“You don’t know Primo Ekerling, you never met him, you never talked to him, you never communicated with him, you’ve never even heard of him before you were arrested for his murder,” Decker said. “Is that what you’re telling us, Mr. Martel?”

“Yeah…” Again he slumped back in his chair. “That’s what I be tellin’ you over and over. Are we done here?”

“That’s real interesting.” Diaz laid the bagged jewel boxes on the table. “Do these look familiar, Travis?”

Martel picked up one of the plastic sacks. “Course they do. They’re mine. Is this a trick question or somethin’?”

“Know where I found them?” Decker waited for Martel’s attention, specifically eye contact, because when Martel was talking, he was looking at the floor. “I found them on Primo Ekerling’s office shelves.”

Martel’s eyes skittered back and forth. “So what? How do I know how Ekerling got my demos? Maybe someone thought I had talent and sent them to him.”

Garrett said, “We dusted the jewel boxes, Travis.”

“See, that’s why they’re all dirty with black powder,” Diaz said.

“We got a couple of perfect prints, Travis. You sent those jewel boxes out, and you sent them to Primo Ekerling.”

Martel’s eyes made a swipe at Garrett’s face. “So what’s the big D? My shit must have went to a million producers.”

“You sent out your stuff to a million producers,” Decker said.

“Yeah. That’s whachu gotta do to get your foot into the door, nomasayin’?”

“You sent them out?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said…to a million people. I don’t be rememberin’ who I have sent them to and who I have not sent them to.”

“When you sent them out, you addressed the envelopes,” Decker said.

A pause. “You gotta talk to my manager,” Martel said. “He’s the one who have sent out the CDs to the producers, y’all. I don’t remember no names. Why don’t you axe my manager?”

“Who’s your manager?” Garrett asked him.

“I ain’t gonna tell you shit, man, if y’all gonna start accuzin’ people.”

“We don’t have to ask your manager if he sent them out or not, because the handwriting on the envelope was yours.” Decker’s lie was smooth. The envelopes containing the jewel boxes were long gone.

Another shift in the eyes meant another shift in strategy for Martel. “Like I tole you, I have sent them out to ’bout a zillion producers. How am I gonna remember one name or the other? I thought you are here to tell me somethin’. So far all you be tellin’ me is a lot of shit that you throwin’ my way.”

Decker said, “Travis, if you knew Primo Ekerling…if you had a business deal with him, it’s better if it comes out now.”