“I mean, you and me, we both know Jay didn’t kill him. My dad made me shut up about it, but the sheriff blaming Jay was bullshit.”

I’d never heard Will swear before. “Yes, I know. Jay didn’t kill his dad.”

The boy was quiet for a while. He blew smoke in the air, and the cloud vanished toward the trees. “Hey, Rebecca? I need to ask. Are we okay? You and me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been different with me all year. Is it the gay thing?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Then what is it?”

I shrugged. “I blame myself for what happened.”

“That’s crazy. Jay killing himself wasn’t your fault. Neither was what happened to me.”

“I appreciate you saying that, Will, but I feel responsible.”

“Why? I came to you. I told you what was going on. That’s what started everything. If anybody should feel guilty, it’s me. I tried to rescue Jay, and instead I got him killed.”

“You did not do that.”

Will brushed away a tear. “Yeah. I guess. All I can do is live with it, right? But I’m glad you and me are okay. I’ve been worried about that.”

“We’re fine.”

“Thanks for the smoke.”

“Sure.”

Will turned away, but then he stopped. He looked at the cigarette in his hand as if it had reminded him of something. “Listen, I should probably tell you this. I mean, it may be nothing at all. When the sheriff blamed Jay for Gordon’s death, I figured it didn’t matter anymore. But now—with Ajax dead, too—”

I tensed. “What is it?”

“Well, it was a dumb thing. Jay and I were having a smoke one day here in the yard. I had a book of matches from the 126, and I used it to light his cigarette. When he saw the matches, he took the book from me. Then he shook his head and said that was really strange.”

“I don’t understand. What was strange?”

“Jay used to collect matchbooks when he was a kid. His dad would pick them up for him on his business trips. He had ones from all across the country. For a while, he had mason jars filled with them.”

“Okay.” I was still puzzled.

“The thing is, Jay was sure that he’d had a matchbook from the 126 in his collection. He recognized the design. The only way he could have gotten it was if Gordon had brought it back from a trip. So Jay thought Gordon had been lying about never being in town before last fall. Like it wasn’t the first time he’d been to Black Wolf County.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

When we were back at the sheriff’s office, Darrell and I searched Ajax’s desk.