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“Nina had an argument with her mother?”
“I guess. At least, Nina said she was taking the time off, and when her mother started to blow up at her, Nina just ended the call. So it wasn’t much of an argument, but I’m sure Leanne wasn’t happy. Maybe that’s why Nina hasn’t gone home.”
Wright nodded slowly. “Makes sense.”
His response was so easygoing, so outwardly relaxed, that it felt like a trap. I was stuck in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee. I overrode the settings and water started to spill into the filter. I grabbed a mug and sloshed lukewarm coffee into it, then hurried back into the living room. Wright took the cup from me, nodded his thanks, and put it down on the coffee table without drinking. Reid was just sitting there with her ankles crossed and her notebook out, saying nothing and watching everything. I sat down beside Simon on the couch and hoped that Wright wouldn’t ask me to leave. I didn’t know the rules. Could I insist on staying? Could I ask him to leave?
“Tell me what happened on Friday night. Your mom said you guys broke up?”
Simon nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”
“Can you tell me why?”
Simon raised his left hand and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked down, like he was giving the question serious consideration, and my heart sank. That was Simon’s tell. When he was a little boy, maybe ten or eleven years old, he’d started making that exact gesture every time he told a big lie. When he told me he was going fishing with Lee Donovan, but really they were planning to ride their bikes over to Jack Squire’s house to try to blow up tin cans using fireworks. When I asked him about his math teacher’s house getting egged in the ninth grade. When he blew off homework to take Nina Fraser to a party. Every time—hand to the back of the neck, eyes down and to the left. I’d never told him how I could tell that he was lying. Most of the time I didn’t even call him on the lie, because part of being a good parent is giving your kid space to screw up a little, so that they learn from their mistakes. And, if I’m honest, part of me didn’t want him to change. I liked that I knew him just a bit better than anyone else.
“We just grew apart,” Simon said. “It was okay last year. But when we went back to college this year the long-distance thing wasn’t really working.”
“Where do you go to school?” Wright asked.
“Northwestern.”
“That’s a good school.”
“Sure.” Simon gave a half shrug that was meant to be self-deprecating.
“And Nina. Where does she go?”
“UVM.”
“Right. Her mom mentioned that. So that’s why you broke up? You decided that long distance was too hard?”
“That’s right.”
“There was no argument? No falling out? Because I have to tell you, that’s rare in my experience. For most people, there are a lot of feelings when a relationship comes to an end. Tends to result in some fireworks.”
“I guess we both knew it was coming. Neither of us wanted to admit it, but when the conversation started, we realized that it hadn’t been working. So it was amicable.”
Matthew Wright nodded slowly. His face didn’t show much, but it didn’t have to. It was obvious he didn’t believe a word Simon had just said. I didn’t either, obviously, because Simon had already told me the truth. Clearly he was trying to put a good face on things for the detective, but it was just making him look like he had something to hide. I shifted in my seat. Simon’s eyes flicked to my face. He looked away, cleared his throat, and sighed.
“Look, sorry. The truth is that Nina had met someone else. She was the one who wanted to break up.”
“That must have been hard to hear.”
“I mean, yeah. Look, I wasn’t trying to lie to you guys, or leave stuff out. It’s just difficult to talk about. And I don’t want to say anything bad about Nina. But she’d been seeing this guy casually behind my back for a while, I don’t know how long, and things got to the point where she wanted to end things with me and get serious with him.”
“What’s his name?”
“Excuse me?”
“This other guy Nina wanted to get serious with. What’s his name?”
“I... uh... I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me. I think she was afraid that I’d pick a fight or something, even though that really isn’t my style.”
Wright’s expression didn’t change. “Why do you think she was afraid that you’d confront the guy?”
Simon looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s hard to know why people think anything, right?”
“Except that you guys were very close. You know Nina well, I’d guess.”
