Page 134 of A Forgotten Mistake

“If we can prove that she’s involved, they’re not going to believe her lies,” I assure him, but Gabriel appears quite anxious about it.

“She’s going to mention Jonah’s death. And that he was one of the men who attacked your family and the very man who killed your mom.”

“I will tell them I told her about him—that I had speculated it was him, and she must have done something to him. It’ll be okay,” I reassure him as I squeeze his hand. “Let’s go.”

Gabriel doesn’t seem overly certain, but he gives me a nod. “Why would she have called you about Mitch?”

“To cement the fact that she was innocent. Sheneededme to believe that she only had me to rely on to manipulate me into getting rid of Mitch’s body for her. I can guarantee Sadie wasn’t aware how deeply she was involved. She simply thought Abby had forgiven one of the men involved in killing Sadie’s sister, but she never had any reason to forgive him when she was manipulating him as well.”

Gabriel is clearly still quite unsure.

“You’d let her go?” I ask. “To protect me, you’d let her go?”

He bites his lip as he thinks about the answer to that. “I… I don’t know what I want to do. I just want to keep you safe.”

“I can kill her if that would make you feel better.”

“I don’t want you killing someone you know.”

“Doesn’t bother me any. That’s why I’m so willing to let Donna be your shield for any shootouts that might occur.”

Gabriel starts laughing. “Because Donna ate some of my cake? Death to Donna!”

I grin at him.

“No, for my own sanity, I want to deal with this as police. We’re prepared for what she’s going to say; we just have to keep whoever the final person is from running. It’s fascinating how she was able to draw people into her fucked-up ideas,” Gabriel says.

“She’d test them. She was constantly testing people, scrutinizing them, pushing them to their limits.”

“But why kill Christa? I thought they were close?”

“I don’t know. I feel like I’d have to understand human relationships to tell you, and I sure don’t. I do understand that you are delectable.”

“Wow, you just… solved the whole thing by identifying that I’m ‘delectable,’” Gabriel says with much sexy sarcasm.

“I knew I was good,” I comment as I begin driving toward the hospital. My phone starts ringing and I see that it’s Matthew. “Matthew, just the man I needed.”

Matthew is shocked into silence over that one before finally saying, “You… you need me? For what? I’m positive I’m not going to enjoy it, whatever it is.”

“I need you to figure out every single person Abby has interacted with since she’s been in the hospital. All phone calls that have been made, any inquiries about her, et cetera.”

“So now Abbyisinvolved? I swear you just run all around and throw shit out and pretend the rest of us can keep up with you.”

“Maybe I made a minor mistake thinking she wasn’t a piece of shit.”

“You made a mistake? EVERYONE, stop what you’re doing. Liam made a mistake!”

“Meet me at the hospital so you’re already there when I kick your ass,” I growl. “I’ll even toss you through the doors into the ER.”

“Liam, that’s not how you make friends,” Gabriel says.

“I never chose to make friends!” I remind him, but Gabriel isn’t having it. I’m positive he just hears what he wants to hear.

THIRTY

Gabriel

As we walk up to the hospital, Sgt. Michaels catches us. I think we’re both surprised about him being there.

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