Page 347 of Sticks and Stones

Gene stared at him.

“Did you tell the cop who was investigating it?” he asked.

He shook his head.

“No, because I didn’t want to out the guy. It was clear he liked what was happening to him. After that, Spencer and I didn’t talk much. He avoided me. That’s what I thought blowing me off for dinner was about. I didn’t care he was gay. If he wanted to use the room, all he had to do was tell me. It was more awkward having to walk in on someone having sex—not the gay part. I don’t give a shit about that.”

Gene kept pushing.

“Who was the‘dude’he was having sex with?” he asked.

He shrugged.

“I don’t know his name unless it’s‘Jesus Christ! Fuck me harder!’,” he stated. “He wasn’t wearing a name tag on his ass. All I can tell you is that he was white and older. Maybe in his thirties. He was going hard though. I guess once you go black, you never go back is a real thing because he was enjoying it too.”

Ethan was making notes.

Gene could see what he was writing, and it was one name—circled.

Julian Mercer.

Gene took the hint and ran with it.

“Did he have a lot of contact with the scholarship committee?” he asked, changing up the questioning.

Spencer thought about it.

“I mean, the guy would call to make sure Wes was on track, but that’s about it. He didn’t say much about him but that he had to keep his grades up or there were consequences.”

Gene kept asking questions.

“How did he feel about talking to the scholarship committee?” he asked.

Spencer shrugged.

“He didn’t mind. He liked talking to Julian. He said the guy was cool, and always nice to him. Most of the time, he’d take him to lunch, and they’d discuss a proactive plan to get him back on track.”

Well, that was the opposite of what Elliot felt regarding it.

Gene was curious, and he pulled out his phone. In it, he had the email Ethan had sent with all the information he’d dug up yesterday.

“Do you recognize this man?” he asked.

As soon as he showed him, Spencer’s eyes went huge.

“Holy shit! That’s the guy who was having sex with him! That’s him!”

Gene showed Ethan, and the picture was of Julian Mercer.

The benefactor.

Both men were thinking the same thing—that there were strings attached to the scholarship, and the reason Julian was hands-on was more about him getting laid.

And taking advantage of kids who needed those scholarships.

Gene kept questioning the guy.

“The cop who interviewed you said that later that night, you got a text from him.”