Page 73 of Crosshairs

“Do you recognize this man?” She held up the sketch of Maddox.

The boy pressed his lips together as he stared at the photo, then he shrugged one shoulder.

“Does that mean yes or no?” Ainsley asked.

“Means I can’t swear I’ve seen him. I saw a guy that could’ve been him, but a lot of the old guys who come in here look the same.”

He was lying. Linc took out a notepad. “Can you give me the names of some of the guys Hannah hung out with?”

Colton took off his ball cap and ran his hand through his hair. “The jocks.”

“Do they have names?” Ainsley asked.

The boy rattled off four names, and Linc wrote them down.

Ainsley crossed her arms. “You indicated your dad would be angry if he smelled marijuana on you. He uses it, so why would he care?”

Colton’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”

Linc touched his nose. “It has a distinctive odor ... as you well know.”

The boy half shrugged again. “Case of do as I say, not as I do, I guess.”

“Where does he get it?”

His gaze dropped. “I dunno.”

Ainsley stepped into the boy’s space. “Did he give Hannah marijuana?”

He jerked his head up. “No!”

“Are you sure?” Ainsley asked.

“I...” Colton closed his eyes, then he took a deep breath and opened them. “I, uh, asked him, and he said he didn’t.”

“But now you’re not so sure?”

“No. He would have bragged about it if he had.”

“Maybe he got scared after she died.”

“I gotta go,” Colton said and pushed past them.

“Don’t protect him,” Ainsley said.

“I don’t know anything,” he replied and kept walking.

“Colton,” she said.

He stopped and turned around. “Do you know what he’d do if I snitched on him?” The boy was near tears. “You just don’t get it. All I ever wanted was for him to be proud of me.”

“I do get it, Colton.” Ainsley’s voice broke, and something shifted in Linc, making him want to take her in his arms and hold her. “I know how it feels to do everything you can to get someone’s love.” She walked over and touched the boy’s arm. “But you can’t get something a person doesn’t have the ability to give.”

The teen blinked and started to say something, then swallowed hard and stared at Ainsley. A minute passed. “Thanks. If I remember anything, I’ll call you,” he said and walked away.

“That was a bust,” she said as they pulled away.

“You never know, he might call.”

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