,” Decker said. “You said there were other bad boys. What about them? Can you tell me what they looked like?”

Again she closed her eyes. “One was bald. He was the meanest one. He hit David first.”

“Was he white-skinned or black-skinned or brown-skinned?”

She made a face. “Not brown like José, but not pink like me. The not-bald one had lots of pimples. The bald one was the meanest. He didn’t have pimples.”

“And the other two were Mexican?” I asked.

“Yes. They had black hair and dark skin and looked like José, the janitor at our school.”

“Anything else?” Decker said.

“No.”

Decker said, “Sarah, do you think if I showed you pictures that maybe you could pick out the bad boys to me?”

“Maybe.”

“Ms. Sanders, we’d like to bring Sarah in and show her some mug books. See if she could pick out anyone.”

“Perhaps a little later, Lieutenant Decker. We have a court case on Wednesday. I need to settle things before I have her go through another ordeal. I hope you can understand that.”

“Okay. Later then.”

It was my turn to get some information. “Sarah, was David a black person?”