“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “So I guess we can knock her off the list of suspects. At least for now.”
Roman sighed heavily and sank deeper into the armchair. “I really don’t know how we can evenstartto look for a motive,” he muttered, head shaking. “It’s like we’ve already said over and over. Cal’s friends all loved her.”
I closed my eyes and leaned back, mind whirling through the last couple of months. Everything I’d seen and heard. Everything I’d learned. Then I sat up straight again, brows rising. “Roman,” I said slowly. “I just thought of something.”
“Yeah?”
“You told me that you and Cal decided to hide your relationship from her friends… but why was that, exactly?” I asked. “I assumed it was because Valcourt men don’t have a good reputation. But was there another reason? And was there one friend in particular you guys were worried about telling?”
“It was mostly the Valcourt thing, because I know what people think about us. But it wasn’t the only thing,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “We were also kinda worried about Cherry’s reaction.”
My brows shot up. “Cherry? Why?”
“And why the hell didn’t you bring this up sooner?” Julian added, forehead creasing.
Roman lifted a palm. “It was no big deal. We just didn’t want to embarrass her,” he said. “See, the thing is, Cherry and Iactually went on a date around four years ago. Way before I ever met Calista.”
“Yeah, she told me about that,” I murmured, frowning as her story floated back into my mind.
“I realized about halfway through the date that I wasn’t into her, so I blew her off afterward,” Roman said. “I didn’t ghost her or anything. Just sent a text saying something like: thanks for hanging out with me, but I didn’t feel a connection, best of luck. That kind of thing.”
My frown deepened. That wasn’t what Cherry had told meat all.
“Anyway,” Roman went on. “She didn’t take the rejection too well. I think she thought she could change my mind, because she kept texting me after that, asking for another date, or just talking about random stuff like we were friends. She also started popping up at my regular coffee spot in the mornings, always at the exact time I’d mentioned I usually go when we talked about our favorite cafés on the date. She was always really dressed up, so it seemed obvious that she was hoping to run into me looking her very best.”
“So Cherry stalked you?” Julian said, eyes widening with incredulity. “And you didn’t think this was a major fucking red flag that you should’ve mentioned before now?”
Roman snorted and shook his head. “She wasn’tstalkingme. Not even close. That stuff only went on for a couple of weeks, and then she obviously got over it, because I never heard from her again,” he said. “Nothing she did was actually harmful. I just got the impression it happened because she was only eighteen and had never been rejected before. I mean, we all did embarrassing stuff at that age, right?”
“I guess so,” Julian muttered.
“Anyway, like I said, it was years ago. But I told Cal about it when I found out she was best friends with Cherry, becauseI didn’t want to keep it from her or make things awkward if she found out from Cherry instead,” Roman said. “Then we ended up deciding to keep things quiet for a while, because we didn’t want to embarrass Cherry by reminding her of the cringey stuff she did when she was eighteen. But we would’ve told her eventually, of course.”
I slowly shook my head. “Roman… Cherry told me a totally different version of events,” I said. “She said you gave her the impression that you were a complete psychopath on your date, and thatsherejectedyouafterwards.”
Roman barked out a laugh. “Really?”
“Yeah.” I cocked my head. “That’s… kinda weird. Right?”
“I don’t know,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “She and Cal’s other friends all think I murdered Cal. So it makes sense that they’d look back at past encounters with me through a totally different lens. And from there, it makes sense that they’d want to paint me as some sort of psychopath.”
Julian was frowning now. “No, I think Violet’s right. It’s weird that Cherry would tell that date story so differently,” he said. “In fact, I’d say it’s downright suspicious.”
“It doesn’t mean she’s a killer,” Roman said. “She was probably just embarrassed about the weird, immature way she acted after being rejected back then, so she made up a different version of the story that made her look better.”
“But it gives us a motive, right?” Julian asked. “Maybe she never got over that rejection and still secretly wanted you. Then it all came to a head when she found out that Calista was dating you.”
“No. No way.” Roman shook his head again, but there was less certainty in his voice now. “Like I said, Cherry only bothered me a little, and it only lasted around two weeks. And it wasfour years ago.There’s no way she’d get jealous enough to kill her best friend over that.”
Julian turned his attention back to me. “What do you think?”
“I don’t really know what to think,” I said, anxiety churning in my gut. “It’s definitely weird that Cherry told me that story so differently, but it could be like Roman said… maybe she was just super embarrassed about how she acted back then, so she wanted to present the story differently because of that.”
“You don’t think it could be a motive?”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I contemplated his question. “I don’t know,” I finally said in a reluctant tone. “I guess it could be, but I’m really not sure it’s enough of a motive. I mean, if I had a major obsessive crush on a guy and made a total fool of myself in front of him a few years ago, and then my best friend told me she was dating him, I might feel embarrassed. But I wouldn’t jump from that to planning a murder.”
“Yeah, but you’re not psychotic,” he replied.
