“Yes,” David answered tentatively.
“And what car is that?”
“Please, let’s stop this farce. You know perfectly well, because you’ve checked his DMV registration records, that my client has had a Toyota Prius for over five years.”
“More like ten,” corrected David. My dad and I rolled our eyes. We’ve always found amusing how much David needed to be precise.
“Could that be the same Prius Henry was talking about?” asked Clooney.
“Come on! Half of LA drives a Prius,” my dad intervened again.
“Not anymore, now everyone is driving electric,” the detective corrected, looking my way. “We could have both of your cars checked, and that could work in your favor if we don’t find signs of collision or anything else in them.”
“Sorry, but no.” Our lawyer was quick. “You’ll need a warrant to get near any of my clients’ vehicles.”
“It looks good to collaborate,” Clooney said.
“I don’t care how it looks. We both know that if you want to find something, you’ll find something.”
And that’s why you always need a lawyer in the room, I guess. I was ready to tell the cops to go ahead and check my fucking car and leave me alone. And then I realized I’m a terrible parker and both my passenger side wheels have continuously suffered from my inability to parallel park without bumping into the sidewalk. Sure, someone could read so many dents as suspicious.
“Are you aware that there’s someone online who’s been impersonating Mr. Ramos?” our lawyer told the cops then.
When we’d arrived at the station, we’d explained to my dad that there was a fake email account in David’s name and everything about the article on YouReallyDontKnowWhatsOutThere.com. He’d advised to tell everything to the cops since there could be more articles soon.
“What, someone has been writing trashy articles and bylining them David Ramos, and you’re upset?” Detective Moreno said. She seemed to have a twisted sense of humor. I didn’t like it one bit.
“No, someone made an email account in his name and emailed Dashing Henry. That someone asked the actor to meet at Mr. Ramos’s place the night Henry died.”
“I didn’t write that email,” David said.
“Not even considering your career was hanging by a thread with a libel trial on the near horizon? A libel trial that can hardly go forward now that the offended party is dead?” said Clooney.
I needed to get out of there. Writing interrogation scenes was much more fun than living through them, even if I wasn’t the main suspect—or perhaps because David was.
“My career is not hanging by a thread,” said David. I knew he’d been deeply wounded by those words. “At least, it wasn’t before this morning’s article in theVoice. And I didn’t write that email. I have never used the email account from where it was sent. I’m meticulously careful in my digital communications, and you won’t find any trace between that account and any of my personal devices.”
“What about your work devices?” asked Clooney.
“I’m a freelance contributor. My personal computer and phone are my work computer and phone.”
“So, can we take a look at them then and make sure you never sent those emails?” Clooney asked.
“No, you can’t,” our lawyer intervened. “Unless you have a warrant, of course.”
“Your client just said we wouldn’t find any trace between the email account that messaged Henry and his devices. But for that, we need to look.”
“Which you’d be able to do if you had probable cause and a warrant,” Dad said.
“How does your client know Mr. Henry was supposed to meet him at his place if he wasn’t the one who sent him the email citing him there?” asked Clooney.
“As part of his duties as an investigative reporter, my client found a series of leaked emails from the deceased,” our lawyer explained. “Among them were those sent from an account impersonating him. My client won’t reveal any sources but will point to the leaked emails in collaboration with this investigation.”
“That won’t be necessary.” I realized the police already knew about the emails and Dad had been right in telling them about it.
“Great. If that’s all, I think we should get going.” Dad moved to stand.
“Just one thing.” This time it was Detective Moreno chatting us up. “We know Mr. Ramos has a reputation as an investigative journalist, and he may feel inclined to further report on this story himself.”
