“Yes. I had just been promoted, but the boys weren’t aware of it. It was supposed to be announced on Monday. Obviously, that didn’t happen.” A stray tear falls down his cheek, and he angrily rubs it away.
“No one knew about your promotion?”
“No.”
“So you were out celebrating Jarred’s birthday. Who was there with you?”
“Jarred, obviously. Billy, Henry, Saint, and Disney.”
“Okay, from my notes, that’s Jarred Jenkins, William Owens, Henry Sutton, Diego Martinez, and Tyler Walters. Jarred, Billy, and Henry make sense. Explain Saint and Disney to me.” She smiles and manages to crack one out of Connor, too.
“Saint...his real name is Diego, like San Diego. San is just Saint in Spanish. Besides, we grill him for being the worst Catholic there is, so there’s that. Ty, his surname is Walters, like Walt...Walt Disney. And he looks just like that cartoon from Tangled. You know, the thief.”
“Right, Flynn Ryder.”
“You know your Disney.”
“My niece loves it. She thought Rapunzel was way better than Frozen.”
“She’s right, my niece loves it too. I’ve seen both films a hundred times each.” He laughs before seemingly remembering where he is and rubs a knuckle into his eye.
“Do you think the boys would be happy to find out you got promoted?” she asks softly, steering him back on topic.
“Yeah, of course. They’re my boys. I couldn’t wait to tell them. We’ve known it’s been coming for a few months, but nothing was confirmed. They’d be stoked for sure.”
She jots something else down on her notepad. She’s determining his friendship interactions and how close he is with people. Is there a reason he doesn’t confide in them? Are they close? Does he have real intimacy with people, even platonically? By her questions, you’d never guess that because she’s that subtle. That good at her job. She puts the emphasis on what he thinks the other men would think, and in doing so, she finds out what he thinksof them.
“Okay, so you and the boys go out for the evening to Skallywags. Have you been there before?”
“Yeah, when we’re not traveling around, we’re based in Seattle, so that’s our go-to bar.”
“What kind of bar is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you go for the food? The dancing? The women?”
“It’s a dive bar, it’s got a pool table, sometimes we play. The boys liked to dance with women, sure.”
“Didn’t you?” she presses.
“I have a girlfriend. Hannah.” His browbunches as if he’s not quite sure if what he’s saying is true anymore. One thing will test your relationship, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a murder charge.
“How long have you been together?”
“Six years.” His voice wobbles. “I was going to ask her to marry me after I got my promotion.”
He starts to cry thick tears now. They’re streaming as he tries to cover his eyes. He sniffs over and over, his whole face is leaking. The devastation is real. That much is true.
“The detective showed you a picture of the girl in your last interview. Did you recognize her from the bar that night?”
“No, I don’t remember seeing her. I’ve never seen her before.” His tone sharpens.
“Back to what you do remember, you went into Skallywags. Had a few drinks, and then what?” She swerves the conversation, eager to win back his rapport.
He takes a deep breath, the scrunch in his brow telling me his frustration is starting to build.
“We were drinking a lot. Celebrating Jarred and trying to get girls to give him kisses for his birthday. Just being stupid.” He spits out the final word, like he’s grown since then, like he’s realizing how trivial all his problems were before, because now he’s facing the hardest thing he’s ever experienced.
