TWENTY-SIX
Trent parked across the mouth of Josh Ryder’s driveway and looked over at Amanda. “How do you want to handle this?”
“Head-on. You good with that?”
He nodded, and they got out of the car and trudged to the door.
She knocked and called out, “Josh Ryder, police. Open up!”
The door opened. “Why are you yelling? Jeez.” Josh wrinkled his forehead.
She stepped forward, and he backed into the house. “Do you have a minute to talk with us?” She didn’t have the legal right to enter his residence without his approval, but depending how he wanted to play this, they could drag him straight to Central. Probably just should.
“Okay.” He let them in, and Trent shut the door behind them.
“Why aren’t you in school, Josh?” she asked.
“Why?” The question ripped from his throat almost as a garbled cry. “My girlfriend was murdered two days ago.”
“I didn’t think she was your girlfriend anymore,” Amanda countered. “Was that hard to get used to? Hard to accept? Maybe you never did accept it?”
“What are you getting at?”
Amanda played the power of silence, and Trent followed her lead.
“Oh my God, you think I killed her?” Josh ran a hand over his mouth. His eyes beaded with tears. “There’s no way I ever could have hurt her, let alone kill her. Talk to her parents. They loved me.”
She was fooled by his tears the first time; she wouldn’t be again. “Can you explain why you ordered a car from the Pick Me Up app on Monday morning?”
“What? I never did that.”
“Someone using the profile name of High Ryder twenty-one did.”
“Well, it wasn’t me! Why would I kill her?” He turned to walk away, spun, and raked a hand through his hair. “Is some sicko pretending to be me?”
“Come on, Josh. You can do better than that.” But what if someone did use Josh’s Snap VidPic name to cast suspicion in his direction, as Malone had suggested? But who and why? Did the killer hold something against Josh and Chloe? Luke Hogan came to mind. She shook the thought aside for now.
“I don’t care if you believe it, because it has to be the case.”
“You’re trying to sell us on someone using that handle to set you up?” Trent asked.
“Exactly.”
She shook her head. “Nah. I don’t know, Josh. Who would want to do that?”
“I don’t know.” His voice held desperation. “Ah, this… this driver, can’t he tell you that it wasn’t me? He must have seen this person’s face.”
“Apparently he didn’t, and the person didn’t say anything.” She’d withhold the fact the driver didn’t even know if his fare had been male or female.
“Well, track the payment.”
“Oh, we will. I assure you.” Her phone rang in her pocket, and she pulled it out. ID told her it was Malone. She gave Trent a look, a silent message to manage Josh while she took the call.
As Malone shared his news, Trent’s and Josh’s voices blended in the background as white noise.
“You’re sure?” she said to Malone.
“One hundred percent.”
She eyed Josh, took in his defensive body language. “We’re with him now.” With that, she ended the call and moved toward the student. She pulled her handcuffs. “Josh Ryder, you’re under arrest for the murder of Chloe Somner.”
“No! I didn’t kill her! I swear!” He tugged and yanked, trying to free himself of her grip, but she held strong, and Trent helped steady him.
She snapped on the cuffs and fed Josh into the back of the department car. Once he was situated, she updated Trent on the situation. “That phone call was Malone. Chloe’s car was recovered from the university’s Fairfax campus.” They were just there and hadn’t seen it or any police activity, but it was a big area. It was also possible the car had been brought in for processing earlier and they were just hearing about it now.
“Where this guy goes to school? I’m not so sure that’s a coincidence.”
“That’s why he’s coming with us.” But there was this little niggling in the back of her brain. Josh had told them someone was setting him up, and if he had killed Chloe, would he have been stupid enough to park her car on the Fairfax campus? Surely, he’d have to know it would lead police straight to him. And she supposed the same could be said about ordering a car to the murder scene using the same profile name he used on social media.
They drove Josh to Central and shut him in an interview room before bringing Malone up to speed in the neighboring observation room. From there, they could look in at Josh through a one-way mirror while they spoke.
“He’s been off school since Monday,” Amanda began. “Claims he had the flu on Monday. Then on Tuesday and today, he was sick from heartbreak.” He’d told them this on the way from Fairfax to Central.
“Huh. Hearing some tiny violins,” Malone responded.
She was surprised by his complete lack of empathy but shook it off and shared Josh’s claim with Malone, so he had the full story. “Josh told us someone was setting him up.”
“He can pretty much say anything he wants to at this stage. And he’s going to.” Malone shoved his hands in his pockets, moved closer to the one-way mirror, and gazed in at Josh. “So, this kid dated the vic for years?”
“They recently broke up,” Trent interjected. “He says it was mutual, which was verified by Chloe’s roommates.”
“Seems to me this guy is saying a lot. See if you can get him to say something that either hangs him or sets him loose.” Malone jutted his chin toward Josh, and it felt like she and Trent had just been dismissed.
Again, Malone was acting strangely. It was as if he was in a hurry to wrap up the case—either lay charges or move on. Not typical Malone, who was more methodical and not in a rush.
Amanda led the way into the room, Trent following her.
They both sat across from Josh, who was fidgeting. “I told you I didn’t kill her, and I mean that. What am I doing here?”
He’d protested his innocence all the way from Fairfax, and they had to remind him several times of his right to remain silent.
“You know why you’re here, Josh,” she said slowly. “We suspect you killed Chloe Somner. Maybe it was out of jealousy, or being upset over the breakup?”
“I swear the breakup was mutual.”