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Asher looked at the door, as if expecting to see Josie there. The kid clearly had an issue with women, which was probably why he was dating a teenage girl. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. What do you want to know?”
“When is the last time you saw Kayleigh Patchett?”
Crack, crackwent his knuckles. “Uh, like, a week and a half ago? It was during the week. I picked her up from where she works, and we hung out. Her parents punished her for some shit, so we couldn’t see each other for a while.”
His answer lined up with the messages he and Kayleigh had exchanged on StoryJot.
“Has she ever been to your apartment?”
Asher shook his head.Crack, crack.“Come on, man.”
“My colleagues are going to search your apartment. They’ll find her DNA. What I want to know is will they find it because you were seeing her and had her over as a guest, or because you abducted her?”
Asher’s spine straightened. “What? Are you kidding? I didn’t abduct her! Yeah, she’s been there a few times. To hang out, and she was free to come and go as she pleased.”
“Okay, okay,” said Noah. “That’s good to know. Where were you on Saturday? From ninea.m. to fivep.m.?”
“I was home. It was a Saturday. I went down to help set up the bar around one in the afternoon. You can confirm that with the bartender, Saundra. Saundra Fish.”
“Good, good,” said Noah. “How about overnight Monday into Tuesday?”
Asher’s eyes narrowed. “What? I was home, asleep, like most normal people. What the hell kind of question is that?”
Noah changed track. “Let’s talk about your place. We know we’ll find evidence that Kayleigh’s been there, so that won’t be a surprise. What else are we going to find, Ash?”
“What do you mean?”
Noah smiled. “What will we find that you wouldn’t want the police to find? Remember, telling the truth now helps you out and saves us multiple visits to you.”
Asher sighed. “Shit, man. If I’ve got something I don’t want you guys to find, then I’m fucked. You’re going to find it anyway.”
“So just tell me now.”
“You gonna bust me over it?”
“Depends on what it is,” Noah said. “But your cooperation in the search for Kayleigh will be noted.”
Another sigh, this one heavier. “I’ve got some drugs, okay? Some ecstasy, a little Oxy, and weed. And some beer. I know I’m not twenty-one yet, but I live above a bar. Like I said, I help clean and set up. I see some things and I take them, okay?”
“You ever give weed to Kayleigh?”
“I’m not answering that.”
Josie took that as a yes. Noah did as well but knew better than to push, since Asher’s posture had already tightened up. His knees knocked together, and his shoulders curled inward.
Moving on, Noah asked, “Ash, you ever do any hunting or trapping?”
Asher gave a nervous laugh. “You’re all over the place, man. When I was in high school, I used to go with my dad. He was super into it, I wasn’t. I was into books. He thought I was a pussy. That’s why I left home right after high school. That’s why I’m putting myself through college.”
“You and Kayleigh connected over books,” Noah said, bringing the questioning back to Kayleigh. “You both like reading and writing.”
“Yeah,” Asher said.
“From the messages we’ve got between you two on StoryJot, it seems like you’re both pretty serious writers.”
Asher shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
“It was pretty shitty when Felicia Evans stole Kayleigh’s story. You knew she’d written it. You edited it, didn’t you?”
