you?”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?” Josie asked.
“I don’t know what the hell happened or what you’re trying to pin on me, but I was at home asleep.”
Josie said, “Can anyone corroborate that?”
“Shit,” he said. “My dog, okay? He can corroborate it. Why are you asking me this stuff?”
“Tell us again the last time you saw Vera Urban,” Gretchen said.
“I don’t know. Like, almost twenty years ago. It was—it was the year that the Jays won the state championship.”
Josie and Gretchen exchanged a look. Josie said, “You mean the Denton East Blue Jays?”
“Yeah,” Silas said. “Everyone in the city was following it. You don’t remember?”
Gretchen said, “I’m not from here.”
Silas shook his head. “Well, it was a big deal. We don’t have professional sports teams. People were into it, you know? Anyway, it was around then; that was the last time I saw her.”
“How long had you known Vera?” Josie asked.
“I don’t know. My whole life, practically. We went to school together. She was a few years ahead of me, but we just knew each other, from, like, around.”
Josie said, “Silas, we looked at your rap sheet before we came here. We know you’ve been in and out of prison your entire life for drug offenses. So I’m going to ask you again—and we’re not interested in arresting you—did you supply Vera Urban with drugs?”
“You can’t arrest me,” he said. “This is, like, off the record.”
“We’re not journalists, Silas,” Gretchen told him. “But just as Detective Quinn said, we’re not interested in any drug-related crimes you might have committed decades ago. We just want information from you.”
“Fine,” he said. “I might have helped Vera get some drugs back in the day.” He turned slightly and shook his bound hands. “Will you take these off now?”
Ignoring his plea, Josie asked, “What kinds of drugs?”
“Pills,” he said. “That was all she wanted. It wasn’t even for her, just so you know. Vera wasn’t like that. I mean, not then.”
“Who were the pills for?” Gretchen asked.
“She worked at this hair place, you know? She had all these rich bitch clients. They were taking them like candy. Vera was in tight with them. She liked being a part of their little group, I think. So yeah, I helped her out.”
“That was it?” Josie prodded.
She let the uncomfortable silence play out until Silas became agitated, one of his feet tapping against the broken pavement. “All right, fine,” he said. “One of them liked pot and there was another one who got hooked on cocaine—and I mean hooked. She would do anything.”
Josie said, “How do you know that? Wasn’t Vera the one supplying them with the drugs?”
His eyes widened as he realized he had said too much yet again. “Shit,” he repeated.
Gretchen said, “You met these women? Vera’s clients?”
“Listen,” he said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. These women, you gotta understand, they were bored. Bored rich bitches.”
“Vera invited you to their parties?” Josie asked.
“Not at first, but then one night they were partying, and they needed more so Vera called me up. I went over to one of their fancy-ass houses, and they wouldn’t let me leave.”
“Wouldn’t let you leave?” Gretchen echoed.
“They were all over me. Their husbands were rich assholes, out traveling and playing golf or whatever rich assholes do. Everything that happened—they wanted it. They asked for it.”
“It was consensual?” Josie said.
“Yeah, consensual.”
“What exactly was consensual, Silas?” Gretchen said.
“Oh come on. You gonna make me say it? You know what. The sex, okay?”
“You had an affair with one of them?” Josie asked.
He laughed. “An affair? No. It wasn’t like that. They just wanted a boy-toy.”
“They?” Josie prompted. “How many women were there, Silas? Did you sleep with them all?”
“Sort of.”
Josie said, “You ‘sort of’ had sexual relationships with all of them?”
“A couple of them flirted with me but then when things started to get… heated, they backed out.”
“Do you remember the names of the women you actually had encounters with?” Gretchen asked.
“That was a long time ago, okay?”
“What about Vera?” Josie asked. “Did you ever have sex with her?”
“That was a huge mistake,” he said. “I should have known. She was always hung up on me, you know? We were together a couple of times, and then I had to put a stop to it. She was getting clingy and jealous. I had to stay away from that. She wanted a relationship and shit. She wanted to get married. I wasn’t into it.”
“But you got married eventually, didn’t you?” Gretchen asked. “In 2000?”
He rolled his eyes.