Quinn nodded, believing he knew where they were headed with this. The time back in the Big Woods when he was lost, at only ten years old. Something he never liked to discuss except with Caddy, because she was the only other person alive who knew the truth. “I didn’t pay much attention to boundaries as a kid,” Quinn said. “And, yes. Sometimes it got me in trouble. Everything about that time was in the papers. I don’t really have too much to add.”

“This isn’t about you,” Jessica said, speaking up quick. “This is about Brandon.”

“We heard you’d been run off that land a week before Brandon went missing,” Tashi said.

Quinn shrugged. “I don’t recall that.”

“And it was Brandon Taylor who had turned you in.”

“No, ma’am.”

“We have a source who said you and Brandon got into a nasty fight over a deer stand,” Tashi said. “Or maybe your relationship with Maggie?”

Quinn shook his head. “I barely knew Brandon, let alone Maggie, back then. I only had one girlfriend in high school.”

“Maggie told us you’d met when she’d come down for the summers.”

“We met,” Quinn said. “But she was a lot younger. Just what are y’all trying to say?”

“Our source says there had been reports of some wild shooting out on the Hawkins property,” Tashi said. “And after Brandon Taylor was found dead, your uncle made sure the state investigators never heard about it.”

Quinn just stood there and shook his head, aware of the microphone and knowing how more denials might sound on tape.

“Our source is pretty solid,” Jessica said. “They put you there on the land. And they were present during a cover-up.”

Quinn was glad they didn’t know more about when he’d been lost years before. Some things were truly best left buried. “Miss Coleman,” Quinn said. “I’m going to bet your source is a man named E. J. Royce. And if I’m correct, I’d hope you put your investigative skills to work and look at that man’s record. He should’ve never served in law enforcement in this county. He’s an embarrassment to the profession.”

“He showed us his accommodations,” Jessica said. “He said he was your uncle’s best friend and was your uncle’s very first hire at the department.”

“My uncle had a big heart,” Quinn said. “He often looked after people who took advantage of him. He took in stray dogs and took care of folks in the county who didn’t have enough to eat. Sometimes he bought coats for poor kids . . . I better get going.”

“Did you ever shoot at Brandon?” Jessica asked. “Even if it was just to scare him?”

“Nope.”

“Were you jealous of his relationship with Maggie Powers?” Tashi asked.