The man seems to think he can deny this. “W-What? No! I didn’t! I didn’t! I don’t know what’s happening.”
“Put your hands behind your back,” I order as I read him his rights while he tries to shout over me.
He’s shaking his head vehemently. “I didn’t! I didn’t!”
“What is happening?” the wife asks as I watch Matthew drag Liam back toward the elevator. His eyes catch mine and I can see that they’re wild. I really shouldn’t be gone from him for too long. Who knows what will happen if I am.
I wave Donna over and have her deal with the man—it’s not like it’d be appropriate for me to when I’m dating Liam—and turn to rush to Liam, but Michaels and Chief Taylor stop me.
“What is the meaning of this?” the chief asks.
“Liam was called in for an interview, but when he went into the room… something about the man made him realize that he was an accomplice in the murder of his parents,” I say. “You can’t be upset with Liam about this. I know he acted irrationally, but this man, along with two others, came into his home when he was a teenager and held him and his mother at gunpoint. This man fuckingwatchedas Liam was thrown down the stairs, breaking his arm. They tied him up and he was forced to watch one of the men bash his mother’s head into the wall until she died and the other shoot his father in the head. You cannot tell me that any one of us wouldn’t have acted irrationally if the person who was involved in the death of our parents waltzed in and wantedourhelp. I love my parents so much that if thathappened to them…” I shake my head. “I don’t even want to imagine what I’d have done to him.”
“Fucking hell. Where’s this guy at?” Michaels asks.
Chief Taylor turns and shakes her head. “Sergeant, you will not be speaking to him. I will send someone else to speak to him. How did Paige know that this was the man now, but not when he was a teenager?”
“I don’t know.”
“How many people were involved in this incident?” Taylor asks.
“Three,” I say. “One died on scene. The other two got away.”
“He was never able to identify either of them?” she asks.
Michaels hesitates before shaking his head. “I was a detective at the time and one of the ones who responded to the call. Paige never got a look at any of their faces.”
I look at him in surprise, not having realized that Michaels had been one of those who’d responded. I assume Liam knows, but maybe he doesn’t.
“They never figured out who the two were that got away,” he says. “There wasn’t enough evidence and eventually, the case ran cold.”
Michaels has no idea that the final man is already dead and has been dead for many years. If they get this guy to confess, will he give up the dead man’s name? Will people look into it?
“Can I go check on Liam? He was quite upset,” I say.
“Go ahead. I want to know how he figured out it was this man. Any evidence we can find would be best,” Taylor tells me.
“I will,” I say as I head for the stairs since the elevator seems a bit congested with nosy people wandering around.
When I reach the top of the steps, I nearly run into Matthew. “Where’s Liam?”
“He’s in his office with Jesse and Cole. What the fuck’s going on? Liam’s parents were killed by that guy?”
“I don’t think that guy, exactly. I just…” I shake my head, not feeling right sharing Liam’s past.
“I’m literally going to walk right over to my computer if you don’t tell me. I will look it up myself.”
I sigh. “Three men broke into his home when he was fifteen. They claimed they were there for money and took him and his mother hostage. But after days of holding them, they ended up killing his parents. Him claiming that this guy took the money tells me that this guy wasn’t involved in killing them, but he was an accomplice. Please be a friend to Liam and don’t go digging. If he wants you to know more, he’ll tell you. Now how is he?”
“He is… acting perfectly fine. Jesse is like this ball of positivity, so I whisked him up here to save the day, but Liam’s back to normal.”
“He… copes in… odd ways,” I say as I head to our office and pull open the door.
Liam looks up the moment the door swings open and smiles at me. “Join us, Gabriel. Jesse thinks we are interested in the different stages of larvae. I told him this is why he’s going to die alone, but he told me he won’t be alone because he has ‘Nefertiti,’ which I’m assuming is what he named the teddy bear he uses to sop up his tears when he thinks about how awesome I am.”
I’m so thrown by all of this that I end up just standing in the doorway and staring at him.
Jesse gasps. “She is not! She’s my baby. Do you want to see pictures of her?” He quickly whips out his phone. “This is us reading together. This is us eating dinner together just last night.”