Twisting the bill of his hat to the front, the teen slouched in his chair. “Something like that, yeah.”
Justin picked up a pen and began to roll it between his fingers. “Talk to me about what you’ve got going on that might land you in front of the judge.”
Gavin sighed. “It ain’t nothin’. Cops just get worked up over stupid stuff.”
“Probably, but the longer you sit here avoiding my questions, the longer we’re going to drag this session out.”
Dark, angry eyes glanced his way before the youth refocused on the floor. “Fine.”
“I’ll put this out there again. Talk to me about what’s going on that landed you on the cops’ radars.”
Gavin lifted his chin, the look on his face unreadable. “I got this gig making some extra cash on the side.”
Grace immediately interjected. “Hold up, hold up. You can front all you want with other people, but in here? You come clean. It’s honesty or nothing.”
Justin’s eye twitched. If the kid chose nothing, the conversation was over.
Gavin stared up at Grace, jaw set. He considered her for a moment then gave a finite nod. “Fine. I got a job as a courier for a guy.”
“I take it you weren’t delivering letters unless they were H or X,” Grace drawled.
Gavin snorted. “Pretty much.”
“Decent money?”
The kid grinned. “Better than ‘decent.’ I mean, I bought these threads with my own Benjamins.”
“You understand that green came at a cost, though.”
“So?” His shoulders hunched. “I didn’t hurt nobody.”
The conversation went on as Justin watched with a combination of amazement and amusement. He’d seriously underestimated Grace and her ability to handle this kid. Then she said something that made the skin on the back of his neck prickle.
“Are you sure you didn’t cause anyone harm by serving as a courier?”
Gavin’s response was quick. “No. I didn’t put drugs in nobody’s hands.”
Justin interceded. “Sure, but you took the drugs from the main man to his distributor. That did put drugs in someone’s hands.”
“Man, I didn’t sell drugs to nobody.”
“Your rap sheet said you were charged with intent to distribute.”
“I was framed.”
“You’ve admitted you were couriering, Gavin. Don’t go south on me now.” Justin slouched in his chair, the picture of a relaxed guy in a common conversation. “It’s important that you realize the choices you make have repercussions. You chose to act as courier. Your choice put the drugs in the hands of someone who sold it to someone else. You follow?”
“You’re talking simple economics, supply and demand.”
Justin had been where this kid was, understood what it meant that he’d learned so much about the economics of drug commerce. Gavin was in deeper than they’d realized. So damn young. This kid was a mirror image of who he’d been and where he’d been headed. His heart ached for Gavin, and he fought the instinct to do whatever he had to in order to save the teen from a life that was no life at all. Psychology 101. You can’t save them all.