“He does…he’s a good man, Barry is, but he can’t afford to put Ryan in the kind of home he needs.”

“Ryan said he was a lung doctor. They do pretty well.”

“He works at a university.”

“Aha.” Decker sipped. “Any idea where Rudy could have gone—a favorite club, a bar, a restaurant, a casino, maybe a massage parlor?”

“I’m in the dark, mate. I don’t know where he went or who he hung with. Whenever I went to see him, I tried to pick him off at his apartment.”

“Pick him off?”

“Y’know what I mean, mate.”

“Who is Rudy’s lawyer, O’Dell?”

“What?”

“Rudy’s attorney. You’re in a lawsuit with Banks. You have a lawyer. He must have a lawyer. Judging by the amount of lawsuits the guy generated, he probably has several lawyers.”

“He usually did his own defending. He’s a lawyer.”

“He’s got way too many suits to do it alone.”

“I suppose I could call me lawyer about it.”

“Please do.” Decker handed him the phone.

“Now?”

It was a little after eight. Decker said, “Even if your lawyer isn’t in, call and leave a message. If anyone knows where Rudy is, it would be his lawyer.”

“His lawyer won’t tell us, mate. Confidentiality.”

“I know that. I’ll deal with that later. For starts, I’d like to find out if Rudy’s alive.”

O’Dell made a tiny O with his mouth. “You think he’s dead?”

“That’s an open question.”

“Nah, he’s not dead.” O’Dell brushed Decker off. “He’s just runnin’ from his creditors.”

“Or from his dealers?”

Again, O’Dell paused. “That could be. Rudy used to deal, y’know.”

“Yes, I found that out. I think he might have used a kid named Darnell Arlington as one of his runners. Back then, he was around sixteen—tall and black. Built like a basketball player.”

“Name doesn’t ring any bell in me head. I didn’t buy the drug, Lieutenant. Rudy did. Rudy was the supplier for the band, the roadies, the girls, especially the girls.”

“What kinds of drugs?”

“From pot to H and anything in between. When we weren’t doing drugs, we were drinkin’ by the fifth. I don’t remember the kid, but I don’t remember much from those days at all. Not even the girls. That’s what really pisses me off. I don’t even know if it was good or not.”

“Where did Rudy get the money to buy the drugs?”

“Probably skimmed it from the band’s profits. He was in charge of the money. We were idiots for letting him do it, but we were also too stoned to care.”

“Ekerling seemed to be aware of things. How’d he let Rudy get away with handling the finances?”