Page 32 of State of Bliss

“Did you tell him you’d seen the photo?”

“No, because we were home for the winter break, and I wanted to enjoy the time we had together.”

“Even though you now knew he was seeing someone at school?”

“I didn’t know that. I saw a picture of him with a girl. That’s all I knew.”

“I’m going to put this right out there. I don’t believe that. I’ve known you two hours, and I have absolutely no doubt you did a deep dive on her the second you saw that photo. I’ll bet you had her birthday and possibly her Social Security number in a matter of minutes.”

Tori shifted restlessly in her seat.

Gonzo wouldn’t call it asquirm, per se, but it was close.

“You also just referred to her by name as if you knew her.”

“When did I do that?”

“When you asked me if Rachel had been murdered. If you didn’t know of her, you might’ve said ‘that girl Gordon knew’ or something like that. Instead, you very specifically asked me if Rachel had been murdered. Interesting, wouldn’t you say?”

“I didn’t know her!”

“You know what I think, Tori? That you had motive and opportunity to kill Rachel in the time you were away from Gordon’s room last night.”

“I didn’t kill her!”

Freddie came into the room with a stack of pages with highlighted details.

“No, but you harassed her for months with threatening messages about what would happen to her if she didn’t leave your boyfriend alone,” Freddie said, putting the pages in front of Gonzo.

“Well, look at this,” Gonzo said. “‘Leave him alone, or I’ll fucking kill you.’”

“That was before Rachel had to switch phone numbers to make it stop.” He handed Gonzo another stack of pages. “This is what happened once Tori got ahold of the new number. And how did you do that, anyway?”

Tori had her arms crossed and a defiant expression on her face. “I want a lawyer.”

Gonzo gathered the papers, turned off the recording and stood to leave.

“Where’re you going?” she asked in a high-pitched screech.

“I can’t speak to you any further until your lawyer is present. Let us know who you’d like us to call for you.”

“How should I know? I don’t live here.”

“Would you like us to call the public defender’s office for you?”

“No, I want to call my parents. They’ll get me someone.”

“Give me their number. I’ll make the call.”

She seemed to hesitate, as if trying to decide if she should argue further with him before she recited the number. “Tell them I didn’t do anything.”

“I’ll be sure to let them know.”

Gonzo left the room, with Cruz following him. “What a fucking piece of work she is. I feel sorry for Rachel—and for Gordon—for having to deal with her.”

“You think she killed Rachel?” Cruz asked.

“I think she had a beef a mile wide with her, but until we know the results of the autopsy, we won’t know for sure if she was murdered.”

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