Page 154 of Pride High 3: Yellow
He explained that he had hung out with Silvia before coming home. The detective wanted to know her full name, which seemed odd.
“And when exactly did you get here?” Truman asked.
“Around six, I think.”
“You think?”
“Why are you giving our son the third degree?” Joe interrupted.
“We’ll get there,” the detective replied. “I just need to establish some basic facts.” He addressed Anthony again. “When you got home, who was here?”
“Nobody.”
Truman raised his eyebrows at this. “No one at all?”
“We went out for dinner and a movie,” Brenda said. “Although it’s possible that Mike was here.”
“I wasn’t,” they heard him say from the kitchen. “I was on a date.”
Joe rolled his eyes at this. “Anthony was here when we got home. We talked to him.”
“When was that?” Detective Truman asked, sounding interested.
“I don’t know… Ten or so?”
Brenda nodded. “I believe that’s right.”
“Okay.” Detective Truman finished jotting down his notes and lowered the pad of paper. Then he smiled, like everything was going to be all right. “Let’s sit down and have a chat,” he suggested.
Anthony’s anxiety skyrocketed while he waited for everyone to get settled. He couldn’t understand why his whereabouts were of such interest to the police.
“I talked to your principal,” Detective Fowler said from one of the accent chairs. “Sounds like you and Graham Fowler don’t get along.”
“You mean the guy who picks on me all the time?” Anthony spat. “The one who spraypainted ‘fag’ on my locker? If you’re here because of him, I can tell you all sorts of things. Like how he knocked me down the other day, or tried beating me up because he didn’t like an article I wrote.”
“Son,” Joe said warningly.
“No, it’s okay!” Detective Truman said. “This is important. It sounds like you and Graham have quite the history.”
His mother shifted on the couch. “People have been picking on him since he came out.”
“That must be very upsetting,” the detective said. “I know it would make me angry.”
Anthony shrugged. “I try not to let it bother me.”
“But maybe you felt like getting back at him a little, huh? A harmless prank to make him pay for putting you through all that?”
Anthony shook his head. “I just avoid him as much as possible.”
“Uh-huh. Have you ever toilet papered a house?”
Joe scoffed. “Isthatwhat this is all about? You’re playing twenty questions with our kid because someone’s house got TPed?”
“I’m afraid it goes a bit further than that,” the detective said. “Arson was involved. On that note…” He turned toward Anthony’s father. “I have testimony from two witnesses who said you made the following threat to a Mr. Richard Fowler when called to the school for disciplinary reasons involving your son. And I quote, ‘Don’t call the fire department the next time your house catches fire.’ Do you remember saying that?”
“Hey now,” Joe said, “that wasn’t a threat!”
Detective Truman leaned back. “Oh?”
