The Movie-Town Murders (The Art of Murder 5)

North said grimly, “Not legal, I can tell you that much.”

“Someone should have called social services,” Margot said.

“Nah. He was a hustler. A teenaged hustler. He’d have just run away again. And maybe he was running from something a lot worse than Aubrey.”

“Do you remember his name?” Jason asked. It was a long shot at best. There was a good chance that kid hadn’t even made it to adulthood, let alone managed to preserve the print of an obscure movie he’d have had to have a 35mm film projector to watch on.

“No,” North said. “Micky? Mikey?”

“Did he have a last name?”

“I’m sure he did, but I’m not even sure of his first name. I might be getting him confused with someone else.”

“What about a photo of him? Any chance of that?”

“No. I moved around a lot back then.” North’s smile was sardonic. “I tried to be a real tough guy on the screen and off. Thought it was safer. I wasn’t much for keepsakes and forget-me-nots.”