Page 145 of A Forgotten Mistake

I look back at the house. “I think it’s what kept me from realizing it was her earlier. Some weird… idea that she really was just… Abby.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.”

He squeezes me one more time before he’s dragged off to give his statement. It’s going to be a long day, but at least we finally have all of the answers we need.

THIRTY-TWO

Gabriel

I don’t know what possesses me to stop by the hospital to see Sadie a few days after Abby’s death when it clearly isn’t our case to deal with. I force Liam to go with me, which he thinks is ridiculous and states that “Just because she lived doesn’t mean she deserves special attention.”

But I drag him there anyway because I feel like the two of them maybe have a bit more in common than Liam would ever believe.

“I wish we had more answers on why Abby chose to do this,” I say as we head across the parking lot toward the hospital.

Liam sighs. “I think at the end of the day it was simply a darkness inside of her. I don’t think you’ll ever get the answers you’re hoping for, like her stating that they were all horrible people or they deserved it or whatever. She wanted to manipulate others, watch them as they’re pushed to the brink, and she found people willing to do so. You watched Matthew’s interview with Ryan. He felt no remorse for what he did. He honestly seemed to believe that these people deserved it. Heclaimed that she found them and basically ran the whole thing. She knew how to dive into the darkest desires of people to find those who would join her.

“We could claim Abby did it because she was neglected and abused but in reality, I think she just liked the way it made her feel. Unless someone else can dig up something that this group of unrelated people did to piss her off, I don’t think we’re going to get the answers you want,” Liam says.

“I wonder if there was a reason they all had a similar look to them. Was there something behind it? Or was she simply drawn to that type of person?”

“I’m not sure. I think some killers are just drawn to specific people. It’s hard to understand motives. Although she did say something about how perfect people were monsters, so maybe she especially hated people others perceived as perfect.”

I shrug. “I just really thought we could help her… I thought wewerehelping her. And instead, we were playing her fucked-up game. I still wonder what was so important about the iPad that she hid on the cabinet in Mitch’s house. If she had videos of what happened on there, wouldn’t we have found them?”

“You know, I was thinking about that this morning. I think it was that she didn’t want whoever had killed Steven to see who she interacted with. We weren’t looking into her information with the belief that she was the killer. Obviously, it wasn’t blatant who she was communicating with on there, but I can bet you if we looked through it with that in mind, we’d find connections. She probably had nicknames for those she worked with, but if we tore it apart, I bet we could find something.”

“We’ll have them look into that then, see if that’s why she was trying to keep it hidden,” I say as we get in the elevator to head up to Sadie’s floor. “I know you were disappointed you didn’t get to interview Sadie, but Matthew did a good job getting information out of her. It sounds like after she nosed into Jesse’sfile and realized her sister’s death wasn’t accidental, she looked into who was with Christa that night. Sadie had spoken to Steven previously, back when they were younger, I guess. Sounds like after realizing Christa was murdered, she stalked him for a while until she found one of his videos. It was the only one on his computer she’d snuck in to look through, almost like it got saved to the wrong place. It wasn’t of Christa’s death, but it gave her enough of an idea of what was happening. So then when she had Steven tied up, he finally spilled to her where more of the tapes were. Sounds like Christa’s wasn’t in there, though.”

“She did some good detective work piecing together the connection of people from when Christa was alive versus the stills from the videos she found. I know she mentioned that Christa liked taking photographs, so she could thankfully compare those; otherwise, she’s unsure if she’d have ever narrowed them down,” Liam says. “But it’s still impressive.”

“I think you’re supposed to say things like ‘Oh, I wish she’d have gone to the police,’ and not ‘That’s impressive!’” I tease.

Liam just grins at me.

“Do you think anything will ever come to light about the other girl with the tattoo who was listed as a suicide? Like we never found her in any of the recordings we watched, but that doesn’t mean there’s not one out there. I guess none of the other targets had a tattoo. It might have just been something Abby and her close friends had done and tragedy fell on both of them.”

“Possibly. I did peek at her case some more when Matthew wasn’t looking and I didn’t see anything off about it. A part of me wonders if she knew… was it too much and the guilt made her kill herself? Surely not everyone Abby tried to manipulate stayed with her until the end.”

I look over at him. “I didn’t think about that.”

The elevator door opens up on the fourth floor and we step out.

Liam walks into room 421, takes one look at Sadie, and gives her a thumbs-up. “You’re alive. Good job. A-plus for effort.”

She seems confused, but aren’t we all when dealing with Liam?

“How are you feeling?” I ask, which I feel is a more normal greeting.

Sadie stares at us for a long moment before she goes, “Numb. Christa adored Abby. She looked up to her. Wanted to be just like her. How could Abby just… I guess this is a reminder that you should trust no one. I tried so hard to believe there were good people out there… but now I don’t know what to believe.”

“You’re going to have plenty of time in prison to make friends,” Liam assures her, which… isn’t the most helpful.

She snorts. “I sure will, won’t I?”

“Not everyone is bad,” I say. “Just like not everyone will screw you over or refuse to help. I’m glad we could find you the answers you deserved. I’m sorry they came so late… and I’m sorry they ended up destroying so much for you. I really wish you could have come to us sooner… before all of this.”

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