What the hell?
How could they fangirl over that picture? He must have snapped twenty versions before he got the pose just right. He’d caught himself at an angle to keep the reflection of the phone out of the frame. He’d pressed his lips to the mirror and closed his eyes in mock passion, with his free hand clutching one of his well-defined pecs. Honestly, it was perfect—the ultimate caricature of vanity and self-absorption. How could they have possibly missed the point?
“Unreal,” he muttered hoarsely, balling his hands into fists. He should have known. He’d seen their smutty fanfics. His fans were nothing if not predictable. They had one thing, and one thing only, on their #EricThornObsessed minds.
Eric’s vision clouded with a surge of red-hot anger. Sick, every one of them. Someone needed to call them out. Make them feel ashamed of themselves. Tell them to get a life.
This one, this @TessaHeartsEric, seemed like a good place to start.
He raised his finger above the screen, already composing a blistering rant inside his head. But his finger came down on…nothing. Blank white space.
Where was the DM button?
He stared at the screen for a full thirty seconds before comprehension dawned.
He’d forgotten who he was for a minute there. It had been years since someone he wanted to message didn’t follow him as a matter of course. But that only applied to his real account. Now he was @EricThornSucks, with no history and zero followers. He was nobody. He couldn’t DM a soul.
He glared down at the profile in front of him.
Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
FOLLOWING FOLLOWERS
170 30.1K
He could try to put her on blast over public tweets, but she might not even hear him. Not with 30,000 followers. No, if he really wanted to get through to her, he needed to do it over DM. And that meant he needed her to follow him.
This was going to be trickier than he’d thought.
? ? ?
Tessa tore her eyes reluctantly from her new favorite Eric Thorn picture. It had given her the perfect idea for a fanfic: a riff on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, featuring a sensitive young songwriter named Eric and his bad-boy rock-star doppelg?nger, Thorn. Identical twins? She pondered, tapping her chin. Or maybe one character with a split-personality disorder…
Tessa reached for her journal to jot it down (at least not all her story ideas were “projecting”), but the sight of her phone distracted her. It still displayed the account that had first tweeted the photo: Taylor @EricThornSucks
Tessa squinted at the empty profile. Whoever this Taylor girl was, she clearly intended for that image to hurt Eric. Not a fan. Someone with an ax to grind. Maybe a fan he passed over in the follow spree that morning? Apparently, Tessa wasn’t the only one whose curiosity had been piqued. Another new DM popped up from @MrsEricThorn.
MET: Do you know a Taylor? Is there a fan I don’t know called Taylor?
Tessa racked her mind, wishing she could come up with a bit of useful gossip to impress the other girl.
Tessa H: Don’t know her. There was some other weird account tweeting me this morning. @TheRealEricT? That wasn’t you, was it?
MET: Uhhh why would you think that?
Tessa H: Never mind… Hey, maybe this @EricThornSucks isn’t even a fan? Maybe it’s one of his exes or something!
Tessa’s eyes widened as she thought of the possibilities. Eric hadn’t been in a confirmed relationship for as long as she’d followed him. Whenever interviewers asked about his love life, he always insisted he was way too busy to date. But that didn’t stop the rumors from flying. Anyone that gorgeous had to be getting action somewhere. Could it be someone famous? Someone named Taylor…
Tessa H: OMG do you think it could be Taylor Swift?
MET: Hahahah NO WAY! ARE U FOR REAL??
Tessa H: You never know
MET: LMAO kinda doubt T-Swizzle has the Photoshop chops Tessa H: You think it’s Photoshop?
MET: Obviously. No way that’s real. Fakety fake fake. Still sexy as hell tho!!
Tessa chuckled as she stood up from her bed and paced the room. She was about to reply to Mrs. Eric Thorn again when a new notification distracted her.
Taylor (@EricThornSucks) favorited your retweet
Speak of the devil. Why was this Taylor person stalking her account?
A new mention appeared on her screen, and Tessa sank down heavily into her beanbag chair. “Not again,” she whispered. Why was she suddenly the target for every creepy fan account on Twitter?
Taylor @EricThornSucks
How can you obsess over that pic @TessaHeartsEric? He is LITERALLY in love with himself!
Tessa eyed the tweet suspiciously. She knew she should ignore it. This Taylor could be anyone. Tessa flicked on the account settings menu, and her finger hovered over the first option once again:
Mute @EricThornSucks
She was about to select it, but something stopped her. She could almost hear Dr. Regan’s words from this morning, echoing inside her head: Any kind of social interaction can potentially hold therapeutic value.
Was it a mistake, all this muting? Maybe it was just a defense mechanism, like hiding here in her room. Wasn’t that what Dr. Regan would tell her? To open herself up? Make an effort to interact? “I need to try harder,” she whispered to herself.
What had this @EricThornSucks account really done, other than try to strike up a conversation? She and her therapist had spent weeks running through role-play scenarios for every imaginable social encounter, friendly or otherwise. She had the tools. She could do this. She was ready.
In any case, Tessa couldn’t deny her curiosity. Who was this girl, Taylor, and where did she get that picture? Had she photoshopped it herself? Maybe she had more where that one came from.
“OK,” Tessa said out loud, screwing up her courage. “You want to talk to me, Taylor? Let’s talk.”
She flicked away from the mute option and composed a tweet instead:
Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
@EricThornSucks who are you?
The answer popped back immediately, setting off a series of rapid-fire tweets back and forth: Taylor @EricThornSucks
@TessaHeartsEric no one special
Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
@EricThornSucks are you a fan or a hater?
Taylor @EricThornSucks
@TessaHeartsEric just calling it like I see it. You can’t tell me that pic isn’t douchey Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
@EricThornSucks it’s fake duh
Taylor @EricThornSucks
@TessaHeartsEric says who?
Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
@EricThornSucks says my magic Photoshop detector
Taylor @EricThornSucks
@TessaHeartsEric BULLSHIT. Trust me it’s real
Tessa H @TessaHeartsEric
@EricThornSucks and you have it…why exactly?
Another notification flashed onto Tessa’s screen just before the next reply:
Taylor (@EricThornSucks) followed you
Taylor @EricThornSucks
@TessaHeartsEric I’ll tell you over DM. Follow me back.
THE INTERROGATION
(FRAGMENT 2) December 31, 2016, 9:17 p.m.
Case #: 124.678.21–001
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTION OF POLICE INTERVIEW
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