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“It’s true. We’d like to exchange some information with you. My hope is that you’ll tell us the truth, and then we can reward you for your cooperation.”
Demetrius looked at Webb, then Ackerman, then back to Webb. “What kind of information?”
“We wanna know what you saw and when you saw it.”
Demetrius scratched the back of his neck and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be to y’all. I ain’t really see nothin'. I was outside most of the time.”
“Let’s start at the beginning. How did you come to be employed at this particular function? Because no offense, but these people don’t seem like your kind of people.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, they just some lame-ass kids tryna have fun, that’s all. My boy Mike hooked me up with it. He said you can’t have a party at the clubhouse without security, so he gave my name to the dude who was throwing it.”
“And his name was—?”
“I can’t remember. Older cat. One of the parents.”
Webb scribbled some notes on his pad. “How do you know Mike?”
“His grandparents live on the same block as me. We been hanging together every summer since we were five.”
“I see. And did you know anyone else at the party?”
“Nope.”
“What about the deceased? Nyleah?”
“Didn’t know her, never met her before that night.”
Webb scribbled another note. “Did you spend any time with the victim at all on the night of the party?”
“Like…five minutes, maybe? We smoked and that’s it. I can’t even tell you what she looks like.”
Webb opened a manila folder and removed an 8x10 glossy photo of one Nyleah Faust. She looked ghastly, like all corpses, but still recognizable. Webb placed the photo on the table directly in front of Demetrius and studied his reaction.
Demetrius flinched and looked away. “Is that a dead body?” he asked, his voice three octaves higher than it had been. Webb, satisfied with his reaction, nodded slowly and turned the photo over.
“That’s the victim.”
“That’s her? Mike said she killed herself.”
“Homicide.”
Demetrius shook his head. “Damn.”
“So listen, I’m gonna cut to the chase. We’ve received a couple of tips about you.”
“Me?” Demetrius said, appropriately incredulous.
“That’s right.”
“If they said I got something to do with it, they lyin’.”
“Well if you say you didn’t and they say you did, who am I supposed to believe?”
“Me, man, what the fuck. I’m telling you, I ain’t have shit to do with that.”
Webb nodded. “I wanna believe you. I do. But you have a record that’s pretty long for a man your age.”
“Drug shit, yeah. I ain’t never been violent in my life. And I would never, especially not with no female.”
