"I was driving.”
I gave him a skeptical look. "Now we both know that isn't true."
His face tightened.
"I suggest you start telling me the truth, or this is going to go the wrong way.”
Connor pulled into a parking space, and I told him to kill the engine.
He did. "I'm going to get in trouble. They can tell when we are not moving. I'm gonna get fired if I don't take you to your destination.”
"We are already at our destination. You just need to be truthful, then you can go about your way.”
Connor shifted uncomfortably in his seat. His nervous eyes locked with mine in the rearview.
"I'm gonna ask you again, where were you last night?"
He sighed. "I was at home. I ordered a pizza, played some video games, chilled out. I don't have much of a social life."
"I think you have a pretty active social life. You seem to be involved in political causes. You attend a lot of protests. You share your opinion online. It seems when you’re not driving this car, you’re online, commenting and stirring up trouble." The sheriff had sent me a link to his social media page.
"It's a free country.”
"Did you brag about throwing acid in someone's face?”
Panic filled his eyes.
I showed him a social media post on my phone that he had made that pretty much took responsibility.
"Are you the one who called into the morning show today?"
Connor swallowed hard. "I was just talking shit.”
"Why? What's the point?” I knew what the point was. It scored him brownie points socially. Maybe there was some girl he was trying to impress.
"Look, those girls are freaks,” he said. “Nobody looks like that in real life. It totally sends the wrong message. It makes everyone feel inferior. But hey,buy these products, and you can be beautiful too. I'm sorry, but you can buy all the beauty products you want—it’s not gonna make you look like Ava Lang.”
"So you wanted to take Ava Lang down a notch," I said.
"Wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things. I didn't do anything."
"So why take credit for it?”
"Nobody else was, so I figured, why not?”
"You made the call to the morning show from Key Bean," I said.
His face stiffened. "How did you know that?”
"It's my job to know these things.”
"Look, I told you what you wanted to know. Can I go now? I need this job.”
"So you're telling me you had nothing to do with the attack on Ava Lang?" I said.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm telling you.”
I looked at him with skeptical eyes.
