“That report was written two weeks before Grissom’s accident,” Clark said.

“I think we just found the trouble KT got himself into over the summer.” Joel regarded the arrest record. “The thing Wesley Mores said Dylan was so concerned about.”

“And it was just like Wesley told you last night—two untouchable footballers get arrested and the record of it disappeared.”

“Then we were right about something,” Joel said. “KT was working with drugs.”

“Hold on.” Clark flicked through her notebook with one hand. “If KT was arrested here at the marina the weekend of July thirteenth then he and Dylan must have split up on the weekends they were supposed to be at the coast. Bethany told us that the boys were out of town the twelfth through the fourteenth.”

“Meaning that if Dylan was in the city that weekend and—” he cleared his throat “—occupied on the night of KT’s arrest, then does this drug shit have anything to do with him at all?”

They reached the highway, waited at the light even though no cars were coming. “There’s a lot of money floating around, isn’t there?” said Clark. “KT arrested with five hundred in mixed bills. Dylan counting two grand in his bedroom.”

“Money that he apparently took out before he died,” Joel said. “The bank told me on Wednesday that his account only had two grand, which I’m guessing was the money my mother’s boyfriend gave him.”

They drank their coffee. The Flats were turning hard and bronze in the sun. “If Dylan wasn’t involved with drugs, why would he be turning tricks in the first place? Can you think of another way a kid could rack up a debt so bad he had to sell his body to pay it off?” Joel added.

“Maybe he needed the money for something other than a debt. Maybe he just liked having cash around.” Clark tapped her thumbnail on her tooth. “If we say Dylan wasn’t connected to the drug business, and if he didn’t owe a large debt to a dangerous person, where does it leave the idea that his death is connected to Troy’s disappearance? What parallels do we still see?”

The light changed. Clark didn’t turn immediately.

“They were both Bison,” Joel said.

“And they were both gay.”

Joel sighed. “Does that put us back at a hate crime? The escorting ad might have been a bad joke, but it could have also gotten guys asking questions about Dylan, making assumptions that weren’t entirely wrong.”

The light turned yellow.

Joel continued. “Dylan apparently burned down a church and got away with it the first week of June. He must have thought he was untouchable. If the ad was real, why else would he be brave enough to put his face up on that site?”

“Do guys even put their faces on ads like that?” Clark said.

“The professionals do. Why wouldn’t they?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that’s city life.”

“The city, exactly. So if it was posted in Dallas and Houston, who here found the ad?”