Page 47 of A Forgotten Mistake

“I didn’t remember her. I can’t even remember Jesse’s name and I’ve worked with him for years. You think I’m going to remember one of the many faces that came in and out of that stupid home when I was sixteen?” I ask.

“She texted you personally.”

“Because she recognized me when we were at the station and I was interrogating her.”

Michaels’ face is doing some weird thing. I believe he’s trying to show that he’s suspicious, but I’m confident he just looks like a fool. “So you looked into her and none of it clicked? Bullshit. You know you can’t be on this case.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be on the case dealing with Gabriel’s kidnapper either and?—”

His eyes narrow. “Things were different then. We have a new chief after the last one tried covering up his son’s murders, and we are being scrutinized now more than ever. You can’t be here.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, prepared to whip out my blackmail again if I need to. While he likely stopped the affair, it doesn’t mean it’s not still haunting him.

“Go. HOME.”

“Thank you. We apologize for not telling you earlier,” Gabriel says. “Sometimes when emotions get mixed into things, we start to believe that we will try harder than others to find the answer. We would still love to help in any way we can that will leave us unbiased.”

“No, you’re done. You’re out. Both of you. Go home.”

I grit my teeth but let Gabriel direct me down the hallway where I run into our replacements, Matthew and Donna.

“I see the less superior detectives are here,” I announce.

“As you make the walk of shame back to your car,” Matthew says, looking rather smug.

I tsk. “I would love to brawl youjust once.”

“I would not love to do that! You’d kick my ass.”

“I’d watch,” Donna says, which is probably the first decent thing she’s ever said. “And bet on Liam.”

Second decent thing she’s ever said.

Gabriel shakes his head, and we all know his is the final word. “We’re not brawling. Matthew, we really don’t think Abby did this. I know the killer made it look like she stabbed him and then jumped off?—”

“I know. If she was going to kill herself, why go into another apartment to do it? She has a perfectly fine balcony in her own place,” Matthew says. “I’m not as useless as Liam thinks I am.”

“Can you comb through all technology that Mitch and Abby had?” I ask.

“Yeah, of course. You think something’s on it?”

“I want to know where the recording is from the first death. Someone recorded Steven Wong’s murder, but something was also taken from Mitch’s house. While I’m confident Abby wasn’t involved in the deaths, I’m certain that she’s the one who took something out of Mitch’s place. I think she was trying to hide something. She thought Mitch was the killer and was trying to protect him. Whether or not he needed her protection, I’m not sure. We now know that she was wrong, that Mitch likely wasn’t the original killer.”

“One second you’re being an ass, the next you act like I’m worthy of your information,” Matthew complains.

“You’re welcome,” I say as I give his cheek a pat and head out the door.

ELEVEN

Liam

“So you want to look at some dead bodies,” I say as Cole, Gabriel’s teenage neighbor, follows me into the department the next day. Abby still hasn’t woken up, but the doctors seem optimistic since the swelling in her brain is responding to their measures in a positive way.

Cole wassupposedto be Gabriel’s to follow around today, but Gabriel got dragged off and I finished my work within an hour of being here, so now I get to babysit because I’m not allowed to touch Abby’s case. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been breathing down Matthew’s neck and trying to solve it while whispering threats in his ear. I’m confident that the threats help significantly.

“NO! Oh my god, no,” Cole says. “I really don’t want to look at dead bodies.”

“That’s boring. Whatdoyou want to look at?” I ask.

---