JACOBI AND I already knew two things about Ronald Grayson: that he’d had crack in his possession when we arrested him, and that this kid had called in the Malone fire.
Had he also set that fire?
Sitting in the interrogation room across from Ronald Grayson, I thought about another teenager, Scott Dyleski. Dyleski was sixteen when he’d broken into a woman’s home in Lafayette, stabbed her dozens of times, and mutilated her body because in his twisted mind, he imagined that she’d taken delivery of his drug paraphernalia1 and was keeping it from him. Dyleski was wrong, psychotic, and the murder should never have happened.
But it had.
And so, as I looked at fifteen-year-old Ronald Grayson with his clear skin and dark hair, drumming his fingers on the tabletop as though we were wasting his time, I wondered if he had doomed2 Pat and Bert Malone to horrific deaths so he could steal their stuff in order to buy drugs. I used my most patient and friendly tone of voice.
“Ron, why don’t you tell us what happened?”
“I have nothing to say.”
“That’s your right,” Jacobi grumbled3 menacingly.
Jacobi is five eleven, over two hundred pounds of well-marbled muscle, with lumpy features, hard gray eyes, gray hair, and a shiny gold badge. I would have expected the kid to show either fear or deference4, but he seemed unfazed by our bad lieutenant5.
“I don’t want to talk to you about the cocaine6, you little shit,” Jacobi said, breathing into Grayson’s face. “But, man-to-man, tell us about the fire and we’ll help you with the coke charge. Do you understand me? I’m trying to help you.”
“Leave me alone, you fat fuck,” Grayson said.
Before Jacobi could smack7 the back of the kid’s head, his father, Vincent Grayson, and his lawyer blew through the door. Grayson was livid. “Ronnie, don’t say anything.”
“I didn’t, Dad.”
Grayson turned his fury on Jacobi. “You can’t talk to my son unless I’m with him. I know the law.”
“Save it, Mr. Grayson,” Jacobi growled8. “Your imbecile son is under arrest for using and dealing9, and I haven’t talked to him about the drugs at all.”
The lawyer’s name was Sam Farber, and from his business card I gathered that he had a one-man practice doing wills and real estate closings.
“I’m telling you and you and you,” Jacobi said, pointing his finger at the kid, his father, and the lawyer in turn. “I’ll lobby the DA on Ronald’s behalf if he helps us with the fire. That’s our only interest in him right now.”
“My client is a good Samaritan,” Farber said, dragging up a chair, squaring his leather briefcase10 with the edge of the table before opening it. “His father was with him when he made the call to 911. That’s all he had to do with it, end of story.”
“Mr. Farber, we all know that the person who calls in the fire has to be cleared of setting it,” I said. “But Ronald hasn’t convinced us that he had nothing to do with it.”
“Go ahead, Ron,” said Farber.
Ron Grayson’s eyes slid across mine and up to the camera in the corner of the room. He mumbled11, “I was in the car with my dad. I smelled smoke. I told Dad which way to drive. Then I saw the fire coming out of that house. I dialed 911 on my cell and reported it. That’s all.”
“What time was this?”
“It was ten thirty.”
“Mr. Grayson, I asked your son.”
“Look. My son was sitting next to me in the car! The guy at the gas station can vouch12 for Ronnie. They cleaned the windshields together.”
“Ronnie, did you know the Malones?” I asked.
“Who?”
“The people who lived in the house.”
“Never heard of them.”
“Did you see anyone leaving the house?”
“No.”
“Ever been to Palo Alto?”
“I’ve never been anywhere in Mexico.”
“Do you have enough, Inspectors13?” Farber said. “My client has cooperated fully14.”
“I want to take a look at his room,” I said.
收听单词发音 |
1
paraphernalia
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| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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cocaine
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| n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂） | |
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smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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briefcase
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| n.手提箱，公事皮包 | |
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mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vouch
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| v.担保；断定；n.被担保者 | |
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inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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