Page 100 of The Perfect Nanny

“Yes, I’m here to visit inmate William Hoyt.”

“Okay, sure. I’m going to need to see your ID.” The woman at the desk hasn’t taken her eyes off me or blinked since we started talking.

I shuffle through my pocket and pull out my license, nervously sliding it through the small opening in the transparent divider between the clerk’s office and the front entrance.

She rolls her seat back and stands up. “I just need to verify your information. While you’re waiting, please go ahead and sign into the visitor’s log.”

The clerk returns within a short minute and hands me a badge rather than my ID. “We’ll be holding your ID until you complete your visit. Please review the rules and regulations to abide by while you’re here,” she says, tapping her pen on the paper sign taped to the window between us.

“Okay, thank you.” It seems odd they’d need to tell people not to bring weapons into a prison, but I shouldn’t speculate.

“Your visitation time is thirty minutes. You can head through those doors for a security check, and they will point you in the direction of the visiting area.”

I clear my throat and clench my fists by my side as I walk through the row of tables to reach the one Liam’s sitting at. Even orange looks good on him. It’s not my color.

“Haley?” Liam says. “I didn’t think you’d show up.”

He looks clean and maybe a bit more muscular than I last saw him. I wouldn’t know he was an inmate if it weren’t for the jumpsuit.

“Look, I wanted to apologize to you,” he says. I can pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, but this comment garners a look of shock. I wasn’t expecting to hear this from him. I take a seat and wait for him to continue talking before I respond. “I dragged you back into a mess with my family. I should have let my sister handle her issues. I didn’t owe her any help, not after what she’s done to me over the years.”

“I’d say she has her hands full at the moment.” My eyebrow twitches.

“What do you mean? With Madden?”

I shrug. “Is that all you wanted to say to me?”

“No,” he says glancing down at his cuffed wrists.

“I didn’t expect things to go as far as they did between the two of us. There were many moments when I forgot why our paths had crossed again and I even tried to undo it all. Whenever I wasn’t at work or with you, I was searching for Fallon. I thought if I could find her, you’d never find out that I’d originally spotted your name in the newsletter and saw you as an easy target.”

Liam sighs heavily and glances around. “I don’t know if you started the fire in our townhouse. Maybe it was just bad timing and a coincidence. Regardless, I wanted to blame the death of my sister on someone because it was easier than enduring the pain I was going through.”

I want to ask why he thought I would be the best person to blame, but the events leading up to the fire don’t help my case. “Why did you all choose me to constantly pick on before the fire? What had I done to you?”

Liam lowers his head in shame before continuing. “Everyone at school said you had psychological issues and weren’t right in the head. I guess that made you an easy target too—kids are awful sometimes, okay?”

“They are,” I agree.

“That’s why we figured you had something to do with the fire too, especially after showing you the newspaper article that night.” He lifts his head and stares into my eyes with what I think might be a hint of sincerity. “I shouldn’t have done that to you. I’m sure you were humiliated. I’m ashamed of the way I acted when I was a kid, and deserve to be here, regardless of being blamed for a crime I didn’t commit.”

His words are heavy and my chest aches while trying to absorb them. “Everyone thoughtIhad issues? I think you mean my parents?”

“Your parents?’” he questions. “The article was about you, wasn’t it? You escaped from some children’s rehabilitationfacility and your parents had to take on the responsibility of making sure you didn’t do anything to hurt yourself or anyone else again. I’m sure you had been through enough and I didn’t need to add to it.”

“Me? You think I escaped—” I choke out. “No. That article was about my parents escaping from a facility…”

Liam tilts his head to the side, squinting an eye. “But your name was in the headline. There was a picture of you.”

“There was a picture of my parents…”

“Yes, one of the two of them holding each other in tears.”

I swallow hard, wondering why he would call me here to visit just to tell me more painful lies. “You’re an asshole,” I whisper.

“Haley, I was apologizing. I never should have judged you. Look how you turned your life around after whatever you had gone through as a kid? It’s incredible to overcome something like that, you know?”

I clamp my teeth together until my jaw muscles ache. “Incredible,” I repeat. “Liam.” I sniffle. “I did start that fire. Iwasresponsible for Libby’s death. And you can be sorry for setting me up to take the blame for Fallon’s disappearance, but the only thing you should be sorry for…is bringing me back into your life. You broke my heart twice, and I let it happen.” I scoff, disappointed in myself for falling for this ploy. “That one is on me.”

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