Page 346 of Sticks and Stones
Then, he paused.
“Have you found him?” he asked.
Gene nodded.
“Yes, and not alive.”
Spencer sighed.
“What the hell, Man?” he asked, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Wes is a good guy. He helped people, and he was so excited to have a chance at an education. He came from the bad part ofPhilly, and barely got out.”
They let him talk.
“He didn’t deserve to die. How did it happen?” he asked.
Gene was to the point.
“He was abducted, and we believed used for sex trafficking. Do you do any harder drugs?” he asked, covering his bases.
Spencer shook his head.
“Hell, no!”
Gene kept peppering him with questions.
“Did Wesley?”
He shook his head.
“Nah! He was a good kid. He told me that he had to keep his nose to the grindstone so he could make something ofhimself to help his mom out. She’s a single parent. I spoke to her a few weeks ago. Does she know he’s dead?”
He nodded.
“I’m sure. The cop who interviewed you first likely did a notify,” he said. “Who was he hooking up with?” he asked. “Because we were guys in college once too,” he said, pointing at himself and Ethan.
Spencer thought about it.
“I don’t know. He kept his sex life quiet. The ladies loved him, but I never once saw him with a babe.”
Gene glanced over, and Ethan was making notes. When he showed Gene, he saw what he was writing.
‘Ask if he was gay, or if he spoke about the professor, or Julian Mercer.’
They were on the same page.
“What’s he writing?” Spencer asked, paranoid as hell, but it could be from the pot.
Gene went there.
“He’s my lie detector, and he’s making sure you’re not yanking my chain, Spencer. You wouldn’t do that, now would you?” he asked.
Spencer looked hella uncomfortable.
“What aren’t you telling us?” he asked.
The man squirmed.
“Okay, maybe I came back to my dorm room one night, and Spencer was here with a dude. Maybe they were naked, and he was getting fucked.”
