Speak No Evil_ A Novel - Allison Brennan [56]
“Yes.”
She’d agreed to let Nick observe the interview, but suggested that he stand in the adjoining room where he could watch and listen unnoticed by his brother. He nodded a curt agreement, his face blank. She didn’t know what he was thinking.
At least Steve had taken Nick’s advice and retained a criminal defense attorney. Both were waiting in the interview room.
In the adjoining room, Dillon and Will joined Carina and Nick. “Are we ready?” Carina asked her brother and her partner. On the phone late last night they had decided that the primary purpose of the meeting was to push Steve Thomas to tell the truth about Friday night as well as his past arguments with Angie. Next, they would ascertain what, if anything, he knew about the deleted comments.
They entered the room, leaving Nick behind, introduced themselves, and set up a recorder.
“Let’s start with how you met Angela Vance,” Carina began.
They’d met last September at the beginning of the school year when he sat next to Angie in computer class.
“We became friends immediately.” Steve sat military straight, hands clasped in front of him.
“When did you become romantically involved?” Carina asked.
“In December.”
“How did it happen?”
Steve tensed. “Why does that matter?”
“Anything, no matter how small, could be relevant.”
Steve glanced down at his hands and Carina couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to come up with a believable lie. “She asked if I wanted to get together one weekend. I said sure. I thought she meant go out for a date.”
“What did she mean?”
He paused long enough for Carina to prompt him again.
“She wanted to be ‘friends with benefits.’ ”
Carina had heard about such “special” friendships. Friends who had sex but no emotional or permanent attachment. An open relationship. Angie had written about several “friends with benefits” relationships in her journal, including hers with Steve. Carina would be a failure at that sort of arrangement. She loved sex, but it meant little without an emotional commitment. Maybe she was a romantic at heart, but the idea of an eighteen-year-old being so nonchalant about meaningful relationships made Carina sad.
“And what did you want?” she asked Steve.
“I wanted what Angie wanted.”
Carina didn’t believe him. “So you were okay with the relationship.”
“More or less.”
“I don’t think you’re telling us everything.”
“It’s not important.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes I do!” he said, his fists clenching. “This isn’t about me, it’s about Angie. I didn’t kill her. I keep saying it and you don’t believe me.”
Dillon interjected. “You and Angie had a sexual relationship that you wanted to be exclusive, but she didn’t.”
“But that makes it look wrong, or like I would want to hurt her because we didn’t want the same thing.”
Dillon continued. “Steve, what we want is the truth. Sometimes the truth shines a light on things that you know nothing about.”
Steve didn’t say anything for a long minute. “Yes, I cared a lot about Angie and I didn’t like having an open relationship. I was monogamous, but Angie wasn’t comfortable with that. She thought we should both be seeing other people.”
“And did you and Angie break up because you couldn’t agree on the type of relationship you wanted?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then why?”
“I discovered her journal and confronted her.”
“What was her reaction?”
A faint tic pulsed in Steve’s cheek. “She told me to lighten up.”
“And then she broke up with you, correct?”
He nodded.
“Please answer for the tape, Mr. Thomas.”
“Yes, she broke up with me the next day. But I understood. It hurt, but I understood.”
“Understood what?” Carina asked.
“Angie needed attention from men. Her father skipped town when she was young. Used to promise to visit, never made it. The last time she saw him, she was thirteen. He didn’t come to her, she ran away and tracked him down in San Francisco. With his new wife. He didn’t want children, never had, and told Angie that.
“She was devastated. She lost her virginity when she was fourteen to a nineteen-year-old high school senior and just fell