Street Dreams

El Paso shrugged. “Wha’ this have to do with me? I been here for the last two months.”

It was my turn. “I was shot at by that bastard because he didn’t want me looking into the Sarah Sanders rape. There was only one person who could have told him about my investigation. And that same person told Fedek what car to look out for.”

A smile spread across El Paso’s lips. “I don’ know what you talk about.”

“Then I’ll make it clear. When I arrested you, you saw my friend drive away in his car. You noted the make and model. You told Fedek, your stepbrother, that I was investigating Sarah Sanders’s rape and you told him what car to look for. You set me up!”

A smirk. “Youescrazy. I thin’ the heat is too much for your head.”

“This is the thing, Germando.” I gave him a venal smile. “Fedek is going to take you down. You know how I know this? Because I’m going to offer him a deal: immunity in the Sarah Sanders rape case to testify against you. That means, Germando, you’re not going to serve your five to seven here in Cochise, which is primarily for drug dealers. You’re going to the big-time asshole reamers.”

“This is whatshewants,” Brill said. “I got other ideas. You interested in hearing about them?”

El Paso was silent. But his jumpy eyes told the story.

“Guess not,” Brill said.

We both got up at the same time.

El Paso didn’t move or speak.

We waited. Finally, I called out for the guard.

Still nothing.

The guard came.

Germando waited until the key was actually in the lock, the guard about to let us out, before he caved in. He said, “Wait a min… I listen.”

My voice dripped contempt. “You had your chance, Germando. You blew it!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” He bolted up. “I listen now!”

“Sit down!” Brill ordered.

El Paso sat. “I listen now,” he repeated. Chastened to the core. Brill blew out air and looked at me. “What do you think?”

“I think we should leave! I didn’t want to come here in the first place.”

“Well, we’re here,” Brill said. “Might as well talk to him.” He looked at the guard. “Sorry to bother you.”

“No problem.” The khaki-uniformed guard walked away.

We took up our seats at the table, all of us sipping what tasted like slag water. Brill turned to me. “Go.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Okay,” I said, “there was once this retarded girl-”

“I don’ do nothin’.”

“You go

He was silent.

“There was once this retarded girl,” I told him. “She was gang-raped and her retarded boyfriend was beaten up and left in a garbage can for trash collection.” I leaned over. “If the DA offers Fedek a chance to drop a charge of attempted murder on a cop in exchange for a single count of rape and testimony about the others who were there, guess what Fedek’s going to do?”

“I no touch her!”

“So this is what I want you to do,” I said. “I want you to tell us about the rape.”

“What do I get?”

“First we have to hear your story,” Brill said. “But before we hear you, we’ve got to let you know that you can have an attorney present because we will use whatever we want to use from your statement. But once you get your attorney, the control factor moves from us to your lawyer. Then things start slipping away because that means we’ve got to bring in our lawyers. Then it’s the lawyers talking to lawyers instead of us talking to you.”

“I don’ need no lawyer. Look what happen when I have a lawyer.”

“A very good point,” I told him. “You’re here and he isn’t.”

Brill said, “So if you talk to us, you’ve got to sign this paper saying that we told you about your rights in English and you read your rights in English and Spanish and agree to waive them.”

“Wha’ paper?”

“This paper.” Brill showed him the card. “You’ve got to sign it right here. That says you agree to talk to us without an attorney. And you also understand that what you tell us could be used against you in court.”

“And it also says that if you want an attorney, you can ask for one at any time,” I said. “But like Detective Brill told you, once you’ve asked for an attorney, it’s out of our hands.”

“I don’ need no lawyer,” El Paso said.

Brill took out a pen. “Sign here.”

El Paso signed the waiver card.

“Germando, I need the pen back.”

El Paso returned the pen, unhappy because he’d lost a potential weapon. Brill pocketed the card. “What happened with Sarah Sanders?”

“The retardmuchacha.”

“Yes,” I said. “What’d you do to her?”

“I don’ touch datmuchacha.Juice do her, I no do her.”

“Who else?” Brill said.

“Leo.”

“Leo who?”

“Leo dat’s Juice’s friend.”

“Last name?” I asked.

El Paso shrugged.

“Do better,” I told him.

“Leo Shithead… I call him dat.”

Leo’s last name was Chatlin. I let it go. “Who else?”

“Pepe Renaldes.”

“I don’t think so. Try again.”

“Wha’?” El Paso said. “Wha’ you mean?”

Brill looked at me with confusion. I raised my eyebrows, feeling my heart take off. I had met El Paso and I had met Pepe Renaldes and I knew in my gut who was the rapist and who was the lookout. I was taking a tremendous chance, because I hadn’t cleared any of this with Brill for obvious reasons. I couldn’t tell him that I’d met with Renaldes behind his back. I said, “One more time. Who raped her?”

“Dat’s wha’ I say,” El Paso replied. “Joey Fedek, Leo Shithead, and Pepe Renald-”

“No, no, no,” I said louder. “If you’re going to give me bullshit, El Paso, I’m going to walk from this.”

“I don’ know wha’ you want!” El Paso yelled. “I tell you the truth!”

“Let’s start from the begi

Brill said, “A word with you, Decker?”

“In a minute,” I told him. My heart was pumping out of my throat. Abruptly, I pounded the table. “You think I’mdumb,Germando? You think I don’t do my homework? You think I don’t talk to other people includingyou-know-whoto get their side of the story before I come up here to this hellhole?” I was trying to avoid Brill’s burning eyes. “One more time, El Paso, and this time I want the truth. It’s going to come down to that if you want a deal. I want to know whorapedSarah Sanders.”

I locked the man in eye-to-eye combat. He finally got the point. He rubbed his forehead and sat back in his chair. “I don’ say nothin’.”

I said, “Then you’ll go down for rape, bud.”

His head sprang up. “And if I say things?”

“We talk to the DA,” I told him. “Maybe we can swing a lesser charge of sexual molestation, maybe add another twelve months here in Cochise. That’s a lot better than five-plus in San Quentin.”

Germando stroked his chin, eyes moving between Justice and me. I think he misinterpreted Justice’s fury-directed at me-as being meant for him. “Hokay. It was Juice, Leo, and me dat did her. Pepe was lookout.”

“Much better.” I didn’t dare so much as glance at Brill. I couldn’t face him. “Tell us the story.”

“Nothin’ to tell. First Leo and me hold the boy, an’ Juice does her. Then we get tired of him because he screams. So Juice beat the shit outta him and dump him in de trash. Then I do the girl. Then Leo do the girl. Then we leave.” He shrugged. “Dat’s it.”

I finally screwed up the nerve to turn to Brill. “A word.”

Brill was livid. If I had had any hopes of his recommending me for the Detectives squad, they were squashed by now. We asked for the guard.

“Wha’ you doing?” El Paso bolted up.

“We’ll be back,” I told him.

The guard let us out. We spoke in a private interview room as hot as a sauna because it had walls instead of bars. Brill wiped sweat off his face with a towel, trying to find the right words. “What did you just pull?”

I said, “I think I can get Pepe Renaldes to corroborate the story.”

“Yeah, I figured that out, Decker. You went and talked to Renaldes without telling me-”