Page 34 of Crosshairs

Colton hadn’t exaggerated the issues with his father. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

18

Linc cut across to the main road, where he’d seen tents set up. He found four young men in their late teens or early twenties and learned they’d been traveling together and had arrived Wednesday afternoon.

They reported there’d been another camper at the next site, but he’d broken down his tent maybe two hours ago. They hadn’t seen which way he went but described him as an old guy who was there when they arrived, and he wasn’t very talkative.Old guy.Given their age, that could mean the man had been anywhere from forty on up. One of the boys volunteered the man was hitchhiking and going on to New Orleans from Rocky Springs.

He took their contact information and then walked to the parking lot where Ainsley’s pickup was parked. She was sitting on the tailgate, typing into her tablet, the retaining strap on her Sig Sauer unhooked. His shoes crunched on the gravel, and her hand went to her gun as she looked up, her eyes wary.

“Oh good. It’s you.” She relaxed and removed buds from her ears.

“Where’s Sam?”

“He got a call. Something about an alligator down the road,”she said. “When I was growing up around here, I don’t remember that happening hardly at all.”

“According to Sam, it happens a couple times a week,” he replied with a chuckle. “Did you get Colton to talk to you?”

She held up her phone. “Better than that, he let me record our conversation. I was just transcribing my notes into my tablet. You want to listen to it?”

“I’ll listen on the way to the hospital,” he said. “Would you like me to drive back to Natchez? That way you can finish up your notes.”

Linc thought Ainsley was going to decline his invitation, but then she nodded and hopped off the tailgate. “Good idea. Once I get to the hospital, I won’t get a chance to get my thoughts down on paper or rather in the tablet.”

She tossed him the keys, and once he was in the driver’s seat, he familiarized himself with the pickup. Not too different from his Tahoe. He shifted into reverse and backed out of the parking space. The pickup handled well as he pointed it toward Natchez. “Any luck with the other campers?”

“Not really. Either they’d just arrived at the campground or they didn’t hear anything. I understand you met Colton’s parents,” she said.

“Yeah. They indicated they hadn’t seen anything suspicious around the campground this morning either. Seemed nice enough, but I thought the woman might be more willing to talk if her husband wasn’t around.”

“I got that impression too and asked Sam to run a background check on them.” She glanced down at her tablet. “I have an appointment to meet with Drew Kingston at four. And I called Hannah’s mother, but she didn’t answer, so I left word on her voicemail to call me back,” she said.

“Kingston, as in Austin Kingston?”

“Yep. Would’ve been a lot easier if it’d been anyone but one of the Kingstons.”

As far back as Linc could remember, the Kingstons had been acting like the rules didn’t apply to them. If Austin or his father, Jackson mayor Jack Kingston, decided Drew didn’t need to talk to Ainsley, it would practically take a court order to override either of them. “Will you have to go through his dad to talk to him?”

“Not really. Sam’s report states he’s seventeen, but I thought it might be a smart move to ask Austin’s permission to talk to Drew. I’m interviewing him at Austin’s law office. And I can always play the old school-spirit card as a last resort.”

“Get ready to play it,” he said and added, “Mind if I tag along?”

“Not at all, and if you think of something to ask that I’ve overlooked, feel free to speak up.” She looked over her notes. “Do you still write your notes in longhand?”

She remembered? Warmth radiated through his chest, then he realized she was waiting for an answer. “I’m afraid I switched over to the computer for my notes in college and now a tablet. Quicker and easier to read. Although sometimes when we’re stumped, your aunt gets after me to grab a notepad and start freewriting.”

“How long have you been helping her?”

“About six months now. Wish I’d started earlier though. I could have seen that first diary she found.”

In the passenger seat, Ainsley clicked on the recording, and Colton’s voice filled the cab. When it ended, he said, “That’s pretty well what he said when he was talking to me.”

“I didn’t think he’d contradicted what you told me.” She slipped her phone in her pocket. “I’m going to finish these notes.”

Ten minutes down the road, the sedate fifty-mile-an-hour speed limit made it hard for Linc to keep his eyes open. “I think I’ll come off at Port Gibson and switch over to Highway 61. It’ll be the quickest way to get to the hospital.”

She rolled her shoulders. “Good idea.”

An approaching pickup sped past them and Linc flinchedwhen a rock came flying toward them. The impact sounded like a bullet when it hit the windshield. Ainsley ducked and grabbed for her gun.

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