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Matt didn’t comment.
“We each took one beer from Andy’s dad’s fridge, that was it. Because we didn’t want him to notice. And we weren’t getting drunk. We just wanted to get out and, I don’t know, just, you know.”
Matt knew. He had done the exact same thing when he was a kid. He never intended to get into trouble, but there were a few times where the situation had gone south, quickly. Nothing good happened on the streets after midnight. Of course, Friday Harbor was a whole world different than Little Havana.
“Who else was with you?” Mr. Billings asked.“Everyone.”
“Andy and Jake. That’s it. I swear, Dad.”
Matt said, “Two security guards told you to leave. Do you remember what time that was?”
“Um, about one, a little after. We got down there at twelve thirty, were just talking—I swear, we weren’t doing anything bad.”
“Sneaking out of the house after midnight. Drinking.”
“One beer, Dad!”
“You’re fourteen, Mickey. That’s one beer too many. But to be honest, I’m angrier about you leaving the house without permission. No one knew where you were. Something could have happened... We’ll talk later.”
The kid frowned, looked at Matt. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ll have to talk to your dad about that. What I want to know is if you saw or heard anything last night. Before or after the guards told you to go home.”
He shrugged.
“Mickey!” his dad snapped.
“No, sir,” Mickey said to Matt.
“Let’s do it this way. You left Andy’s house at what time? Be as precise as you can.”
“About twelve twenty, twelve twenty-five.”
“And did you go directly to the pier?”
“We went by Jake’s house, he came out, and he’s like just a few minutes from the pier. Um, about twelve thirty, a little after.”
“How long were you at the pier?”
“Forty-five minutes? Maybe an hour before the guards told us to leave. They, um, promised they wouldn’t say anything.”
“One of those guards died in the explosion,” Matt said. “He told the office of his encounter with you.”
Mickey’s face fell. “Really? Ohmygod I’m so sorry.”
Mr. Billings put his hand on his son’s shoulder and squeezed.
Matt asked, “When you left, did you see anyone? I looked at the pier where you were—you would have to pass the boathouse on your way off West End property.”
He shook his head, then hesitated. “There was a boat. I mean, there’s boats everywhere, I know, but someone was on this one, about a hundred feet out, a little more, from the end of the pier. I wouldn’t have noticed except that a reflection caught my eye. The moon wasn’t out, so I thought it was the guards following us, with their flashlight or something. But they’d gone the other direction, and we went back the way we came.”
Matt pulled out a detailed map of the area. “Where was the boat?” He pointed. “This is the pier where you and your friends were. This is the boathouse. You walked...here?” He moved his finger along a path.
“Yeah, though we cut through this part,” Mickey said, dragging his finger along a parallel path. “Because there’s a gate at the stairs that leads up to the road, but if you go along the beach, you can cut through the Johannessens’ property here.”
Mickey studied the map. “The boat was about here.” He pointed to a spot between the pier and the boathouse, but about a hundred fifty feet out in the inlet.
“And you saw someone on the boat?”
