“Who said it was Geraldo Perry who’s talking?” Decker looked at Garrett and Diaz. “Did I say anything about Geraldo Perry being a witness?”

“Nah, you didn’t say anything about Geraldo as a witness,” Diaz said.

“Perry wasn’t even part of the Ekerling hit,” Decker said. “He didn’t know what was flying. You just took him along for an alibi or maybe to help you chuck the body.”

“You be makin’ shit up, I don’t have to be here.”

“You want to go back to your cell?” Diaz asked him. “I can have someone take you back.”

“Or you can stick around a little longer and smoke another cigarette,” Garrett told him. “Up to you.”

Martel didn’t answer.

“If I’ve got it wrong, then tell me what happened,” Decker said. “But tell the truth.”

“I tole y’all like a million times, we boosted the car, we didn’t know nothin’ about no body in the trunk.”

Decker told him, “No one is going to believe that, Travis, especially once we show the judge and jury these CDs and your note to Ekerling in your own handwriting.”

Diaz said, “You knew Ekerling, Travis. That’s very clear.”

“What happened, Mr. Martel?” Decker asked. “Did Ekerling tell you he was going to produce your CD and then did he back out?”

“Y’all talkin’ shit and I ain’t got no more to say.”

Decker had a lot more to say. But first he needed Martel’s admission that he knew Ekerling. Six Pepsis, a pack of smokes, and three hours later, the magic moment came.

Martel kept raking his hands through his black strands, sweat pouring off his nose. “You keep hammerin’ at me.”

“We need the truth if we’re going to help you,” Garrett said.

“Hep me?” Martel sneered. “You ain’t gonna hep me. You ain’t gonna do shit for me. If you be heppin’ me, I wouldn’t be in my cons, man.”

“Of course we want to help you,” Diaz said. “That’s why we’re here. Do you think we’d be wasting our time, talking to you, if we didn’t have something in mind?”

Garrett said, “We know that you’re not going to talk to us unless we help you. But we can’t do anything for you, Travis, as long as you continue to lie.”

“Once you lay off the bullshit and start telling us the truth, then maybe we can help you out.”

Decker said, “Because we know that you knew Ekerling. Just get it over with and tell us that you knew him and then we can begin helping you.”

“Don’t deny the obvious facts, Travis,” Garrett said.

Decker said, “That’s just plain stupid. It’s stupid when you say you didn’t know Ekerling when obviously you did.”