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“No. Not until I called her out for doing the drugs. Then she threatened to get me fired.”
So Clara, the weeping mother who could barely speak three days ago, didn't mention her daughter at all.
“How would you describe her mood when you talked to her?”
“She seemed… happy. It was weird.”
“What do you mean happy? Like coked out happy?”
He shook his head. “No, coke won’t make you happy. It might make you more energetic, but it won’t make you happy.”
He caught himself and looked at her warily. You’ve got a past kid, Lena thought.
“So you said you confronted her about her drug use. Anything else?”
“Yeah. She got crazy and threatened to have me fired.”
“Did she?”
“Yes. I just told you.”
"No, I mean, did she just call your bluff, or did she back off?"
“She backed off. I…” he hesitated again, but this time Lena didn’t need to ask him to keep going. “I asked her what people would think if I told everyone that she was a drunk coke addict. She put the phone down and just kicked me out, but she didn’t call anyone.”
Lena leaned back in her chair and regarded Nate for a minute. The kid was obviously using. Not coke. Probably heroin or fentanyl. He was familiar with coke, though.
And he was at the Kensington house for the third time in the past week. Lena was inclined to believe he was telling the truth about Clara, but she was not inclined to think he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart.
“What were you doing at the Kensington house again?”
“They wanted me to clean the pool again. Because… you know.”
“Hmm. So this encounter with Mrs. Kensington happened when you were cleaning their pool?”
“Well, I didn’t actually clean the pool. I was about to when she kicked me out.”
“So if I go back to their house, I’m going to see a dirty pool.”
He shook his head. “No, it was spotless. Like, super clean.”
“So they called you to clean a pool that was already clean?”
"Yeah, I guess that…" his eyes widened. "Wait, they really did! I promise! You can call me…" his eyes shifted again. "Actually, please don't call my boss. I don't want them to know that I'm mixed up in this." His brow furrowed. "Why didn't you call them? I mean earlier, why didn't you tell anyone that I was a suspect."
“You weren’t a suspect.”
He didn’t buy it. “You sure talked to me like I was.”
“I talked to you like you weren’t telling me everything. And you weren’t.”
“Yes, I was. I told you that I found Lila in the pool, ran out of there and called you.”
“You didn’t tell me that you suspected Clara of being involved.”
He frowned. “Well, you’re the detective. It’s not my job to solve this case for you.”
“So why are you here now?”
