“Connor,” I called as we approached his game console.
“Hey,” he replied, though he didn’t look up from his screen, furiously pressing buttons and twisting the plastic steering wheel.
“Can we talk to you for a sec?”
“Sure.” But he still didn’t look up.
“Uh… maybe face to face?”
“Hang on a sec,” he said, punctuating his words with a slam to the B button. I watched as his car careened over an oil slick on the road, skidding sideways, then slamming into an invisible wall. Finally his vehicle raced over the finish line and the words
Connor scowled at the screen.
“Um, got a minute now?” I asked.
Connor looked up for the first time, seeming a little surprised to find us there.
“Oh. Right. Sure.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the arcade game. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Sydney.”
A frown creased between his brows. “What about her?”
“You two were going out, right?” Sam asked.
He looked down at his feet and nodded, kicking at the sticky carpet with one toe. “Were. Past tense. We broke up.”
“When?” I asked.
He shrugged again. “Right before she died.”
“You mean right after she got caught cheating?” Sam jumped in.
Connor shrugged. “Yeah. So?”
“Why?”
Connor bit his lip and did some more carpet kicking. “You know. Stuff.”
Bull-fluff. You didn’t break up with a girlfriend of a whole year because of “stuff.”
“Did she dump you?” Sam asked, the queen of blunt.
Connor’s head snapped up. “No! Dude, girls do not dump me.”
I did a mental eye roll but stopped myself just short of actually snorting out loud. Apparently, in addition to being the number one secret crush at our school, Connor
“So, you dumped Sydney?” Chase prompted.
Connor looked from Chase to me, then nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“Did it have anything to do with her getting caught cheating?” I asked.
“Kinda,” he hedged.
“Or,” Sam added, “did it have more to do with her being kicked off the homecoming nomination list, taking you with her?”
The frown between his eyebrows deepened. I’d never noticed until now how thick those eyebrows were. The only not so perfect thing about him.
Well, that and the fact that he may have killed his girlfriend.
“Fine. I dumped her because she got us kicked off. So what?”
“So you must have been pretty pissed off at Sydney about losing homecoming king.”
“I wasn’t happy about it.”
“Unhappy enough to do something about it?” I asked.
Connor narrowed his eyes. “What exactly are you getting at?”
“We don’t think Sydney killed herself,” Sam said. “We think someone Twittercided her.”
Connor cocked his head.
“Killed her,” I supplied.
“And you think it was me?” Connor’s voice went up an octave.
Sam and I both gave him hard stares.
“Dude!” Connor took another step back. “No way. I did not hurt Sydney. You guys have got this all wrong,” he said, turning to Chase.
“So straighten us out,” he challenged.
“Look, yes, I was upset at first. Homecoming is a big deal, you know? But just because she was out of the running didn’t mean I was.”
“People vote on couples,” I reminded him.
He grinned. “I am in a couple. I got another girl already.”
“That was fast,” Sam observed.
“Hey, voting ends Thursday. I didn’t have any time to waste. Look, Sydney knew how important homecoming was. So she was cool with me breaking up with her just for the voting and coronation. I promised her that I’d take her back after I was crowned king.”
“Wait-so the new girlfriend is just for show?” Sam asked.
Connor nodded. “Right.”
“Gee, who’s the lucky lady?” I asked, though I was pretty sure my sarcasm was lost on him from the way he puffed his chest out with pride as he answered.
“Jenni Pritchard.”
I felt my face do an involuntary scrunch.
Jenni Pritchard was our school’s answer to Snooki. Big hair, big boobs, big mouth. She was pulling a solid D average this semester and had failed our last lit assignment when she’d included a description of Keira Knightley’s dress in her
“Wait a minute,” Chase said. “Isn’t Jenni dating Ben Fisher? I thought I saw their names on the ballot together.”
“Was dating Ben Fisher. She broke up with that guy when I asked her out.”
“So, let me get this straight,” I said, holding up a hand. “You dumped Sydney to steal Jenni away from Ben to win homecoming. Then you were gonna dump Jenni and get back together with Sydney?” I said.
He grinned. “Totally clever, right?”
I rolled my eyes.
But the gesture was lost on Connor, who continued to outline his plan. “No one ever uses the write in option to vote, so when Sydney got kicked off the court, I knew my chances of still winning were better if I was dating someone already on the ballot.”
“So, you were planning on getting back together with Sydney, but now that she’s dead…” Sam trailed off.
Connor shrugged. “I guess I’ll stay with Jenni. I mean, at least until winter formal. We have a good chance of king and queen there, too, with Sydney gone.”
He was a true romantic.
“Did Jenni know you were planning to dump her for Sydney again after homecoming?”
“No way!” Connor shook his head. “She totally wouldn’t have gone for it if she did.” He paused. “Wait-you guys aren’t, like, friends with her, are you?”
I shook my head and could see him sag with relief.
“Anyway, as you can see, I had no reason to want Sydney dead. I mean, she actually did me a favor by getting kicked off the ballot. My chances of winning are way better with Jenni anyway.”
His compassion for the dead girl was overwhelming.
“So, just for the record… where were you the afternoon that she died?” Chase asked.
“School,” he said. “Then football practice. I didn’t even hear she was dead until that night.”
I nodded. Dozens of people must have seen him at practice. Still, it would have been pretty easy to show up, be seen, then slip away for a few minutes, off Sydney, and slip back before anyone noticed he was gone.
Though as we left Nickel City, I had to admit he didn’t seem like he had much of a motive, either. Which I voiced to Sam and Chase in the parking lot.
