Page 85 of The Proving Ground

“Okay, I’m almost to the courthouse. I gotta get my game on.”

“Good luck.”

Twenty minutes later I was at the lectern in the courtroom and Detective Clarke was on the stand being reminded by Judge Ruhlin that he was still under oath. She then turned the witness over to me. I was finished with Clarke but didn’t want the judge to feel I had gamed her the day before, so I asked him a few more questions that mattered little to my case strategy.

Until they did.

“Detective, you told us yesterday that the investigation into the death of Rebecca Randolph continued well after the arrest of Aaron Colton,” I began.

“That’s true,” Clarke said.

“During this continuing investigation, did you have cause to contact the Tidalwaiv company to ask about the AI companion that Aaron Colton had downloaded from them?”

“I did, yes.”

“And what did you ask them?”

“I wanted to know how long he’d had the app, how much time he spent on it, how much he paid—general information that might be useful in the evaluation of the suspect’s mental state.”

“Were you directed to do this by the district attorney’s office?”

“I was, yes.”

“And what kind of cooperation did Tidalwaiv provide the investigation?”

“Uh, that would be none.”

“None?”

I said it as if surprised by the answer.

“Correct,” Clarke said.

“Did they give a reason for their lack of cooperation?” I asked.

“I was told that their data was proprietary and not available to me without a search warrant.”

“Did you pursue getting a search warrant?”

“No, I did not.”

“Why did you drop it?”

“Because we got the search warrant for Aaron’s laptop and phone instead, and our tech unit was able to access the information I was seeking from Tidalwaiv through those devices.”

“Thank you, Detective. I have no further questions.”

Marcus Mason was at the lectern before I even reached my seat. And he didn’t start with any niceties for Detective Clarke.

“Detective Clarke, isn’t it true that you had another motive for approaching Tidalwaiv for information?” he asked.

“Motive?” Clarke said, seemingly confused.

“Another reason, Detective.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Were you aware of a violent incident involving Aaron Colton at Grant High School in February of 2022?”