[Georgia 03] Fallen

Neta ain’t got pull here like Texicanos.” He hissed air through his teeth. “Scary stuff, man. Them Texicanos don’t screw around.”
    “Does the ME’s office know all of this?”
    “They sent the pictures to the gang unit. Neta’s the top organization in PR. They’ll be in the Bible.”
    The Gang Bible was the book used by police officers to track gang signs and movements. “Was there anything on the Asian men? The other victims?”
    “One was a student. Some kind of math whiz. Won all kinds of prizes or some shit.”
    Sara remembered Hironobu Kwon’s photo from the news. “I thought he was at Georgia State?” State wasn’t a bad school, but a math prodigy would end up at Georgia Tech.
    “That’s all I know. They’re doing the other guy right now. That apartment fire got us backed up big-time. Six bodies.” He shook his head. “Two dogs. Man, I hate when it’s dogs.”
    Junior said, “I feel ya, bro.”
    “Thank you,” Sara said. “Thank you both.”
    Junior pounded the side of his fist against his chest. “Be good to my man Dale.”
    Sara left before more fists were bumped. She dug her hand into her pocket, trying to find her cell phone as she walked down the hallway. Most of the staff carried so many electronic devices that they were all likely going to die of radiation poisoning. She had a BlackBerry she received lab reports and hospital communiqués on as well as an iPhone for personal use. Her hospital cell phone was a flip-style that had previously belonged to someone with very sticky hands. Two pagers were clipped to her coat pocket, one for the emergency department and one for the pediatrics ward. Her personal phone was slim and usually the last thing she found, which was the case this time.
    She scrolled through the numbers, pausing on Amanda Wagner’s name, then scrolling back up to Will Trent. His phone rang twice before he picked up.
    “Trent.”
    Sara was inexplicably tongue-tied by the sound of his voice. In the silence, she could hear wind blowing, the sound of children playing.
    He said, “Hello?”
    “Hi, Will—sorry.” She cleared her throat. “I was calling because I talked to someone at the ME’s office. Like you asked.” She felt her face turning red. “Like Amanda asked.”
    He mumbled something, probably to Amanda. “What’d you find out?”
    “The Texicanos victim, Ricardo. No last name as of yet, but he was probably Puerto Rican.” She waited while he relayed this information to Amanda. She asked the same question Sara had. Sara answered, “He had a tattoo on his hand for a gang, the Neta, which is in Puerto Rico. The man I talked with said Ricardo probably switched affiliations when he came to Atlanta.” Again, she waited for him to tell Amanda. “He also had a belly full of heroin.”
    “Heroin?” His voice went up in surprise. “How much?”
    “I’m not sure. The man I spoke with said the powder was packed in balloons. When Faith shot him, the heroin was released. That alone would’ve killed him.”
    Will told Amanda as much, then came back on the line. “Amanda says thank you for checking into this.”
    “I’m sorry there’s not more.”
    “That’s great what you came up with.” He clarified, “I mean, thank you, Dr. Linton. This is all very useful information to have.”
    She knew he couldn’t talk in front of Amanda, but she didn’t want to let him go. “How’s it going on your end?”
    “The prison was a bust. We’re standing outside Hironobu Kwon’s house right now. He lived with his mother in Grant Park.” He was less than fifteen minutes away from Grady. “The neighbor says his mother should be home soon. I guess she’s probably making arrangements. She lives across the street from the zoo. We had to park about a mile away. Or, I did. Amanda made me drop her off.” He finally paused for breath. “How are you doing?”
    Sara smiled. He seemed to want to stay on the phone as much as she did. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
    “Not much. How about you?”
    She tried to think of something flirty to say, but settled on, “Not much.”
    Amanda’s voice was too muffled to understand, but Sara got the tone. Will said, “So, I’ll talk to you later. Thank you again, Dr. Linton.”
    Sara felt foolish as she ended the call. Maybe she should go back up to the lounge and gossip with Nan.
    Or maybe she should talk to Dale Dugan and nip this in the bud before they both got any more embarrassed. Sara took out her