Page 81 of Curvy Quirky Omega

“I have a feeling his second phone is somewhere in his office,” I muttered, zooming in on a picture of his desk.

“Based on his habits, I’d agree.” Frankie eyed Liam and I knew she could sense just how dangerous he was right now. “We could really use your help, Liam. If you show me his routine, I could probably figure out where his phone is, but if this is too much for you…”

I looked up and watched his face become a mask of neutrality, but his emotions were churning through the bond.

“He’s your brother,” Frankie said softly. “I don’t want this to be any harder for you than it already is.”

I loved her for wanting to protect him…because he was my alpha and his mental health would affect me, but we needed him. I could go through the files on every modem at every location Gideon had ever gone to and dig through his encrypted drive, but that might not point me to the connection we needed and it would be insanely time-consuming.

“If Cas knows his routine, you could go downstairs and start going through the security footage we pulled from the café,” I offered. “Frankie and I are used to working by ourselves, so you don’t have to do this.”

Cas turned around, gently closing the panel door as he did so. He didn’t say anything, but he held Liam’s gaze for a long time.

“I can handle it.” Liam looked down at me and tugged on the ends of my hair with an affectionate smile. “I like watching you work.”

I didn’t think he was going to like it this time, but what was I supposed to do? Order an alpha to leave his omega when he desperately needed a purpose to hold him together right now? That didn’t seem like a very good idea.

“Okay, if you’re sure.” I tilted my head and studied him, deciding to see if he could actually take it before he lost it on Frankie when she asked him a million questions and made him do the same thing over and over. “Let me run you through what I think happened.”

Cas and Liam went completely still, sensing just how serious I was through the bond.

I raised my eyebrow at Liam, giving him one last chance.

“Go ahead, baby. I told you I’d be the best assistant ever so let me prove it.”

God, he was ridiculous. And stubborn. His two most endearing traits.

“Okay, so I want to look through his office for two reasons and neither of them are because I think the police missed any evidence the killer left behind.” I tapped the photo with Gideon lying face down in a pool of his own blood and hesitated.

Could Liam really handle this?

No matter how much I wanted to believe him, I just didn’t think it was a good idea for him to have to view his brother’s death so impassively. “Are you sure you want to see this?”

“Lucy, I’ve seen worse.”

“But this is your brother,” I reminded him, angling my phone so he wouldn’t be able to see the picture. “I’m a detective who has some serious impulse control issues when I get curious about something, and it took me fifteen years to work up the courage to look through my father’s case file. I just couldn’t do it. Because I was scared of what I’d find.”

I’d gone through all the same emotions Liam was experiencing right now, and all I could think when my father was arrested was how much he didn’t trust me. I don’t know why that had been my first thought, but I’d been more hurt that he’d kept everything from me than I was about the fact that he’d murdered people.

Even back then, I was sure he would have a good reason for doing it. My father wouldn’t risk leaving me all alone unless it was important…unless he thought it would help keep me safe.

I always thought that maybe it would be different if he told me what he was doing, or why, but I didn’t think so.

My father hadn’t tried to plead self-defense. He didn’t plead guilty either.

When the police came for him, my father barricaded us in his nest.

Amid the sounds of them trying to pry open the door, he’d wrapped me up in his softest blanket and whispered that he loved me – that he always would. He didn’t apologize or try to explain, but he said something before they finally got the door open with a battering ram.

Something I’d never told anyone, not even Frankie.

Don’t ever forget, Daphne – there’s always a bigger picture.

After that, my father never spoke again. Not a single word. He wouldn’t speak with his lawyer, a psychologist, or the police. Not even me. Because of that, he was labeled criminally insane and isolated for his own safety as well as others.

No one knew what else to do with an omega convicted for murder.

Only once did I ever see him after he was arrested. The police had hoped I would be able to get him to talk, but he’d looked right through me…as if I didn’t exist.

---