“I’ve got a wit, one who just came in voluntarily that may close out two cases that’ve been open for seventeen years and involved six deaths. The wit may give information that leads to an arrest in those matters.”

“What-”

Eve plowed right over her. “In addition, I’m about to close the St. Cristóbal’s homicide with two arrests. The wit was a minor at the time of the earlier incident, and would likely fall under the idiotic Clemency Order, or it could so be argued if there were charges brought. You do deals with scum to get bigger scum every day of the goddamn week, Reo. I’m talking family man here, one who comes off as doing a one-eighty on where his life was going. You authorize immunity, or I’m cutting him loose.”

“I can’t just-”

“Don’t tell me what you can’t. Make it work. Get back to me.” Eve clicked off, contacted Mira’s office. “I don’t care what she’s doing,” Eve began when the ferocious admin answered. “I need to speak with her now. Put me through, or I’m coming down there.”

The screen went to hot, waiting blue.

Moments later, Mira came on. “Eve?”

“I need you in Observation,” Eve began, and explained. “Maybe I’m wrong,” she added. “You’ll know if I’m wrong.”

“I can be there in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

She made the last call to Feinburg, and set in motion the last of her plan. When Reo tagged her back, Eve grabbed the ’link.

“I’m on my way. Immunity isn’t out of the question, but I need more information.”

“The wit was approximately seventeen years old, and a member of the Soldados when the bombings in 2043 occurred.”

“Jesus, Dallas, if he was part of that-”

“I believe his part, if any, was minor, and after the fact. And that he can give us information on the major players. Later today, I’m going to be picking up the only one of them I believe is still alive, as part of the St. Cristóbal’s arrest. They could skate on this anyway, Reo, but what he gives me would be another nail for you to hammer.”

“The Clemency Order’s a murky area as it was revoked. If a suspect wasn’t arrested and charged during the time it was in place, and information after its repeal-”

“Don’t lawyer me, Reo. You’re going to give my wit immunity.” No, she couldn’t stop them all, Eve thought. She couldn’t save them all. But she could save some. “I’m not taking this guy down for it.”

“What’s the wit’s name?”

“It’s going to be Mr. X until you give me the damn immunity.”

“Goddamn it, what is he, your brother? All right, conditional immunity. If he did murder, Dallas, I’m not giving him a wash.”

“Good enough.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Interview B. You may want to clear your slate for the rest of the day. It’s going to be a long one.”

She swung out, met up with Peabody, and went in to talk to Joe Inez.

“Record on. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, and Peabody, Detective Delia, in interview with Inez, Joe, and Inez, Consuela. I’m going to read you your rights at this time.” Once she had, she sat at the table across from them. “Do you both understand your rights and obligations in this matter?”

“Yeah, I do, but Connie isn’t involved.”

“This is for her protection. Mr. Inez, have you come in to interview of your own volition?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“I’d like you to tell me, for the record, why you chose to come in and make a statement today.”

“I… I did a lot of things I’m not proud of, in the past. But I got a family. I’ve got three kids, three boys. If I don’t do what’s right, how am I supposed to tell them they have to do what’s right?’

“Okay. Do you want something to drink?”

“I-no.” Obviously flustered, he cleared his throat. “I’m good.”

“Mrs. Inez?”

“No, thank you. We just want to get this over with.”

“Tell me what happened, Joe. What happened back in the spring of 2043?”

“Ah, most of us, even if we didn’t go to the school, went to the dances. Maybe to dance, or pick fights, do some dealing, look for recruits.”

“Who are we?”

“Oh. The Soldados. Lino and Steve were co-captains then. Well, Lino mostly ran the gang. Steve was more muscle. Lino wanted more recruits, and he figured you got more recruits when you had trouble. When you had, like, a common enemy. He talked like that,” Joe added. “But I didn’t know, I swear to God, I didn’t know, until later.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“The bomb. I didn’t know. I’d been a member for about a year, year and a half, and Lino liked that I was good with my hands. That I could fix stuff. That I could boost cars.” He let out a breath. “He used to say I’d be somebody. He’d make me somebody. But I had to make my mark.”

“Your mark.”

“The kill mark. I couldn’t be upper level until I did a kill, until I’d made my mark.”

“You still wear the Soldado tattoo,” Eve pointed out. “It doesn’t include the kill mark, the X below the cross.”

“No, I never made my mark. I didn’t have it in me. I didn’t mind a fight, hell, I liked fighting. Get out there, get a little bloody. Blow off steam. But I didn’t want to kill anybody.”

“And still, you and Lino were friends,” Eve prompted.

“Yeah, or I thought we were. Lino used to razz me about it, but… just like guys razz each other about shit. I guess that’s why I didn’t know what he had going, what he set up.”

“He didn’t tell you about the bomb.”

“He never said anything to me. He said how he’d meet up with me there, at the dance. The bomb at the dance, when it went off, I was right there. Right there. Ronni Edwards got killed. She went up ten feet away from me. I knew her.”

He stopped, and rubbed his hands over his face. When he dropped them again, Connie took one in hers.

“I knew her,” Joe repeated. “Since we were in kindergarten I knew her, and she blew apart in front of me. I never…” He lowered his head, fought for composure. “Sorry.”

“Take your time,” Eve told him.

“It went-it went to hell in seconds. Music’s playing, kids are dancing or hanging. Then it went to hell. The noise, the fire. More kids got hurt, and then they’re running around, crazy scared, and more get hurt in the trample. Lino and Chávez and Penny, they’re hauling kids out like heroes, and saying how it was the Skulls, the motherfriggin’ Skulls.”

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “But they weren’t there, not when it went down.”

“Lino, Steve, and Penny weren’t there,” Eve qualified.

“Yeah. I mean no, no they weren’t there when the place exploded. I’d been looking for Lino. I had a couple guys who wanted in-wanted in the gang, so I was looking for Lino. Nobody’d seen him. Just minutes before it blew, nobody’d seen him or Penny or Steve. He never missed a dance. I figured, well, he was just late getting there. And probably lucky for him, I thought that after. Lucky for him because we figured he was the target. It was later when I realized he was the one making the noises about being the target.”

“Were you hurt in the first bombing?”

“Got some burns, cut up some from the stuff that was flying around. Not real bad. If I’d been standing where Ronni was… I thought about that. Thought about that and how Ronni had just blown. It got me up, got me thinking, yeah, those Skulls needed some killing. So I’m up, think I’m up to get my mark because of that, and I hear Lino and Penny talking.”

“Where were you when you heard them?”

“We had a place we used, like a headquarters. This basement in a building on Second Avenue, right off 101st. Big basement, the place was like a maze. Rattrap,” he said with a sour smile. “They fixed it up about ten years back. It’s apartments now. Nice apartments.”

“Just for my curiosity, do you know who owned it?”

“Sure.” He looked puzzled by the question. “José Ortega-the old guy-kind of a big deal in the neighborhood. José was one of us. Soldado-I mean the old guy’s grandson was one of us. But the fact was, Lino said it was our place.”