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“Thanks.” She looked at Viotto. “Am I in trouble?”

Viotto’s voice was gentle, but he didn’t go out of his way to comfort her. “Is there a reason you would think you’re in trouble?”

“Connor is dead.” A fresh set of tears fell from her eyes. “I know they said they caught the guy, but I figured someone would show up to talk to me eventually. We broke up right before, and I didn’t know if—I wasn’t sure if it could be my fault.”

Viotto gestured for Mara to sit down in her desk chair before he retreated a few steps to sit next to Cassie. “I don’t think it’s your fault, Mara, but we do have some questions for you. It’s important you tell us the truth, okay? We want to get to the bottom of what happened to Connor.”

Mara wiped her tears and took a deep breath. Cassie couldn’t tell if the dark circles under her eyes were from a lack of sleep or her running makeup. Maybe a combination of the two.

“Okay.”

Viotto took out a little notepad. “You were together with Connor for almost a year?”

“Yes.”

“How would you describe your relationship?”

Mara thought for a moment, and then a small smile crept over her face. “Interesting. We weren’t really each other’s type.”

“Why do you say that?”

Mara gestured to herself. “I’m not the type of girl he could bring home to his parents. We came from different backgrounds. I’m here on a scholarship. He’s here because his father is a senator.”

“Do you think that’s why he liked you? Because the two of you were so different?”

Cassie wanted to slap a hand over Viotto’s mouth, but it was too late. Mara’s face fell. “If you’re asking me whether he was dating me because it’d piss off his dad, the answer is most likely yes. We both knew it. Sometimes it bothered me. Sometimes I liked how that made me feel.”

Viotto nodded but didn’t make any notes. “Did you guys fight a lot? Have any arguments in the last week or two?”

“We fought sometimes.” She shrugged. “Everybody does. He had shitty communication skills. I had trouble telling him how I really felt.”

“And how did you really feel?”

“I loved him.” Tears welled in her eyes again. “Even though I knew it wouldn’t last forever.”

“Why not?”

Mara shrugged. “He was destined to end up in jail or in congress. There was no in between for him.”

“In congress?” Viotto sounded genuinely confused. “Didn’t he hate his father and his occupation?”

“I heard this thing once. The things you hate about other people are the things you hate about yourself. They were more alike than he wanted to admit.”

Viotto stared at her for a few seconds, like he was sizing her up. “Why did you break up with him?”

Mara looked away. She sniffled. “It had to happen eventually.”

“So, you woke up one day and figured it was time? There was nothing that pushed you to make that decision?”

Mara twisted her fingers together. “Not really.”

Viotto and Cassie exchanged looks. She wasn’t a good liar.

“Mara, we want to help you,” Cassie said. “Right now, it looks pretty strange that you broke up with Connor days before he died. We know you had nothing to do with it, but we need to understand why you broke up and if that had anything to do with his death.”

“I can’t talk about it.”

Cassie leaned forward. “I know it’s hard—”

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