Page 44 of A Forgotten Mistake

“Who are ‘they’?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she says as she shakes her head wildly.

“I don’t know if I want to help someone who won’t tell me the damn truth,” I growl. “Gabriel, come on.”

A sob escapes her. “I fucked up. I fucked up, Liam. Please. I got in a bad spot. I ended up with some man who was making my life miserable. But I liked the drugs, so I went along with it, and then Mitch got me out. He got me out and he saved my life, and we were doing good because of each other. We were doing good and then…”

“Was Mitch the one who killed the guy in his house the other day?” I ask.

“I really don’t know. I thought it was him… I thought he did it. And then I heard the gunshot and knew the police would be coming and he saved me, Liam. He saved me, and so I wanted to save him. I wanted to distract you guys so he could get away, and now he’s dead. He’s dead.” She chokes back a sob, and then her expression turns into a mask. I’m well aware it’s her way of coping with shit. She does it every time something goes wrong.

“I needed to protect him. I was going to live a life with him. We were going to get married and have kids and… but nothing good ever happens to someone like me. I deserve this, don’t I? Why the fuck else would everything happen this way?”

I don’t know what to do with the drama. I mean… what am Isupposedto do? Tell her it’s okay she stabbed someone to death? Roll up the body in a rug and dispose of it? I suppose I could. But would I risk myself again for her? Back then, I did it to save myself… or maybe because the idea of killing again seemed tempting to me.

“It’s okay,” Gabriel says quietly, and my eyes shift over to him.

Isit okay? This sure doesn’t seem like the definition of “okay,” but I’m also positive that Gabriel is never wrong.

Abby frantically shakes her head. “Please. It’ll only be okay if Liam helps me. I’m asking him to get the body out of my apartment. To make it clear I didn’t do it. Liam, please, you can make the body disappear just like you made my father disappear. Please?”

I think about her father, whose death was written off as caused by gang violence related to a case he’d gotten himself wrapped up in. There’s no way anyone would ever tie it to me. The case is closed and the gang they pinned it on had dirtied their hands with the death of a different cop just weeks prior. I made it mesh so that no one would ever know I was involved. I could do that with this guy too. I’m significantly better at it now. Being in an apartment would be tricky, but I could get the body out, remove his teeth and burn his fingerprints so no one could identify him. I could?—

“You’ve trusted Liam once to chase away your demons; why can’t you trust him again?” Gabriel asks.

Abby gives him a desperate look. “I am! I’m begging him to help.”

“No. If you are being honest—and I hope you are, I want to believe you are—then we can’t just sweep this under the rug. Someone is trying to frame you. They killed someone you really care about. If we just destroy all of the evidence, what will keep them from coming again? What will keep them from killing you or placing blame on you in some other way? Liam is the best damn detective I know. You have to trust that he’ll figure this out. That he’ll save you without condemning you and himself.”

She’s staring at him now, and I know she’s not going to go for it. She’s stubborn. She relies on no one but herself. When everyone else has always fucked her over, why would she trust anyone?

Gabriel dips his head beseechingly. “Please. Let him chase your monsters away, but let him do it as a detective. Please?”

“I’ll go to prison.”

“Not if you’re innocent,” he says, sounding so determined that I’m not sure how anyone couldnottrust him.

Abby shakes her head, not believing a word he’s saying. “No one ever cares what I say or whether I’ve done something or not. They never have, and even if you pretend you do, you don’t. You don’t know me. Why the fuck would you care about me?”

“I don’t have to know everyone I help. Idefinitelydon’t know everyone I help. That’s just a part of being a detective,” Gabriel says. “I want to help you, and I want to believe you and really hope you’re not lying. I promise Liam and I will work together to figure this out.”

She’s still as she stares at her hands. “Okay.” Her voice is quiet, like she has no trust in us. She knows she’ll get fucked over again and again. She’s submitted to this, but Gabriel hasn’t.

He gives her such a gentle smile. “We’re going to figure this out. We’re going to find justice for your friend. And we’re going to make sure to clear your name.”

Abby slowly looks over at me. “I never thought I’d see you with someone like him… I see why you like him.”

“Yeah… he’s really fucking special,” I say.

“Don’t let him go,” she whispers as her eyes trail over to Mitch. “Don’t let him go.”

“I’m going to search your apartment to make sure the killer isn’t still in here. And then you’re going to call the police while Gabriel and I go back downstairs. There don’t appear to be any security cameras. When you call them, you’re going to tell them my name, and that I’m on the case and you want me to help. Okay? As simple as that. If they know you personally called me here, they’ll boot us off the case but if we don’t tell them right away, it’ll give me time to examine the room before we have to face the consequences of your messages. I’m going to tell them I had you blocked so I didn’t see the messages. They won’tquestion it. I block half my coworkers whenever I’m bored of them.”

“Okay,” she agrees as I move through the apartment, careful not to disrupt anything. I’m thorough enough that I check every corner of the apartment, but it’s clear that if someone else did this, they’re gone.

“We’ll lock the door and as soon as we’re gone, you need to call the police, you hear me?” Gabriel asks. “Don’t leave the apartment. Don’t answer the door until the police are here. Don’t delete your messages to Liam. They’ll know if you do and will find it even more suspicious. It’s fine that you’ve contacted him, though it will make it more difficult getting him to work on the case if it seems like you two are close, but we’ll figure it out. Just pretend he didn’t show up because if he did, they’re going to immediately make someone else work the case. It’s already going to look super suspicious that you contacted Liam instead of the police. When they ask, you tell them that because he was the detective you were dealing with, you thought it was the same as calling the police.”

Abby nods. “Got it.”

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