Decker let go of her arms and backed away, giving her some breathing room. His eyes continued to bore into hers. “Give me an idea, little girl! Something! Anything!”

“He’s probably hiding in the hills somewhere between Santa Barbara and Orange County. I don’t think he’s left Southern California—”

“Narrow it down!” Decker ordered.

“Stop yelling at me!” she screamed.

“What’s going on down there?” a disembodied voice yelled down. Doreen to the rescue. “I’m coming down right now!”

Decker glared at Erin. “You’re in trouble—”

“I don’t know where he is!” she bleated. “Go lean on Ruby Ranger, why don’t you? She’s known Darrell a lot longer than I have.”

Doreen appeared. “The questioning is over!”

“Fair enough. I’m taking her in—”

“What?” Doreen was outraged. “You can’t—”

“I can and I will. You can come along. As a matter of fact, it would be good if you came along.”

“I have kids here!”

“So don’t come.”

“So you’re just going to arrest her?” Doreen asked.

“Take her in for questioning,” Decker corrected. “Actually, I’m not going to take her in. I’m going to contact a female juvenile officer from Detectives to bring her in. It’ll take about an hour.” To Erin he said, “You have time to change and wash up if you want.” Give yourself a final fix was the unspoken message. “But you can’t lock the door to the bathroom. If you do, I’ll break it down.”

“Why?” Doreen asked.

“Policy,” Decker said. “I need to keep an eye on her.”

“I cooperated with you,” Erin said sulkily.

Decker snapped back. “That’s why I’m letting you go to the bathroom, Erin.”

“Okay. Then maybe I will…go to the bathroom.” Her eyes met Decker’s. “They’re probably together—Ruby and Darrell—but not the way you think.”

A sly smile spread across her face. Decker wanted to smack her. Instead he said, “Erin, this isn’t a game. You are in trouble. If I find out you’re holding back, I will not only nail you legally, but you can forget about a hospital—”

Doreen blurted out, “That’s enough!”

But Erin spoke anyway. “I told you I don’t know where he is.” A hesitation. “I’m fucking scared, you know!”

“You should be!” Decker answered. “You remember the things that happened at your stay in rehab. Do you think jail without medical care is going to be better?”

“You’re threatening her!” Doreen yelled.

“Telling her the facts.” Decker’s eyes bored into Erin’s. “Help me and I’ll help you. Makes your life easy.”

“I don’t know where they are,” Erin repeated. “I’d have no problem telling you, but I don’t know!”

“You’re repeating yourself. Tell me something new.”

“Okay, okay…uh, hey, how about this. Darrell considers Ruby’s mouth a problem.”