“For some reason, I remember…” He picked up the plate and took it into the kitchen. When he came back, he was holding another bottle of beer. “I remember that Mudd fell in love with her.” He looked at Decker. “Ryan used to fall in love with whoever he fucked. He was a sucker.” Another pause. “She liked money.”

Decker took out his notepad. “Melinda liked money.”

“I mean, who doesn’t like money, but most of the girls we screwed did it to say they screwed us, or for the party scene or for the drugs. Melinda liked money. I remember talking to Mudd about it. Ryan used to give her money. It’s all coming back.”

“Take your time.” Decker wrote as he collected his thoughts. “So Ryan gave Melinda money? How much?”

“Too much.” Liam took another swig of beer. “I used to tell him, ‘Mudd, you can’t be fallin’ in love with every bird you screw. It’s just ass, mate. You can’t be givin’ it all away for ass. You gotta use your head.’ I musta told him that twenty times a day; the idiot kept fallin’ for one bird after another.”

“Ryan was in love with Melinda?”

O’Dell sipped beer. “Ryan couldn’t…it wasn’t like a mature love. More like a teenage crush. Melinda was squeezing the bloke dry. I forgot who told him. Maybe me, maybe Primo. We finally told Mudd she was married. I think she even had kids.”

“She did…she does.”

“Yeah, she had kids. It was clear to us that she was just foolin’ around. We told Mudd she was married, that she wasn’t gonna leave her husband, that she wasn’t gonna leave her kids. That she was only interested in a good screw and money and that he should forget about her.”

“Did he?”

“He had no choice. We all saw what was happening. We took control of Ryan’s spending cash. When he ran out, she stopped coming around.”

“That doesn’t mean he forgot her.”

“Mudd moved on to the next bird, probably a normal one who liked drugs.”

“Do you remember when Melinda started coming around?”

“Like a date?”

“Even a year.”

“Between the time we formed the band and before we broke up. That was a three-year period.”

Decker mentally noted it was the three-year period in which Little was murdered. “And you don’t remember Melinda’s last name?”

“I don’t remember it as Little…why does that sound familiar?”

“Because Melinda Little’s husband, Bennett Little, was murdered during that three-year period.”

O’Dell looked confused. “Murdered?”

“You don’t remember it? It made big news, Liam. That’s why I’m looking for Rudy. He went to the high school where Little worked.”

“I thought you suspected Banks in Primo’s murder…which is ridiculous.”

“Why? I’ve heard stories about Banks trying to throw acid on someone’s balls.”