“I thought he got it dealing, but not by regular dealing. My first thought was that the fool ripped off a dealer. I got to tell you, I was scared shitless because as we left the area, I started seeing cop cars. One was enough to give me the shakes. Then I counted two and three.” His eyes got wide. “I drove out of the area taking side streets with my headlights off.”

“Again you were lucky.”

“Don’t think I don’t know it. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that I heard about Dr. Little. I wasn’t in school no more, so I didn’t get the lowdown until after the fact—the carjacking and the Mercedes being left at Clearwater Park. Leroy was in big trouble, and I was probably in trouble by extension. We met and we got a story together in case the cops came to us.”

“And you never asked him what happened?”

“I didn’t want to know, especially if the cops were coming after me and they was gonna give me a lie detector test…I wanted to pass.”

“So what was your story for the cops?”

“We’d be each other’s alibi. Before I left to pick up Leroy, my mom asked me where I was going. I told her to hang out with Leroy. She was talking to the minister and he heard me say it. She’d never imagine that I traveled twenty-five miles to pick up Leroy. I didn’t have a car. Leroy didn’t have a car. And why would we be there? Besides, why would we hurt Dr. Ben? We were never his special boys like Darnell. In North Valley High, we were invisible.”

“But you were interviewed about the murder.”

“Yeah, of course. Because of Darnell and the drug charges and we were his friends and were black. No one could believe that a white boy would hurt Dr. Ben. I was interviewed by some white cop named Vitton who came to my house. He talked to me. He talked to my mom. He talked to my minister. After that, he never spoke to me again.”

“And Leroy?”

“His grandmother said that Leroy and me was home with her. She must have been about ninety at the time—deaf and blind. She didn’t know if Leroy was home or not, but she wasn’t gonna say anything to a bunch of cops.”

He paused to reorganize his thoughts.

“About six months after Dr. Ben’s murder, Leroy calls me out of the blue and tells me he’s got some good news. He found some rock star who liked my songs and wanted to hear more of them.”

Marge was quiet.

“Now’s the time for Primo Ekerling.”

“I didn’t want to interrupt you.”