“Nothin’ on my chest.”

“You have two little girls, Darnell. Could you imagine your girls growing up without their daddy? What do you think happened to Ben’s little boys? Don’t they have a right to know?”

“I wasn’t there!”

“I know you weren’t there. You were right here in Ohio playing basketball. And you can keep on insisting that you don’t know anything about it. Maybe I’ll even believe you. But you can’t lie to your conscience.”

No one spoke. Darnell continued to look out the window, at his boys going through their workout. Suddenly his eyes moistened. “Leroy Josephson…he called me about six months after Dr. Ben died. I hadn’t heard from him since I left L.A. so his call was unexpected. Nana wasn’t home and I answered the phone.” His face began to unfurl. “I shoulda hung up. I knew he was bad news. Leroy was always gettin’ himself into one kind of fix or another…but Leroy was Leroy and we had a history.” Arlington flinched. “You must know some friends like that-all take but no give. You like the dudes, but deep down you know that they’re bums.”

“I know about twenty guys like that,” Oliver said. “In fact, some people might say I’m that kind of friend.”

Arlington raised his eyebrows. “So Leroy’s on the phone, and suddenly I’m back in L.A. and I’m all ghetto. Yo, bro, whaddup…shit like that. Leroy’s crowing about some recording deal that he got for A-Tack…Jervis Wenderhole.”

“I know Jervis is A-Tack, and I know he cut a CD for Primo Ekerling.”

“Yeah, exactly. Leroy’s goin’ on that Jervis cut a CD and is gonna be a big pimp and Leroy was gonna be Jervis’s manager and they already got gigs opening for bigger pimps and shit like that. And that I should get my ass over to L.A. and Leroy would make me a pimp and that if I didn’t have no money to come out, Leroy would give me some because he was flush.”

“Did he say how he earned the money?”

“Nah, he didn’t say. I assumed he scored big on some B and E.”

“Not drugs?”

“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.

“I got mute. Like Leroy just sucker-punched me. I felt sick just like when I first found out about the murder. I mean, I didn’t even know that Leroy and Dr. Ben knew each other. But I suppose that Dr. Ben knew everyone. So I said…I said, ‘You did it, Yo-King? You snipped Dr. Ben?’ Then Leroy was acting all defensive. He said, ‘I didn’t do no snippin’, I just said I was there when it went down.’ Then he said, ‘I didn’t know they was gonna take him down. Things just got bad.’ And I say, ‘Who took him down?’ And Leroy say, ‘Don’t matter who done it. It wasn’t me and it wasn’t Jervis and it wasn’t even a brother. And now it’s over.’ Then he asked me do I want to be a major pimp or no. So I say, ‘No, I don’t got time to be no pimp.’ And that was that. He never called me again, I never called him again.”

Arlington swallowed hard.

“I never even thought about calling the police. I had no proof that Leroy was talking true, and even if he was, I would never pigeon a friend.” Another beat. “It turned out that Leroy wasn’t just blowing smoke about turning A-Tack into a pimp. He did cut a CD and Leroy sent it to me, being all smug. At that time, I was burning with envy. Just burning! I was determined to do better. I figured I really fucked up myself by not going back and joining Leroy. I kept playing the CD and saying, ‘I could do better than that. I could do way better than that.’”

Silence.

“If you know what happened to Jervis and Leroy, you know what changed my mind.”

Marge asked, “How’d you hear about the shooting?”

“My mama told me.” He looked away. “She called me up all excited and told me about Leroy dying and Jervis being paralyzed.”

“What did you think?”

“What did I think?” A beat. “I was sick. I got down on my knees and thanked Jesus for my salvation.” He blew out air. “I tried not to look at Leroy being shot as God’s justice for Dr. Ben, but you think what you think. I didn’t know why it was in God’s plan for Jervis to be hurt. Hell, if Leroy would have called me to pick him up, I would have done the same thing.

“The shooting turned Jervis’s life around. He told me that since he was in a wheelchair, he had lots of time to think about things. He found Jesus and never looked back. That’s what he told me.”

“Did Jervis try to contact you again after you left California?”

“Nah. We faded out of each other’s life for ten years. Then out of the blue, he sent me a Christmas card…telling me what he’s doing. So I wrote him back, telling him what I’m doing. We’ve been exchanging cards now for about five years but nothing more than that. I was happy he found his life, and he seemed happy that I found mine. I hadn’t actually talked to him until last week, when he called to tell me about the interview he had with you.” He looked at Marge. “That’s when he told me that he had gone to Clearwater Park to pick up Leroy. He also told me that Leroy was real jingly, and Jervis knew that something bad had happened. Then I told him about my phone call with Leroy six months after Dr. Ben died. I told him that Leroy said he was there but never admitted to doin’ nothin’”

Arlington stared at the window.

“Maybe Leroy snipped him, maybe he had help. We’re never gonna know because Leroy’s dead.”

“And you’re sure that Leroy never mentioned Rudy Banks in connection with the killing,” Oliver said.

“Leroy didn’t tell me any names. I know that the police talked to Leroy after Dr. Ben’s murder. If they couldn’t get the truth out of Leroy, I figured why should I do their job for them?” He turned to the detectives. “I suppose if you’re determined to arrest me, you’ll do it no matter what I say.”

“We’re not going to arrest you,” Marge said. “But we’re not at that point yet where we have to be concerned with legal matters. We’re just trying to solve an old crime. We’re trying to speak for Ben Little who can’t speak for himself. Thank you for talking to us again. We’ll probably have some follow-up questions if you don’t mind.”

Arlington opened the door to his office and blew the whistle. “Back in formation. I want to see you practice going down the lanes. Keep it smooth.” He turned back to Marge and Oliver. “You can go ahead and ask your questions. And I’ll answer them. But do me a favor, Detectives. Next time you want to talk to me, use the phone.”