Page 114 of Crosshairs

She bet they would. “I need their phone numbers.” She wrote down the numbers he sputtered out, then looked up. “I’m going to ask you once more. Where did Hannah get her weed?”

He side-glanced at the door and licked his lips. “Look, I ain’t no snitch.”

“We think whoever she bought the weed from could be herkiller. If you know and withhold that information, it could be interpreted as impeding an investigation.”

Peyton flinched as Coach Andrews placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Son, if you know anything, now’s the time to tell it.”

The bravado drained out of him. “Colton Mason.”

Colton?That was the last name she’d expected to hear. “Are you sure?”

He nodded emphatically.

“Do you know who he gets it from?” she asked.

“He steals his dad’s stash.”

“And he’s selling it?”

“Nah.” He gave a contemptuous laugh. “The loser thinks people will like him if he gives it away.”

She didn’t know which made her sicker—Colton fooling her like he had or thinking he could buy friends with marijuana. “Where does his dad get it?”

“From the guy at the Blue Lantern. Everybody knows he deals. Just won’t deal to kids directly.”

Ainsley didn’t think it was because Sonny was altruistic. More likely because if he were caught, the jail time would be more. “Thank you for helping,” she said and some of his bravado returned.

“Sure.”

He’d almost reached the door when Ainsley said, “Hannah was pregnant. Was the baby yours?”

He turned. All color had drained from his face. “She was supposed to get rid of it.”

He’d just lost any points he might have gained by giving them Colton’s name. Ainsley nodded to the coach, dismissing the boy.

“You can go now,” Andrews said. “Send in Jacobs.”

Peyton stopped at the door. “You won’t tell him I snitched, will you?”

“No,” she said. Tiredness or disappointment, she didn’t knowwhich, enveloped her. The boy was more worried people would think he was a snitch than that a pregnant girl had died.

Forty-five minutes later three of the boys had confirmed Peyton’s story about Colton and the marijuana. She couldn’t believe he’d lied to her or that she’d bought it. “I think this wraps it up,” she said when the last boy left the office.

“I’m surprised that Colton is supplying the kids here with marijuana,” Coach Andrews said. “I always liked the kid, felt sorry for him. His dad is a piece of work.”

“Yeah, I’ve met him.” She stood and grabbed her backpack. “Thanks for your help.”

Ainsley approached the officer who had patiently waited for her outside the school. “I’m going to Melrose, if you want to follow me there. After that, I’ll be heading to Rocky Springs, and I know that’s out of your jurisdiction. The sheriff’s too,” she added. “I’ll get Sam Ryker to meet me there.”

“I’ll check with the chief and see what he wants me to do,” the officer said.

She stowed her backpack in the passenger seat and then walked around to the driver’s side, her mind still on what the boys had told her. She had not expected them to accuse Colton of selling. No, not selling, but giving Hannah marijuana. Were Ainsley’s skills slipping, or was she getting sloppy in her investigations? Or could the boys have gotten together and concocted their stories? Nothing was impossible, but it hadn’t sounded like the boys had rehearsed what they’d told.

She dialed Sam’s number, but he didn’t answer and she left a voicemail asking him if the Masons were still at Rocky Springs. Ainsley disconnected. Right now she wanted to tell Linc what she’d learned. If she was slipping, so was he since he’d bought Colton’s story too.

59

Linc fought the impulse to remove the gun strapped above his ankle all morning. It hadn’t helped that in the first tour group a ten-year-old boy had reminded him of the kid he’d almost shot. He hung up his out-to-lunch sign along with the time of the next tour at the ranger post. The eleven o’clock tour had just finished, and there wouldn’t be another one until two, giving him just enough time to grab a sandwich from one of the nearby fast-food places.

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