“You mean all this time, Mamá has been able to follow my every move?” I asked in panic.
“Seriously, Elena. We save your life, and all you can think about is Mamá finding your whereabouts.” Marta shook her head.
Clooney seemed to agree with my sister. He was chuckling when he decided it would be better if I joined David at the police station for further questioning.
···
After dealing with the car insurance and the tow truck that would take care of Marta’s car and dropping by my parents’ house for a quick pit stop so my sister could change out of her pajamas and into a three-piece pinstripe suit, we were all aboard my dad’s vehicle en route to the police station.
David and I were in the rear seats while my dad and Marta were going over the legal strategy in the front of the car.
“There’s something I still don’t understand,” I told David in an almost whisper as I hoped my family/legal team wouldn’t hear us. “I met the Hot Neighbor.”
David gave me a blank stare.
“Andrew,” I explained.
“Who’s Andrew?” David asked, still not seeming to understand.
“Our neighbor from 10D. Didn’t you see him the night of the murder?”
David shrugged. “We never talked. No idea he was called Andrew.”
“Then how come he said he’d met my boyfriend?” I prodded. I knew David wasn’t responsible for Henry’s death, but I needed to know what had happened there. Had he knowingly lied to the police in an attempt to have more of an alibi, or was he simply confused about his recollections?
“Technically,” David said with a smoldering face, “I’m not your boyfriend. Victor is.”
Oh my god. Of course! Andrew had met Victor. He’d come to my place the previous week to drop off some hideous clothes my mother wanted me to try on. I’d dismissed them only by looking at them but had kept them somewhere anyway. And Victor had probably met the Hot Neighbor on his way out. I had just assumed that, since David was the most agreeable and sociable person—always willing to meet new neighbors—and Victor was eternally buried in his cell phone, it was David who had chatted Andrew up, not the other way around. But David hadn’t said a word to the Hot Neighbor when he saw him the night of the murder, and Andrew had probably already forgotten about him, while Victor seemed to have chatted the Hot Neighbor up and made an impression. Also, David was right. Technically, Victor had been my boyfriend. But by then I knew why I had decided to understand something else entirely.
“He’s no longer my boyfriend,” I said. “Technically or otherwise.”
…
We were once again seated in the interrogation room in urgent need of a paint job and some redecorating. Only now it was four of us on one side of the table, as my sister was helping my dad in our representation, and only Clooney sat in front of us.
“Is Detective Moreno still chasing Fred?” I asked. After my former boss had tried running me over, I wanted him behind barspronto.
“I heard an arrest is imminent. The sucker has managed to outrun us as apparently he knows the geography of Griffith Park pretty well,” Clooney offered.
I decided that, for once, I should trust the professionals even if I still felt uneasy about the whole situation and Fred being at large.
“You’ll be glad to know we found marks and scratches on Fred Appleton’s car consistent with the hits on Dashing Henry’s body,” the cop started.
“So you’re prepared to charge him with the murder of Henry and drop our clients from this investigation,” Marta said. She was looking quite smart in black-rimmed glasses, and it appeared my dad would assist her and not the other way around.
“There’s still the matter of the watch,” Clooney said.
“What about it?” Marta asked.
“We’d like to know how it came into our possession. As I mentioned before, an informant delivered it to us this morning, but we believe the informant may also be one of Mr. Ramos’s sources. We think it was him who gave it to the informant and would love to know how that happened.”
“I think you better stop speculating and start investigating,” Marta concluded.
“I see,” Clooney said. “Both your clients should be more cooperative. We still have video evidence of them breaking into Henry’s car.”
“It is our understanding that the video shows two individuals garbed in white jumpsuits, wearing face masks and hoodies. How are you able to identify my clients?”
Clooney clasped his hands on the table. “The individuals in the video match their height and build.”
