Page 77 of Sticks and Stones (FBI Romance/Thriller #65)

“That the kid was the drug connection might be something,” Gene admitted, when Spencer was gone. “We all know that marijuana can be the gateway drug. Maybe he fell down the rabbit hole into Snow.”

That was a good point, but Ethan saw flaws with it. Mainly one.

“That’s a far jump from weed to Snow,” Ethan mentioned.

“Could that be how he got pulled into this? We won’t know until we find the supplier.

What I do know is the older scholarship guy having sex with a college kid who gets that scholarship…

that’s unethical. Maybe he’s the one trying out kids, and then grabbing them.

We know that Elliot was gay. We know that Wesley was having sex with a man.

Now, we need to see what Graham was doing—or better yet, who. ”

He had a point.

“We could try to find the Travis kid,” Gene suggested. “But that’s going to take a lot of time, and if he’s not on campus…”

Yeah, that was a wild goose chase as far as Ethan was concerned. They were running short on time. If the supplier was expecting the bikers to be shipping for him today at any time, suspicion would start to kick in. Gabe wanted this shut down, so they didn’t need the supplier bolting for it.

Then, the dead kids wouldn’t get justice.

“Let’s just finish the third interview. That’s all Corbin got done. After the next-door neighbor, we’ll decide if we’re going to hit the professor or the scholarship guy next. To me, as I profile this, either fits.”

“What do you have so far?” Gene asked.

He thought about it.

“I’m thinking white male, power position, definitely having access to money since he drives a Benz, and possibly trying to stay rich. Selling human beings for sex takes a layer of desperation. You have to either be at risk for going to the poor side, or so greedy you want more.”

Gene agreed.

“This would be so much easier if we knew more than there was a white Benz being driven by the dude dropping off the drugs and the location of the abducted college kids.”

Oh, Blackhawk knew.

For all they knew, this person was out there looking for another set of drug mules—or he had them.

“The good news is the grad student doesn’t live too far away from here,” Gene admitted. “We can bang that interview out and go from there.”

That was good because it was getting worse out.

“Snow is coming,” Ethan admitted. “The roads are going to be shit. We might have to go home and get your truck. Mustangs and snow aren’t BFFs.”

Oh, he was aware.

As for the weather…

Yeah, well, that was the only thing normal happening around them today.

Heading out, they walked side-by-side as they moved toward the off-campus apartments and to where the last victim, Graham Sinclair, had lived.

Once inside, they didn’t go to his apartment, but instead went to the neighbor’s door. There was no point trying since Graham had lived alone, and the landlord had likely re-rented his place.

When they knocked on the neighbor’s door, it didn’t take long for someone to answer. The kid who did was definitely curious.

His eyes went RIGHT to their badges that were on their hips and clearly visible.

“Am I under arrest?” he asked.

Gene was curious why that was everyone’s first question. If cops came to his door, the first thing he’d ask was what happened?

Who was hurt?

Was Ethan okay?

Maybe it was just him and the fact his partner got into trouble. That was why he hovered.

“Why would you be under arrest?” he asked, answering the question with a question. “Did you do something you want to tell us about? You know, like the murder of your neighbor? It’s Phillip Winslow, right?”

His eyes went huge.

“What? No! Graham is dead?” he asked. “And yeah, that’s me.”

They both nodded, and Gene didn’t miss a beat.

“Then how about you let us ask the questions? We’re with the FBI,” he said, and they both showed him their badges.

They could see he was nervous. Then again, most people were when a cop showed up at their door early. When it was a Fed, it tended to be even more nerve-racking.

“Do you want to come in?” he asked.

Ethan nodded.

“If you don’t mind,” he said. “It’s easier to talk to you inside, Phillip, and then your neighbors won’t think you’re on a watch list,” he joked.

The kid’s eyes went huge.

But he let them in.

When they got inside, they could see that he had a damn nice place. It was plush, and the kid was not a day over twenty-two. That told them someone was funding this who had money. This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill college apartment.

“Nice place,” Gene said.

The kid shrugged.

“My Mom and Dad didn’t want me in campus housing. They thought it would distract me from finishing my degree,” he said, and as he did, a door to what had to be a bedroom opened, and out wandered a half-asleep girl.

She was in panties and a see-through tank top.

Uh, the parents had more to worry about than him being distracted in a dorm room. It looked like Phillip was getting distracted in his apartment too.

“Phil, did you see my contact case?” she asked, sleepily. “I have to get to the library to meet with my study group.”

Gene cleared his throat.

When she looked over and realized that Phillip wasn’t alone, she came to a dead stop.

And they knew two things.

She was embarrassed, and it was chilly in the man’s apartment.

“Oh! Shit!” she said as she hauled ass back into the room.

It amused both Gene and Ethan.

“Sorry about that. She’s my…girlfriend,” he stated. “For a lack of a better word.”

Well, that told them everything they needed to know about the woman. If he had to struggle to find the word to describe their relationship, she absolutely wasn’t his girlfriend.

Someone was having plenty of fun. Again, his parents had dropped the ball on that one.

“Anyway,” Gene said, sitting down, “do you live here alone, minus the quote unquote girlfriend?” he asked.

“Yeah, this is my pad.”

Well, then, they would get down to business.

Gene dove right in.

“I’m Special Agent Cantrell, and this is Special Agent Blackhawk. We’re aware you talked to a cop regarding your neighbor, but we’ve been called in. Just answer the questions, and we’ll get out of your hair.”

He shrugged.

“I got nothing to hide. Hit me with it.”

So, he did.

“Tell us about the last time you saw Graham,” Gene stated.

Phillip cooperated.

“It was the day he went missing. He came over, and he was doing what he usually did. We liked to have coffee in the morning together. He taught a class around ten, and it’s a quick walk to class for him.

I don’t have a class until after that, and since I don’t have a roommate, it was nice to have a friend to talk to every day. ”

They let him replay it for them.

And they had to admit, he was telling them the exact same thing that he’d told Corbin.

Almost verbatim from Corbin’s notes.

“We talked about getting pizza that night. It was a Friday because Bunny was coming over.”

Ethan pointed at the room where the girl with the see-through shirt ran to a few minutes ago.

“And that’s Bunny?”

He laughed.

“Nah, that’s Sarah. She’s in my chem class. She’s tutoring me in chemistry.”

Uh, yeah, well, they were betting not a lot of tutoring went on.

“Bunny is a girl I met in Trig. She’s my Friday company. Sarah is more a Saturday night kind of girl. They are totally different personalities. Bunny, despite her name isn’t as much fun, but she’s hot, and that gets me street cred. She’s a ten plus on the babe-o-meter.”

This was giving Gene an even bigger headache than he had. In the back of his mind, he was thinking about the time.

Why?

Monday was less than twenty-four hours away, and that was likely when Javier was out on bail.

“I see,” said Ethan, sorry that he’d even gone there.

Gene was staring at the kid.

“How about the timeline?” he asked, getting him back on track for the conversation.

“Oh! Sure. Anyway, we were having coffee, I asked if he wanted to come over and chill. I told him to bring his guy.”

Gene went there.

This wasn’t in Corbin’s notes. All three men had been gay—according to secondhand information.

“He was gay?”

He nodded.

“Listen, to me, just get your rocks off. If you get your nut off with a dick, who am I to care?”

Why did Gene suddenly feel dirty being gay?

That whole sentence made him want to go take a shower, go to church, and drop some money in an offering plate. This kid’s blasé attitude bothered him, but he wasn’t sure why.

“That’s good to know,” Ethan said, seeing his partner befuddled by what the hell kind of parents raised this testosterone-laden nightmare. “More about the night, please.”

Phillip continued at their prompting, and he managed to stay on point, mostly.

“Anyway, he thanked me, but said he was going to a bar to hook up. I guess the boy-toy didn’t pan out, or the sex wasn’t that good. Some guys tolerate mediocre sex because they like the company. Not me. I like hot sex and to hangout with my friends if I want company.”

Jesus.

This kid…

His parents had to be hella proud. Maybe he didn’t have parents and was hatched.

That would explain a whole lot more because someone did a bang-up job on this one.

“We talked about that, and then, he went off to class. The next day, he never showed up for coffee. We even did that on the weekends. We’d talk about our nights with the bedmates,” he said.

“Bros like to share their conquests. You know…locker room chitchat. I’m sure you both understand that,” he said, winking at them.

No, they didn’t know that.

They didn’t fuck and tell.

Then again, they were having sex with each other, and who were they going to tell? It wasn’t like either of them hung out with anyone else.

Gene spent all day and all night with Ethan. It was rare they were apart.

Gene had been about to ask something, but they heard the door again.

When Sarah came out of the room, she was in actual clothes, and didn’t look nearly as chilly. Thankfully, the nip-o-meters weren’t out.

But it was clear she was embarrassed.