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Joe looked at his wife, then at Ladonna, where his gaze lingered. “I guess. But if we agree to an interview, that lawyer’s gotta be there.”
“Of course,” Iesha said. “No talking without Will present. For anybody. Agreed?” Everyone nodded, and Joe and Marcus both appeared satisfied.
The Lanes had consulted their old friend Will Strozier when the incident first happened. He contacted each family personally and assured them that if they needed his services, he would be more than happy to assist. And now, Will was about to earn his keep.
“Good. Now, about these interviews,” Marcus said. “The kids need to be absolutely, one-hundred percent clear on what to say. We can’t afford any slip-ups. Does anybody have ideas?”
Ladonna rolled her eyes. She and Marcus had already discussed it at length and had come up with a good solution. She wasn’t sure why her husband insisted on this charade, this one-act play of him pretending to care what anybody else thought. He had an idea. He hadtheidea, let him tell it, but he was going to wait until the end to spring it on everyone.
“I have an idea,” Joe said.
Marcus pointed at him. “Go ahead, man.”
“It’s getting late, and we all got shit do, so why don’t you just tell us your idea so we can all agree to it.”
Ladonna swallowed a laugh.
Marcus shook his head and put a hand on his chest in feigned woundedness. “It ain't even like that, Joe. I’m open to any suggestions. We’re all in this together.”
Detric cleared his throat. “So what’s the official party line? Because I don’t think ‘I didn’t see anything’ is gonna cut it.”
“Right, and that’s why I called this meeting. So we can brainstorm and try to figure a way out of this mess." Marcus took a long pull on his beer bottle. He’d had one in his hand all day. “Far as I can tell, the key to this whole thing is Demetrius Branch.”
Detric stiffened. “I told you, I know that kid. He’s a good dude.”
Marcus frowned. “Ain’t he a drug dealer?”
“I didn’t say he was an angel. I’m telling you I’m not comfortable with us telling the police he’s a murderer. And let’s not forget, there were a bunch of other kids at that party.”
“I agree,” Marcus said. “I have no intention of putting the man in prison. What I’m suggesting is more along the lines of…pointing the police away from our kids toward someone else.”
Detric threw up his hands. “Demetrius.”
“Technically, yes.”
“Marcus,” Detric said, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t bullshit me, man. You want us to lie and say—”
“Not lie. If you let me finish, I can tell you what I’m thinking.”
“Why Demetrius in particular over any of the other kids that aren’t our kids?” Iesha asked.
“Thank you,” Detric agreed.
“Fair question,” Marcus began, “but my reasoning is simple: the other kids knew her. Demetrius didn’t know her. Has no connection to her whatsoever. That means they’ll never find any of his DNA on her, they won’t be able to find phone records or any other evidence to charge him. He’s already in jail. All I’m suggesting is that we steer them toward him long enough to get them chasing their own tails. That’s it.”
Ladonna watched their faces as they processed Marcus’ words. Most nodded along. Joe kept his arms crossed and his expression blank.
Detric leaned forward, his forehead lined with creases. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to try to convince them that it was suicide? Get the kids to talk about how sad and depressed she was. Nicole can’t counter that, cuz parents never know what their kids are really up to. They never tell us shit.”
Marcus shook his head. “I thought about that, but it won’t work. They can prove she was strangled before…” he trailed off, but they understood.
Strangled. So violent. So intentional. It left them all speechless for a moment.
Detric was staring at the floor. Juanita rubbed his back. “I don’t know how I feel about this. I’ve known that boy for a long time,” she said.
Joe shrugged. “And you’ve known your son his whole life. If it came down to him or Demetrius, who would you choose?”
“It doesn’t have to come down to that, though,” Detric said.
