“Nah, you don’t make much money running drugs unless you are up at the top. All the soldiers get is pocket change and maybe some free shit—whatever you can steal from a rock or a bag.” He licked his lips. “Now I knew Leroy was full of shit, but he sounded true. I was just about to say yes, I’m in. I was working my ass off in school and still bitter about being shipped off. And with Dr. Ben out of the way…I figured that I could maybe even pick up where I left off…selling to North Valley and doing some rap.

“But the good Lord must have been looking over my shoulder. I meant to tell him yes, but what came out of my mouth was a no. He starts trying to up me, and suddenly I’m back in his face, besting him. I told him that I was a star basketball player and I was being looked at for the bigs, which was a total lie, but hell if he was gonna do better than me, know what I’m saying?”

Oliver nodded. “So how did Leroy respond to that?”

“Just by tellin’ me what a fool I was. And then he said that it was probably a good thing that I said no because Rudy was still mad at me for botching up the operation. So then I told Leroy, it wasn’t me who botched the operation, it was Ben Little.”

No one spoke.

Arlington said, “Then Leroy sorta laughed. You know…snickered kinda. Then he said to me…he said, ‘We don’t have to worry no more about Ben Little.’ And I said, ‘I know that. He’s dead. Someone shot him.’ And he said, ‘I know all about that, Big D’—that’s what he used to call me. Big D. Then he says…he says…‘You know, I was there when it went down.’”

Another moment of silence.