Read Online Favors and Lies by Mark Gilleo - Free Book Online

her daily cosmetic layering, but Josh McKeen had been right. She was a hottie. An angelic face. She reached for a tissue from the box on the coffee table and blew her nose.
    â€œHow well did you know Conner?”
    â€œWe’ve been dating for almost two months.”
    â€œDating, dating?”
    â€œWell, we weren’t tennis partners, if that’s your question.”
    â€œFair enough. You mind if I interrogate you a little?” he asked.
    â€œNo. Go ahead,” she said, blowing her nose again and then dabbing her eyes.
    â€œWhere was he on Sunday and Monday?”
    â€œSunday he said he was spending the day with his mother, helping out around the house. I don’t know where he was on Monday.”
    â€œDid you talk to him?”
    â€œI talked to him on Sunday. That was the last I heard from him.”
    â€œYou usually talk to him every day?”
    â€œSure. Or at least a text or two.”
    â€œDid you hear where they found him?”
    â€œYeah. Under the Promenade in L’Enfant Plaza. Word travels fast.”
    â€œThe police seem to think that it was a drug overdose, probably heroin.” Dan paused. “Any thoughts on that?”
    â€œJust one. It’s not possible.”
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    â€œI don’t do drugs. I don’t date guys who do drugs. I know Conner had smoked marijuana, but not since we started dating. I have a perfect 4.0 GPA. I’m planning on going to the Kennedy School of Government for my masters.”
    â€œHarvard.”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œWas he involved with anything else that you’re aware of? Something that would piss off the wrong person? Maybe an old boyfriend who was jealous?”
    â€œNo, nothing. You know, I don’t throw the word love around too much. It’s an abused word these days. But Conner was a good guy. A real good guy. And who knows where things would have gone between us. But every time he walked into the room my stomach did a tiny little summersault. Every time.”
    Dan paused as Lindsay wiped a tear away from her cheek. “Sorry,” she said, her voice more faint.
    â€œI’ve shed a few myself,” Dan added. “I think something was going on with Conner I don’t know about. I thought so before this morning, and I certainly think more strongly about it now that I have seen you. I’m pretty sure Conner wasn’t under some bridge in Southeast DC shooting up. There are some people in life who keep you focused on the positive things. I get the feeling you were one of those for Conner. Call it a wild guess.”
    â€œAre you saying he was killed?”
    â€œI don’t know what happened, but I doubt what I’ve heard. Hell, I doubt what I have seen with my own eyes. Did you know Conner’s mother also passed away this weekend in an apparent suicide? I don’t believe in coincidences.”
    Lindsay started crying again. “That’s horrible,” she said between sniffles and those gasps of breath that come with substantial tears and lack of oxygen. A minute later she stopped crying and paused as if she had a secret to tell. “Conner . . . he was tough, you know.”
    â€œYeah, I know.”
    â€œI mean, he was tough .”
    Dan looked into her eyes to convey something beyond words. “I know .”
    â€œWe were at a party one night and this guy, a real jerk, wouldn’t leave me alone. Conner asked him nicely a couple of times to move along, but the guy wouldn’t listen. We decided to go a little while later, just to avoid a scene, and when we were leaving the house this guy and a friend of his, a bigger guy, blocked our way. Conner asked him once to move and another time to mind his own business . . . and you could just tell it was the last time he was asking.”
    Dan smiled.
    â€œSure enough this guy puts his foot on the doorframe and spews some movie-line bullshit like