Vengeance. Zachary Lazar

me that, only then did I start filling out this form I’m showing you now, entitled Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Rights of Arrestee or Suspect.

      king: Yes. That’s correct.

      As we listened, Martin’s bucket hat, the envelope containing the bullet fragments, and the photographs of the crime scene were still on the table. I noticed that Deborah and I weren’t looking at them. We were looking at the mini-cassette player, which sat at the center of everything with a strange, almost necromantic aura, transmitting these captured voices from ten years ago. Lagarde was reading Kendrick his Miranda rights now. It would have been the second time that evening that he had done so. He pointed out that Kendrick had already waived these rights and already initialed and signed a form to that effect. In less than half an hour, in other words, Kendrick had gone from being a potential witness to being a suspect. On the tape now, Kendrick agreed once again to the terms Lagarde repeated to him. I understand what my rights are. I’m willing to make a statement and answer questions. I do not want a lawyer at this time. I understand and know what I’m doing.

      They resumed the narrative, Kendrick saying again that he wasn’t at Martin’s apartment building during the morning hours, that he was at his girlfriend Janelle Bryers’s house, nine miles away. Janelle had taken their daughter, Aysha, to day care that morning, then gone to work, leaving him alone all day in Janelle’s trailer house.

      lagarde: And had anyone seen you between the time Janelle left for work that morning and when she returned home that night? Can anybody account for your whereabouts that day?

      There was silence, then Lagarde reminded Kendrick that he was being recorded, and Kendrick began a blurry recollection of waking up that morning and calling a friend from Janelle’s home phone. Lagarde listened—patient, not accusatory, just someone who wanted to get this task taken care of as quickly and efficiently as possible. He asked again if anyone had seen Kendrick, rather than just speaking to him on the phone, and Kendrick said, no, no one had actually seen him that day, not until Janelle came home a little after six o’clock. He had not gone anywhere else that day? No. He had stayed inside the trailer the whole time?

      king: Yes.

      lagarde: All day long. Okay.

      king: Until six fifteen. Six thirty.

      lagarde: Okay. Six fifteen. Six thirty. And where did you go then?

      king: I went to Athena Street.

      Athena Street was the location of Damien Martin’s apartment building. Kendrick’s responses so far had been confident, eager, like someone answering quiz questions with impatient mastery, but now he began to rush, his voice deeper and louder.

      lagarde: You went to Athena Street?

      king: Yes.

      lagarde: You left your girlfriend’s and the first place that you went was Athena Street.

      king: Yes.

      lagarde: And why was that?

      king: I sometimes go to Athena to see friends.

      lagarde: Friends?

      king: Yes.

      lagarde: Okay. And who in particular were you going to see that night?

      king: Normal times, I had pulled into the second driveway. No . . . you see, Athena. I always pull up there and, you know, just stand outside and holler to whoever it is to come outside.

      lagarde: So on the day of the murder, you weren’t going there to see anyone in particular? You just happened to go there?

      king: Yes.

      lagarde. Okay. Uh, but that’s when you discovered there’d been a shooting. A shooting involving Damien Martin?

      king: I seen Antoinette. She said Damien got shot. You know what I’m saying? He got shot! He got shot! I was coming out the car and I seen her. He got shot, you know? That’s why I had walked through the police tape. I wasn’t thinking. I saw Antoinette and I just walked through it.

      lagarde: Now, who is Antoinette?

      king: Antoinette. She live next door to Damien.

      lagarde: Okay.

      king: She said he got shot. He got shot. She walking up the street and I said, “Y’all, you know, where y’all was at? Y’all didn’t see nothing?” She say, “Oh, we ain’t even . . .” She said, “We ain’t even . . . we was inside the apartment.” She said they was inside, in the apartment next door, and all they heard was cabinets slamming. I said, “What? What you mean? Cabinets slamming?”

      lagarde: They, we. Who? Who else was with Antoinette?

      king: Her boyfriend.

      lagarde: Do you know her boyfriend’s name?

      king: Yes. His name is Lawrence.

      lagarde: Do you know his last name?

      king: No.

      lagarde: Can you describe him for me?

      king: Short. Maybe five foot eight. Light skin, reddish hair.

      lagarde: How is he built?

      king: Heavy. Heavy build. Got a . . . got a gunshot wound in his left leg.

      lagarde: That’s right. Okay, that’s—that’s a pretty accurate description of the person we’re talking about. Let me ask you this, Kendrick. In all fairness before, I indicated to you that, you know, that several people had said you were on the grounds, uh, at Athena Street, at the time or around the time of the murder.

      king: Uh, huh.

      lagarde: Is there any truth to that?

      king: No. No truth at all.

      lagarde: No truth at all.

      king: No. No, sir.

      lagarde: Okay. Had you ever been in Damien Martin’s apartment before?

      king: Yes. About two months ago.

      lagarde: And what was the purpose of that visit?

      king: Uh, Jodi. His baby mama, Jodi, has a little girl. Damien and Jodi has a baby, a little girl, and I wanted to see this little girl, ’cause my little girl is . . . like a few months older. And Jodi said her little girl ain’t talking yet. She asked me if it was a problem. Because my little girl, she . . . she ain’t talk till late, like she past two before she really start talking. So I said, no, I’ll come and see her. So that’s why I had come by there.

      lagarde: To see Jodi’s baby?

      king: Yes.

      lagarde: Okay . . . I just want to ask you. Were you aware of any illegal activity, any narcotics or anything, emanating from that apartment on Athena Street?

      king: No.

      lagarde: You understand that’s not the point of my investigation?

      king: Yes, sir.

      lagarde: You understand that I’m a homicide detective. I’m simply interested in the murder of Damien Martin and not in any illegal activity that may have gone on prior to the murder.

      king: I understand.

      lagarde: Your answer would still be the same.

      king: Yes.

      It felt odd to talk in front of the deputy across the table from us, and Deborah and I didn’t say anything after this first tape ended. We just waited as he rewound the cassette and put in the next one, after confirming we were ready for it. The next tape began the same way the first had, with Kendrick’s name, race, date of birth, address. The date, though, had changed. It was 3:40 the next morning. More than nine hours had passed. There was nothing in Kendrick’s voice that suggested abuse or duress, but he had been in the interview room all that time and the story he recounted now—calmly, pliantly, in the same tone as before—was entirely different. He said now that he had in fact been at Athena Street during