Page 30 of State of Bliss

Gonzo glanced at Freddie, who got up and left the room to have a look at Montgomery’s social media.

“You… You don’t think Tori did something to her, do you?”

“Do you?”

“No! She wouldn’t do that.”

Gonzo said nothing, hoping the young man might come around to believing it was possible on his own.

“She couldn’t have. She was with me all night. Well, except for when she went for a walk last night. But how would she even know where Rachel was?”

That was a question Gonzo would like an answer to as well.

“Tori couldn’t have hurt her. She just couldn’t have. Yes, she was upset about our breakup, but that wasn’t about Rachel.”

“What was it about?”

“We’d grown apart. The long-distance relationship was hard to maintain when we were both meeting lots of new people.”

“But you said Tori wasn’t really interested in new people.”

“I encouraged her to get out there and enjoy herself. She said she couldn’t do that without me.”

“I’m going to talk to her. Stay put.”

Gonzo left the room and met Cruz in the hallway.

“This is what I found. Took me all of three seconds.”

He handed Gonzo a printout of a December post that showed friends gathered at a holiday party. In one of them, Gordon had an arm around Rachel, who smiled as she leaned into him.

“There it is,” Gonzo said. “Let’s pull Tori’s financials and see what she’s been up to behind the scenes.”

“I’ll take care of that.”

“Has everyone else left?”

“It’s six thirty.”

“Oh shit.” He was supposed to have been at Stahl’s house hours ago. “You can go if you need to get home.”

“I’ll stay until we’re done.”

“Let me know what you find on the financials.”

“I’ll do it right now.”

“Great, thanks.”

Gonzo nodded to the Patrol officer standing outside the other interrogation room. When he stepped inside, Tori shot to her feet.

“You have to let me out of here.”

“Have a seat.” He turned on the recorder and recited his name and hers.

“I want to leave.”

“I understand that, but you’re not leaving until you’re arraigned.”

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