“That man was a piece of work,” Phillips said, as they passed a Sunglass Hut and a Bath & Body Works, the smell of the cinnamon pretzels now replaced with Sweater Weather and Pumpkin Waffles candles. “A mean SOB. I’m sorry. I don’t mean that. But he did try to kill me once. He stuck a gun not only into my mouth but down my throat. If it hadn’t been for the school resource officer and the football coach, I think that man would’ve pulled the trigger.”

“Did you file charges against him?”

“I wanted to,” he said. “But the principal and the Taylors’ pastor talked me out of it. Said Tim Taylor had been through enough already. Damn, Brandon hated that man.”

“He and Brandon didn’t get along?”

“Not at all,” Phillips said. “Brandon tried to embrace all those things his dad loved. Tim Taylor was typical Tibbehah County. Liked to hunt and fish, drink beer, and watch football. He did some kind of manual labor at the Cobb family sawmill. Typical roughneck who couldn’t understand his son had broader interests. You do know Brandon was an excellent photographer? That’s probably what he was up to in the woods. The hunting story was probably Tim’s own interpretation. Or maybe Brandon said it so they’d leave him alone.”

“How did you get pulled into all this?” Tashi said. They sat down in a little grouping of leather massage chairs offering shiatsu for a buck. Neither one of them leaned back or relaxed.

“Sheriff Beckett,” Phillips said. The skin on his face as pale and thin as parchment paper. “Tim told him Brandon and I had an unnatural relationship. He said Brandon and I spent more time together than the boy did with his own family. That was very true. But Brandon was curious, working in the darkroom as a member of the yearbook staff, talking about music and art. He loved playing the guitar. To a man like Tim that just meant you were a queer.”

“Did Beckett seriously consider you?”

“He kept me at the sheriff’s office for two days straight,” he said. “I didn’t have an attorney or ask for one. I answered all his questions. I took a lie detector test. I accounted for my whereabouts. I mean, I had nothing to hide. And I wanted to do my best to help find Brandon. I told Hamp Beckett if he wanted to look at someone who had the motive, it was Tim Taylor. Brandon used to come to school with bruises on his arms. He came one time with a black eye. That man was pure walking evil.”

“What charges did he hold you on?”