Page 24 of Just Right

They all sat down. Landon was out of handcuffs. He was fidgeting, looking deeply uneasy, with his shoulders hunched. He wasn’t making eye contact with either her or Connor, Cami saw.

“You know why we came to speak to you?” Connor asked.

Landon shook his head.

“It was because we tracked malware back to your IP address. You’ve been sending it out, gathering people’s information. Correct?”

Landon swallowed hard. Finally, in a hoarse voice, he started to talk. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean. You seem to think I'm some kind of a criminal? I’m not.”

“Malware on its own is serious enough. But you’ve been embedding it in quizzes, and we have three recent murder victims who did those quizzes. Was this how you tracked them?” Connor asked harshly.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about." He was breathing almost as hard as he had done when running, Cami saw.

"We've been following your online activities for a while, and we've seen what you've been doing," Connor insisted.

"This is some kind of mistake, right? It isn't me. I don't do that kind of stuff."

Connor leaned forward over the table, his face hard. "Don't be a fool, Landon. My colleague here is an IT expert. She can get the information off your computer, probably faster than you can blink. So, you might as well admit to it before she goes looking."

Now, Landon's gaze swung to Cami, and he stared at her, looking appalled.

"No, no, no," he said, appearing to panic. "I don't know what you think I'm doing, but you got the wrong guy. You got the wrong guy."

"Let me see your computer then," she challenged him. “It’s been signed in with the rest of your possessions. We can sign it out again and take a look inside.”

Cami saw Landon's eyes widen in horror. He clearly believed her.

"Don't you dare," he said. Cami was shocked by his vehemence.

“You won’t have a choice. As a suspect, we’re now entitled to investigate related evidence,” Connor explained.

"I never killed anyone!" Landon's voice was now high and stressed. He looked as frantic as if he'd suddenly landed in a nightmare.

"You'll need to prove that in a court of law if you don't agree to speak to us and give us answers," Connor threatened.

"Please, I haven't done anything wrong—well, not more than just an innocent piece of software. I'm not a murderer." Landon now sounded as if he was begging to be believed.

It was surprising how much younger he looked now,Cami thought. Younger and more scared. He was out of his depth here, that was for sure.

"We know that you've been sending out malware to people," Connor continued, "and we know that you've been using it to access other people's computers, to find out about their personal information."

"I—it was just some fun," Landon whispered. “To see if I could.”

"That's highly illegal. Especially when it's done in order to commit a murder."

"I'm not a killer. Okay, look, I admit—I did run the malware. I was just checking to see if the program worked, that was all. I never intended to commit any crime with the information. I was going to destroy it. Honestly."

If there was one thing Cami was learning from her time in the FBI, it was that people who said ‘honestly’ were usually not being honest at all.

"You need to tell us your whereabouts this morning. And yesterday evening, and the previous evening also," Connor said firmly. "If you don't have an alibi for the times of these murders, then you're a suspect. That's a fact, and nothing is going to change it."

"I can show you where I was. What will you accept? My phone has a record of the GPS routes I've taken. I'm a delivery driver part-time for a courier company, and I was working yesterday evening. I'll show you where. I don't have an alibi for this morning because I was at home. But for last night, I do. I’ll show you if you give me my phone back.”

Connor stepped outside the interview room. A minute later, he was back with the phone.

With shaking hands, Landon navigated to his phone and pulled up the GPS coordinates.

"You see, when I get a delivery, I map it and then I go there. That's what I did the whole of yesterday. I started at seven a.m., and I only signed off at seven p.m. That's what I was doing. I swear, I wasn't killing people. I wouldn't do that. I also did some deliveries the previous afternoon.”

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