Page 112 of Weight of Guilt

“They printed him. Your man in the cellar.” She kept her voice low and discrete. “His name was Dewey Hicks. Fifty-eight years old. He did eleven years at Brushy Mountain for arson.”

“Arson?” Nash hadn’t expected to hear that.

“Two churches in Morgan County in the late nineties.” She put the phone in her pocket. “He was paroled about fourteen years ago. Nobody’s had an address on him since 2020.”

“Did he have any affiliation with Voss?” he asked.

“Not that we can find right now. We’re going to keep digging.”

“And what about Voss himself?” Nash asked. “Any updates on him?”

“That’s the other part.” Prine glanced around quickly. “Voss renewed a Tennessee driver’s license in March. But the address he listed is no longer valid. I sent one of my guys to visit him, and they found out he hasn’t lived there in years.”

“Interesting.” For a moment, it had almost sounded like a good lead. “The man who came into the school earlier . . . his height doesn’t match Voss’s. The man on that video isn’t six foot two. I’d say five ten, five eleven. It’s probably not him.”

“I agree. Which leaves us at square one.”

Just then, the front doors opened, and Tate Ferris walked inside.

Maybe this man would have some answers.

Chapter

Fifty-Seven

Nash straightened. What was Tate doing here?

The man stopped just inside and glanced around as if looking for someone.

“Is the sheriff here?” he called. “I need to talk to him.”

Prine came back through the cafeteria doors. “Mr. Ferris? I’m Agent Prudence Prine, FBI.”

“I heard about Mason. He’s on my soccer team. I want to help find him.”

“We’d love to have your help,” Prine said. “Can I have ten minutes? You’re just the man we were looking for.”

Ferris’s expression twisted with confusion. “You were looking for me? Is this about Mason?”

“Let’s talk.”

She led him into an office and pulled the door shut. A few minutes later, Luke stepped in from outside and joined them.

Nash stayed in the hall. But he really wanted to be in that room and hear what was being said. Right now, Tate was their strongest lead.

When they finally came out, Prine was first. She gave him a small shake of the head on her way past.

Luke stopped beside Nash.

“His sister’s boy’s been getting infusions since June,” Luke said, low. “Every other Monday, one o’clock chair time, in Sevierville. Tate signed him in at 12:52, and they came out at 3:40. We confirmed it with the hospital.”

“That’s forty minutes each way.”

“Yes, it is.” Luke rubbed his eyes. “Two nurses put him in that room the whole time. His alibi should hold.”

Nash blew out a long breath. “So now we need another suspect.”

“Yes, we do.”