“Throw in a couple of butter cookies.” Holt continued to type on his laptop. “Tea and butter cookies. Excellent.”

“Very good, sir.”

The double brass doors opened, then closed.

“No, I don’t know where…” Holt typed vigorously. “Yes! Let me…” Again he typed and waited. “Just a moment. I want to make sure this order goes through…There. Very good. I don’t know where Darrell is, Lieutenant. I’ve completely lost track of him. I haven’t seen him in a good three to four years. At one time, he did have a trust account, so I could suggest tracing him through the bank. But I believe he had gone through it as of a year ago.”

“So you last had contact with him four years ago?”

Holt took another phone call, turned, whispered, clicked off that cell, then took another call. Whisper, whisper, whisper. He typed, called, then whispered, then typed some more. Several minutes later, he said, “Yes, I believe it was that long ago. Right when he came back to Los Angeles from up north. When he started getting involved with that ridiculous supremacist group.” A laugh. “Darrell is a light boy by African-American standards. But the child is not white, that’s for certain.”

“From what I understand, he never claimed to be white. He told my men that he was Acadian.”

“Oh, that’s a good one.” Another laugh. “Darrell the Cajun. My, my. Darrell has reinvented himself many times over. He is not Acadian although his mother was from Louisiana. What Darrell is…is a little psychopath. Not surprising considering his genetics.” He looked at Decker. “Hers, not mine.”

“His mother.”

“His mother was a slut.” The nostrils fumed. “I’m not even sure Darrell is mine. But I took him on as if he were such because…” He paused, typed furiously, then resumed conversation. “Because I felt I had no choice. I was too ashamed and too embarrassed and too stupid and too enthralled with the woman’s sexual prowess to question. And some humanitarian part of me felt sorry for the little bastard. Maybe he was mine. Whatever seed penetrated that woman’s ovum produced an offspring that had some smarts. The boy is not stupid. Just amoral…and lazy. Very, very lazy. He wanted all the trappings…” Holt swept his hand across the room. “But never lifted a finger to work for them.”

“Has he called you within the last four years even if he hasn’t seen you?”

“Maybe. I certainly haven’t talked to him. He’d only want money so why bother speaking to him? But you can check the phone records if you’d like, Lieutenant.”

“Any idea how he’s been supporting himself?”

“He’s twenty-four and computer-savvy.” Holt checked the electronic ticker tape. “Very, very good. What were we talking about?”

“How Darrell is supporting himself.”