Page 226 of Sticks and Stones
“You know me. One suspect isn’t enough. I like to have a backup criminal in case we get our feet kicked out from under us.”
Gene laughed.
“He’s not lying. When Plan A fails, jump on Plan B,” he said, staring at Corbin, hoping he was taking this all in.
For later.
“So I kept digging. The next thing that made me curious was that college is expensive. Right?” he asked.
Greyson shrugged.
“I didn’t go to college. I served. Because of my rank and duties, I was destined to work for the military or government.”
Well, Gene knew.
“I had student loans,” he said. “I’m from a Midwestern middle-class family. I had scholarships for athletics and student loans. All of my brothers do, too. That’s the only way we were going to school. My father runs a farm, so we weren’t going to Harvard.”
Ethan was staring at his man.
He pictured him getting all sweaty and working on a farm, and it pulled up countless sexy pictures in his head. He must have been grinning because Gene laughed.
“Behave,” he warned, squeezing his thigh under the table, even though that was the last thing he wanted his lover to do.
Granted, they’d just rolled around, but he could go a few more rounds with his man. He was sexy as sin, and Gene couldn’t help himself.
As for Corbin, he couldn’t relate to the college thing. Maybe that’s why he didn’t dig deep enough into that angle.
“I didn’t go to college. I got my Act one-twenty training and went to police training. I guess it was at a college, but it was more police classes.”
That left Ethan.
“I had a shit ton of scholarships,” he said. “A poor Native kid whose father didn’t hold down a job and whose mother was dead? I had a full ride. I didn’t have to pay for anything. It gave me time to study.”
This was all fun, and sharing was caring, but Greyson was confused.
“And what are you pointing us at? Because college student loans are through the government.”
Ethan told them.
“Loans are, but scholarships aren’t. Every one of the victims had a scholarship through the same place. It’s through a very rich donor family—the Mercers.”
That was another good lead. It gave them another angle of how someone could prey on three people and have them connect.
Gene was curious.
“Impress me, Detective,” he said. “Did you dig through all the missing person reports and see if any of them were college students?”
He nodded.
“I did because I’m only half an idiot—the idiot part went undercover. The smart part knew enough to search all the MPRs to find any more students. There weren’t any.”
Ethan was profiling it.
“That makes sense. A predator looking for men would move the hunting ground around to not get caught.”
And it was clear whoever was behind this did.
Gene was to the point.
