Page 75 of Counter Attack

Nathan felt like he was in a courtroom, and judging from Alexis’s expression, she did too. He sat in a wingback chair across from Ethan while Alexis took one nearer the other two boys. He nodded for her to take charge. He wanted to observe Jonathan, who’d picked up a file and seemed to be absorbed in it.

Alexis took out a notepad. “We’re not looking at you as suspects. Neither of us believe you killed Trevor Martin, but you may have seen something that will help us catch his killer. So, I’d like to ask you again what you were doing at the gravel pit.”

Tension in the room ratcheted down a notch. Alexis eyedeach teenager, letting her gaze linger long enough to make them uncomfortable. “Which one of you wants to tell me what you were doing at the quarry?”

Cole and Mason looked to Ethan, and he shrugged. “There’s nothing to do around here, and we knew they wouldn’t be hauling gravel today, so we decided to hang out there.”

“How’d you know they weren’t working today?”

The three boys exchanged looks, then Mason had a light bulb moment. “I heard my mom telling my dad he needed to go to Mr. Gray’s funeral.”

She made a note on the pad. “Why weren’t you in school?”

Again silence. Nathan was beginning to believe it’d be easier to dig a hole in concrete than get information from the boys. He was about to prod them when Ethan cleared his throat.

“We, uh, skipped a couple of classes.” He shot a pointed look at the other two boys before turning to his dad. “It was just study hall.”

Alexis scribbled another note. “So you didn’t know Trevor Martin would be there.”

Ethan swallowed hard then shook his head. “Why would we know that? Barely knew the guy.”

Nathan leaned toward the shorter boy. “Do you agree, Cole?”

The boy flinched. “Uh, yeah.”

“How about you, Mason?” Nathan asked.

Mason rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and looked everywhere except at Nathan. “Everyone knows who Trevor is—” He winced. “I mean, who he was.”

Alexis looked up from her writing. “Is that because he provided you with marijuana and even heroin?”

“No!” Mason’s gaze darted toward Ethan with a help-me-out look.

“So you’re not aware that he dealt drugs?” Alexis asked.“And you didn’t get those five bags of marijuana we found on each of you from Trevor?”

“No!” Ethan crossed his arms.

Jonathan leaned toward his son, his face turning a dangerous shade of red. “You said you only had a couple of joints on you. What’s this about a bag?”

“Five bags,” Nathan corrected him.

“I thought you were only going to ask about Trevor.” Ethan jutted his chin. “Look, we were just fooling around at the gravel pit. It scared the living daylights out of us when we found him dead.”

“I never want to see anything like that again,” Cole said.

“Me either.” Mason rubbed his hands on his jeans.

“Enough!” Ethan’s father stood. “Did you or did you not buy five bags of marijuana from Trevor Martin?” No one jumped in with an answer, and he turned to his son. “I expect an answer.”

Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. “We didn’t exactly buy it.”

“Are you saying hegaveit to you?”

“No, Mr. Kennedy,” Cole said. “We were supposed to deliver it for him but—”

“Shut up!” Ethan fisted his hands.

“You have to be kidding,” Jonathan muttered. “Let me get this straight. You were running drugs for Trevor Martin?”

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