"Can I help you?" she asked, her eyes going from me to Sam to Kevin standing just behind us.
"Uh, hi, Sophia. We were here yesterday. Hartley and Sam," I said, jogging her memory.
"I know." She glanced to Kevin. "The reporters."
"Right," Sam said. "And this is my brother, Kevin."
"'Sup, dude." Kevin lifted a hand in greeting.
Sophia's frown deepened. "I told you everything I knew yesterday."
"Actually, we just had a couple of follow-up questions."
"What kind of questions?" she asked, leaning her hip against the doorframe.
"About Connor's manager. Jason Pruit."
Sophia thought about that a second before she stepped back to allow us entry. "Sure. I guess."
"Thanks," I told her, pushing past her into the stark white living room.
I had a small moment of pause, thinking of Kevin's Cheeto-dusted pants, but luckily he didn't sit, instead wandering around the room, looking at the various pieces of furniture as if doing a home décor inspection.
"Dude, this place is sweet," Kevin said, running a hand over a furry white pillow.
"Uh, thanks," Sophia said. "It's new. I've only been here a few months."
"How much it set you back?" Kevin asked.
Sophia looked uncomfortable. "It's a gated community."
"I've been thinking of getting my own place," he said, plopping down on the sofa, displacing a couple of fluffy pillows in the process. "Something like this would be swank." He paused. "Hey, you need a roommate?"
"It's only a one bedroom," Sophia said quickly.
"That's cool. I'm chill on the couch." Kevin gave her a big grin, showing off a slightly orange incisor. "And I cook, dude."
As far as I knew the only things Kevin cooked were cup-o-noodles and funny brownies.
Sophia blinked at him a moment before turning her big blue eyes on Sam and me. "Was there something you want to know about Jason?" She slowly lowered herself onto the sofa, as far from Kevin as possible.
"Well," I said, sitting in a chair opposite her as Sam did the same. "For starters, did you know that Connor and his manager argued?"
Her thick eyebrows rose. "They argued?"
Sam nodded. "At Gamer Con. About an hour before…before Connor passed," she said.
Sophia bit her lip and shook her head. "No. I didn't know that."
"Weren't you there with Connor?" I asked.
"Yes, but I arrived late. It must have been after Jason left. I didn't even know he'd been there."
"Connor didn't mention his manager visiting him?" Sam pressed.
Sophia shook her head. "Sorry. But it isn't like Connor shared everything with me." Her frown was back, as if that thought was especially disturbing now that he was gone.
"What was their relationship like?" I asked.
Sophia sighed, leaning back against the sofa and pulling a fuzzy pillow onto her lap. "Strained."
I shot Sam a look. That was promising.
"Strained how?" I asked.
"Jason could be overbearing. He said Connor had to maintain a certain type of image. And Jason controlled what that was."
I nodded. His partner had described much the same thing. "Did Connor resent that?" I asked.
Sophia nodded. "Sometimes. But sometimes he needed the guidance too. Connor was a whiz with a computer, but you know how those guys are. Not always the most socially adept, you know?"
"Dude, I totally know what you mean," Kevin piped up from the sofa. "It's like, some people just don't get how to act around other humans, right?" He put his feet up on Sophia's white coffee table.
"Right," she said, frowning at Kevin's bare toes sticking out of his Birkenstocks. "Anyway, Connor was just a kid when he signed with Jason, and I swear Jason still saw him that way. Like Jason never wanted him to grow up or make his own decisions."
"I wonder what that would be like," I mumbled, not at all thinking of the SMother.
"Could that be what they argued about at the con?" Sam asked. "Jason being overbearing? Too controlling?"
Sophia shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But I know Connor was tired of Jason controlling his life. After he signed with VizaSoft, Connor had kind of made it, you know? He didn't need Jason micro-managing everything."
"Did he tell Jason that?" I asked.
"I dunno." Sophia shrugged again. "But it's possible. I mean, Jason was worse than a helicopter mom, the way he hovered over Connor."
"Dude." Kevin shook his head. "Parents. They're the worst. Mine are trying to kick me out."
"Imagine that." Sophia shot a glance at his feet on her white stone table again.
"What do you think Jason would have done if, say, Connor had decided once and for all he'd had enough of Jason controlling him?" I asked, a motive forming in my head.
"I dunno," Sophia said again, picking at lint on the fluffy pillow in her hands.
"Could Connor have done that?" Sam asked. "Got to his breaking point with Jason and fired him?"
"It's possible," Sophia decided, nodding.
"How do you think Jason would have taken that?" I pressed.
Sophia let out a bark of laughter. "He would have died. Connor is like, his biggest client." She paused. "Or was."
I leaned forward in my seat. "Sophia, do you think Jason might have been angry enough to kill Connor?"
"Dude!" Kevin said. "Harsh!"
But if Sophia was shocked at my suggestion, she didn't show it. Instead her face was blank for a beat as she contemplated that. Then she slowly nodded.
"Yes. Yes I do."
* * *
"So, Connor fires Pruit, they argue, and Pruit kills him?" Kevin said, laying out the theory as we walked back to the Green Machine.
"I could see it play out that way." Sam nodded.
"Only, Raley's eyewitness saw Connor and Pruit argue at ten. Connor wasn't killed until Sophia went to the restroom at ten forty-five," I reminded her.
"Right." Sam pursed her lips together. "Okay, so Pruit leaves after the argument and comes back later to kill Connor?"
"Could be," I agreed as we turned the corner toward the parking garage. "But it would hardly be a spur of the moment thing, then. I mean, he'd have had plenty of time to calm down."
"Or work himself up," Kevin argued. "Maybe the more he thought about it, the more angry he got."
I contemplated that thought as we reached the car and Kevin unlocked the doors. "In that case, it was premeditated murder. Pruit planned it out."
Sam nodded. "He could have come back to the VizaSoft booth, waited until he saw Sophia leave to get a moment alone with Connor, then slipped in and killed him."
I shivered despite the warm morning. "That's pretty cold. Especially if he saw Connor as a son."
"Sophia said Pruit saw Connor as a kid still," Sam pointed out as we slipped into the Green Machine. "She never said he saw Connor as his kid."