“Hell if I know. She didn’t say much.”
She leans in and sniffs me. “Why do you smell?”
“I smell magical,” I say before heading upstairs as Lisa stares after me.
TWENTY-NINE
Liam
As soon as I’m finished talking, I turn to Gabriel. “I think I want to talk to Lisa.”
“You think she’d know something?”
“I don’t know. There’s just… things that I think she kept hidden from me. She also had a better idea of where Abby was at all times, since she watched her like a hawk, so maybe she knows how these people all connect.”
“Yeah, sure,” Gabriel agrees.
“I’ll stay here and keep watching the videos,” Matthew says, looking less than eager about that idea. “I’ll call you if I find anything.”
I’m honestly surprised to see that Lisa is still living in the same house on the far end of town. I haven’t spoken to her since I was, hell… seventeen or eighteen?
“Think she’ll remember much?” Gabriel asks as we drive.
“I have no idea, honestly.”
“I had started to question if Anthony’s brother Jack knows something since we’ve been unable to contact him, but I feel likeit would’ve been hard for him to record you and then be in the room with Abby.”
“Fuck if I know,” I say. “Maybe I’m misremembering parts too. I could have looked for Abby for a while. I really don’t even remember. I just remember being annoyed by her.”
“Which means it could have been all of five seconds,” Gabriel teases.
“I love how well you get me.”
I get out of the car and head up to the front door and knock. The door opens and a young woman in her twenties answers. “Can I help you?”
“Is Lisa here?”
“Yeah, give me a second,” she says, eyeing me suspiciously. Clearly, I look like a suspicious man. “Mom! There’s someone at the door.”
I raise an eyebrow at that. Did she finally get a child who wasn’t a murderer or a chronic liar?
Lisa comes around the corner and looks startled. “Liam?”
“You have a minute?” I ask.
“Yes, of course. Please come in. This way… although I guess you know where the living room is, huh?”
“Yep,” I say. “I had a few questions about Abby.”
“Abby? I haven’t talked to her in many years.”
“That’s okay.”
Gabriel sticks out a hand and says, “Hi, I’m Gabriel,” and I realize I didn’t introduce him. Honestly, I just feel like the faster I get through this, the better.
“Oh yeah, this is Detective Gabriel Hyde,” I tell Lisa as she shakes his hand.
“Detective? Is something going on? Wait…” She stares at me for a second. “Are you with the police too?”