“Oh, I spoke to Detective Shirley Redkin about suicide. The death was ruled inconclusive.” When both detectives looked up, Decker explained, “Off the record, she thinks the ME wanted to keep the options open just in case other information came in.”

The room was quiet for a moment. Oliver said, “Is it possible that Rudy found out about the reopening of the case and murdered Cal Senior?”

Decker shrugged.

Marge shook her head. “You know, we’ve never even interviewed Banks face-to-face.”

“I talked to him.”

“For how long?”

“About five minutes.”

“I rest my case,” Marge said. “We seem to be making him our convenient fall guy.”

Oliver said, “His name keeps showing up.”

“How about this?” Decker said. “Freddie also told me that Rudy used to be the drug dealer for the school. I just talked to Liam O’Dell and he said Rudy was the drug supplier for the group.”

“Banks was a drug runner and Darnell was a drug runner,” Oliver said. “That’s how the two were connected. When Arlington was arrested for drug dealing, Ben Little found out about the operation. He somehow managed to sweep Arlington’s arrest under the table because he liked Arlington, but he had no such love for Banks. He became a threat to Rudy’s operation, so Banks had him murdered.”

Marge said. “You’re assuming that Rudy still worked North Valley when Darnell came to the school.”

Oliver said, “The turf isn’t that big, and Darnell would have been perfect for the job. Then Darnell got caught and Little became a threat. Rudy told Darnell to fix the situation. Now by then Darnell had moved away, but he still had friends. Maybe he hired one of his dawgs to do the shooting.”

Decker looked skeptical. “Wenderhole and Josephson were interviewed. They had alibis.”

Marge said, “And why didn’t Vitton arrest Rudy if he suspected him of selling drugs?”

Oliver said, “He probably didn’t have the evidence. Just like we don’t have the evidence.”

Marge held up a finger. “Or maybe Rudy had something on Cal Senior. Something big enough to make Cal Senior back off.”

“Like what?” Oliver said. “That Cal J was gay?”

Decker said, “Freddie implied that even before Cal J came out, it was pretty clear that he was gay.”

“It was common knowledge?” Marge asked.

Decker said. “I got the feeling it wasn’t spoken about, but it kinda hovered over Cal Senior’s consciousness.”

“Have you spoken to Cal J?”

“I’m going to try to talk to him before he goes back to San Francisco. By the way, the blood I found in Banks’s apartment doesn’t match Ekerling.”

Marge made a face. “So we’ve got another body to deal with?”