“No, I didn’t know that,” Decker said.

Erin became animated. “PEI was going under, and Darrell needed money to keep it going. So Darrell went to Hank, and Hank convinced Dee to give Darrell a job. She brought him on to do computer work because she didn’t know shit about computers. Darrell told me that at first she gave him just secretarial stuff. Then Darrell and Dee got to know each other…pretty well, in fact.” Her smile became a leer. “One thing led to another with work and with play.”

“Who suggested breaking into the testing center?”

“Probably Darrell. But I don’t know that. All I know is that Hank was upset with Darrell. He was saying things about Darrell compromising PEI’s integrity and hurting the Baldwins. Darrell kept saying that it was Dee’s idea, so he should just shut up.”

“So Tarpin liked the Baldwins?”

She rubbed her nose. “Tarpin liked the boys…not to fuck them, but he liked doing the camp thing. He liked to play Mr. Marine. I don’t think he’d hurt any of the boys, including Ernesto. And I can’t see him whacking the Baldwins.”

Decker formulated ideas. Had Tarpin threatened to expose the hacking scheme? Was that why he was murdered? If so, it had taken Darrell six months to do it. And then there was Ernesto. How’d he fit in? Decker asked Erin for her opinion.

She looked down at her lap. “Once…when Darrell thought I was sleeping, I overheard Ruby telling Darrell things…that Ernesto was a problem.”

“A problem…” Decker waited until he could make eye contact with the girl. A hard stare. “What did he say to that?”

“Maybe he said something like ‘Take care of him.’”

Take care of him.

“And what did that sound like to you, Erin?”

The teenager didn’t answer.

The little psychopath! She knew all along. Decker said, “Didn’t you just tell me that Ernesto’s death came as a shock to you?”

“It did!”

“Then I’ll repeat my question. What did ‘Take care of him’ mean to you?”

She began to cry. “I didn’t know Ernesto was going to die!”

“But you knew it wasn’t going to be good—”

“I thought Darrell was just…being cool or something.”

“To whack someone is to be cool?”

“You’re putting words into my mouth!” She was sobbing by then. Decker let her go for a while. Then he said, “So Ruby set Ernesto up?”

“How was I supposed to know? I’m just this dumb junkie living from fix to fix!”

A dumb, psycho, lying junkie, Decker wanted to add. He shut off the recorder, leaned forward, and grabbed the girl’s shoulders, his eyes staring into her blank pupils. “Erin, where can I find Darrell?”

“I don’t know,” she whimpered. “I swear.”