Page 13

THIRTEEN

Gabriel

“The cat really needs a name,” I say.

“The cat really needs a new home,” Liam growls as the cat in question loafs on his lap while we sit on the couch.

I’ve tried treats, catnip, and chin scratches, but the cat acts like my lap is acidic, yet the moment Liam sits down, he hurries on over and becomes a loaf on his legs.

“I already love him, so you can’t get rid of him,” I announce.

Liam gives me a look filled with disbelief. “How could you love the thing already? We’ve barely had it days!”

“Well, I do,” I say as I stare at the loaf. His tail is twitching back and forth while his rusty purr fills the room. How could I not love him? He’s absolutely adorable.

“I saw you begging it to sit on you yesterday and it snubbed its nose at you! How can you love that? How could I care for something that doesn’t give you the love you deserve?”

“He’s not an ‘it.’”

“Sure looks like an it,” he grumbles as he pokes the side of the cat’s face. If I did that, the cat would wander off, highly displeased, but when Liam does it, his purrs escalate to a whole new level of rusty chainsaw.

“What do you want to name him?”

“Free Cat in the hope someone will take it. I can’t believe I spent a hundred dollars on a cat when I could get a free one from the crazy cat lady across the street!”

“Can you believe you spent over a thousand dollars on a blanket that will never love you in return?”

“I spent over a thousand dollars wooing your parents. The blanket was just a bonus.”

I shake my head because I’m really not going to win with him. “I’ll give you one more chance to name him, and then I am.”

Liam gives me a desperate look as he reaches for me like I’m his last hope. “Please… Gabriel, nooo… I can’t let you name another. I mean… I don’t even care for the cat, and I can’t put it through that. If you name it, you’ll be starting his villain origin story. Okay… Okay… um… The Undesirable One since no one wanted to adopt him.”

I raise an eyebrow and wonder how I’ve fallen in love with this monster. “That’s it, I’m naming him. His name is now Butter. Get it? Because he looks like a loaf! And a loaf needs butter!”

“That is… a scarring name.”

“It’s not scarring! It’s cute!”

“I’m not calling him Butter.”

“It’s not outlandish. There are no puns involved. What could possibly not be delightful about it?”

“So his nickname is Margarine. Fitting.”

“NO! Don’t nickname the cat.”

Liam isn’t deterred. “Lucy Fur, what do you think of the name Margarine?”

Lucille, who is glowering at the new cat from her spot on my lap, does nothing but continue to glower, which Liam seems to take as approval.

“Look. She loves it.”

“No, she loves the name Butter,” I say as I give her a pet, which thrills her. She’s been even more needy since the new cat came around. It’s as though she thinks I might look at him a moment too long, even though he refuses to sit with me.

While Michaels insisted we take some time off this morning as well, I’m quite aware that I’ll only get Liam to sit here for another minute or so before he heads off to work.

“You know you’re not allowed to move a cat, right?” I ask.

“Why? Do they explode if you do?” He picks up the cat like he’s trying to decide where the detonator might be as Butter’s tail twitches back and forth. Seeing nothing, he sets the irritated thing next to me. Butter is displeased by this situation and glowers at me, like my simple words are the reason his life has been ruined. To top it all off, Lucille yowls out her misery about it all.

“Are all cats this dramatic?” Liam asks.

“No, no… I think just our cats.”

His eyes narrow as he scrutinizes the creatures. “I like how you said that in a way that was meant to reassure me, but it didn’t comfort me in the slightest. The only thing they have in common is that you named them.”

I just laugh as I put Lucille down, or at least try to as she hooks me with her claws like she could just attach herself to me. “Isn’t it nice having a friend at home so you’re not alone during the day?” I ask as I wave to the loaf who is already back to loafing. His tail is flicking this way and that, probably as he contemplates his new name that he must love.

Lucille assures me that it is not better in any way as her yowls follow me while we make our way out the door.

Liam says, “I want to stop by the hospital. Don’t mistake it as me feeling bad for Abby because I don’t feel bad for idiots who don’t listen to me and choose to leave their home and get tossed off a balcony.”

“Oh nooooo, of course not. How gross would it be to show feelings! How heinous!”

“I used them all up loving you,” he informs me as he hooks me around the waist and draws me in just before I reach the car. “There’s nothing left because I love you so much.” Then he kisses me sweetly as his arms draw tight around me. It’s ridiculously comforting, and I return the kiss before giving him a look. For some reason, the look just makes him smile harder.

“I love you too, but I promise I don’t need every ounce of your love to the point that you can’t care for others.”

“But caring for others makes me feel icky inside,” he says a moment before I see Davey, Cole’s father, glowering at us. I almost mention it to Liam before realizing that if I said something like “We should stop because the neighbor is being pissy again,” Liam would be like “Then I’ll simply remove his eyes so he can’t see to complain about us.” I see no part of it going well, and then next thing I know, Liam would be like “Here, I got you a present” and it would be the neighbor’s head.

So I just pat Liam some in a weird, awkward way.

“What is this?” he asks as I keep patting his shoulder, and when he goes in for another kiss, I pat his face.

“This is my love pat.”

“Yeah? I mean…” He flinches with each pat, as though I’m actually patting him hard in any way . “If you enjoy it… I will… suffer… through it…”

“Stop acting like I’m smacking you! It’s such a light pat!”

“If this is what you prefer over kisses… I will suffer.”

“Oh my god. You are a difficult pain in my ass, you know that?”

Liam gives me a look. “Excuse me? I’m giving you a hug and a kiss and you’re smacking my face! Which of us is difficult here?”

“Not me.”

He hesitates before his head snaps around like it’s finally dawned on him. When his eyes settle on Davey, I make a break for the car.

“Let’s go.”

Liam makes some “Hmmm” noise while his eyes remain fixated on the neighbor. It’s like they’re prepared to have a stare-off until one of them breaks.

“Liam, let’s go.”

He holds up a finger. “But Liam’s not done with his stare-off.”

“Liam!”

He’s prepared to stay here all day and night at this point. I’m confident if I left for work and came back this evening, neither of them would have moved… or one of them would have stopped breathing, and I’m all too confident that Liam would win that fight.

“Darling,” I choke out. “Get in the car, darling .”

That snaps his attention to me and he’s all smiles when he hurries over to get into the car with me. “What was that?”

“I said, ‘Liam, get your ass in the car.’”

“No, no… I heard the D word.”

“Dick?”

“Close enough. I close on the house tomorrow, and then it’s all yours… mine. Definitely mine, not yours. Say something… catastrophic happens to your house… like a natural disaster, you know… where would you go? Would you move into the phenomenally large home with everything you’ve ever wanted or…”

“Probably stay with my sister or mom and you could babysit Lucille again,” I tease. I mean… he really shouldn’t give me such a fun reaction every time if he didn’t want me harassing him.

“What if…”

“You’re not destroying my parents’ and sister’s houses,” I warn him.

“But there’s a little lawnmower shed out back they could cuddle in. I’ll even put a little heater in there for them because I am quite kind.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Sometimes, I feel like you’re picky for no reason at all,” he says with a sigh.

“Do you? Am I?”

Liam just gives me a delightful smile, like that’ll solve everything. It just makes me shake my head and question where it all went wrong.

“I think I want to have a housewarming party,” he says as he heads toward the hospital.

I raise an eyebrow, instantly alarmed by this declaration. “You… do? But don’t you hate people?”

“I want your parents to see the nice home I’ve supplied for you. Are arranged marriages still a thing?”

“You think my mom will join your side?” Why do I feel like she very much would? “Why don’t you have her move in with you if you’re so lonely? I bet Matthew would.”

“The only reason Matthew would be invited into my home is if he was delivering us breakfast in bed.”

“That’s not awkward at all,” I say.

“I’d also allow him to enter the house to tell me that I’m right and he’s wrong. That would be permitted.”

“Of course it would.”

When we reach the hospital, he heads inside and up to Abby’s room as I trail along beside him.

I watch as he looks over at the woman who still hasn’t woken up, and I see that he’s clearly in detective mode. “What are you hoping to find?”

He stares at her for a minute before pushing her head this way and that. Then he tosses the blanket back and scrutinizes her some more. “I was hoping the killer signed their name on her body. Like ‘I pushed her lol,’ signed The Killer.”

“Oh yeah? That ever happen for you? Especially with the ‘lol’?”

“Fingers crossed.”

I walk over to the bedside table where a vase of flowers sits. Spotting the tag, I flip it over and see a very generic “Get well soon” on it. “I wonder who sent her these.”

The nurse comes in just as Liam is flipping her leg this way and that before dropping it and doing the same to her arm.

“Umm… do you need something?” she asks. She knows we’re with the police since only approved people may enter.

Liam drops her arm. “I thought she had a different tattoo right here,” he tells me as he taps her wrist. “Looks like she got a coverup if it was here.”

“When?” I ask.

“When she was sixteen. She came home with it and our foster parents lost their minds,” he says. “She was grounded from everything they could ground her from. I told her she might as well stop breathing the air I wanted since she wasn’t long for this world.”

“Do you remember what it looked like?” I ask.

Liam is thoughtful for a second. “Maybe. She needs to wake up. Doesn’t she know how annoying this is?”

I’m not quite sure why this is relevant, but Liam seems to think it is, so it’s probably something I should keep an eye on.

“Excuse me, do you know who brought her flowers?” I ask before the nurse can leave.

“They came right from the flower shop. They had to be approved to enter,” she says. “I don’t know anything beyond that. The only visitors she’s had have been police.”

“Thank you,” I say, taking a picture of the tag as Liam stops fiddling with her arm to come over. He examines the flowers before flipping the tag this way and that.

“What a fun threat.”

I look at him. “What do you mean?”

“She’s allergic to pollen, and specifically to high pollen-producing plants like this one. I remember our foster parents had a big tub of chrysanthemums just like this that would set her off, and they had to get rid of them.” He pushes one to the side before grabbing the vase and flowers.

“We don’t have any allergies down for her,” the nurse says as she hurries over to her computer.

“When her mother couldn’t even take care of herself and her father’s enjoyment came from seeing her be miserable, why would either bother to register her for it?” Liam asks. “Honey bun, let’s go.”

My eyebrow quirks at that, but I dutifully follow him as he heads out the door with the flowers. I can’t fathom they have any evidence on them—they came directly from the flower shop, so it’s not like whoever purchased them touched them—but maybe we can get something out of it.

As we head out to the car, Liam calls the flower shop on speaker and a young woman answers.

“This is Detective Paige from Timber PD. I’m calling about some chrysanthemums that were delivered to Grant Hospital, room 323. Can you tell me if you have a name or contact on the order?”

“I… don’t. I wasn’t here when the order was made, so I’ll reach out to an employee who was and see if she knows anything.”

“Do you have cameras on the premises?”

“I don’t. And I have it written here that it was paid with cash and no contact information was left,” she says. “I’ll see if my employee remembers anything. Is this the number I should call back?”

“It is,” Liam responds before hanging up without a proper goodbye. “Useless people.”

“You didn’t even give them a chance.”

“They’re all useless,” he says as we reach the department. “But not you. How does it feel to be the only human in the world who isn’t useless?”

I raise an eyebrow. “It feels like I have a lot of weight on my shoulders.” I toss in a heaping dose of sarcasm with that, but Liam just gives me a look like he adores me.

When we reach the department, we head inside and up to the third floor where I notice all eyes shift to us. Penny is one of them, so Liam stuffs the flowers toward her. “These were found in Abby’s room. It’s a flower that she’s allergic to.”

“Huh… interesting,” she says.

“Oh! It is Liam!” Matthew announces as he comes out, sounding quite strange and formal. “I bought donuts…”

Liam scrutinizes him. “Why the hell would I care if you bought donuts? Like… are you wanting me to watch you eat a cream stick or something? Sounds weird and creepy. Michaels, I’m being sexually harassed. Matthew wants me to watch his cream stick.”

“I bought you a donut. And Gabriel one too, of course,” he says as he holds them out to Liam who warily takes the box.

“Penny, Penny, come back. Please search these donuts for traces of rat poison or arsenic.”

Matthew gapes at him. “What the fuck, man… I mean… I would never… poison you?”

“The question mark there at the end makes it seem that much more likely to be poisoned,” Liam says as he holds the box out. “Penny, please. My life is clearly in danger.”

I grab them before something can happen to them because the idea of eating donuts sounds delightful.

Chris starts by and gives Liam a smile. “Morning. I was just running out for a coffee. Would you like one?”

“What, so you can cry into it?” he asks before hesitating. “But yes, I want one. Gabriel wants one too.”

“Of course,” Chris says cheerfully.

Liam’s eyes narrow as he looks around himself in suspicion a moment before Donna comes out of Michaels’ office and buzzes right over. “Michaels ordered pizza for lunch later from that place you recommended.”

Liam quickly grabs me and clamps his hand over my mouth and nose. “Gabriel, there’s been a gas leak. They’re all lightheaded and confused. Get in the elevator. We don’t want it to spread to us.”

I bat him off. “So if there was a gas leak, you’d just save me?”

“I wouldn’t want to get it from them,” he says with a grin before turning to the people around us. “If any of you continue to try to be nice to me out of… p… p…” He closes his eyes like it hurts him to say it. “ Pity , I will make your lives even harder than they already are. Trust me… it can be so much worse .”

Matthew glowers at Liam. “We’re not pitying you. We’re being nice.”

Liam shudders. “Well, I don’t like it, so knock it the fuck off. I don’t want you guys thinking I’m mean to you because of some childhood trauma. I’m mean to you because I enjoy it! It fuels me. It makes me sleep better at night.”

Matthew holds his hand out. “Then give me my damn donuts back.”

“No! They’re mine now!” Liam objects. “I take it this means the asshole is claiming he’s not guilty and we have nothing on him?”

“Sure does. Kenny Marsh won’t give us anything,” Michaels says. “We’ll get it figured out. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not the one who should be worrying. He should be,” Liam says. “I assumed as much when it was dead silent on your end. Now instead of pizza, I would like lobster and steak.” He pats Michaels on the shoulder, like a simple touch seals the deal.

Michaels sighs. “You’re getting pizza like the rest of us.”

“Pizza is what my mom ordered the night we were taken,” he says.

Michaels freezes. “I’m so sorry. I’ll get you whatever you want.”

Liam just laughs as he heads to his office.

I give Michaels an apologetic look. “Pizza is more than fine. He eats pizza all the time,” I assure him. “He’s just being difficult and enjoying it.”

“Liam difficult? Never!” Matthew says.

I enter the office and see that Robinson is out, so it’s just Liam. He pats his leg, and I’m confused about what he wants until I realize he wants me to just trot on over and sit on his leg.

“I’m not sitting on your leg at work.”

“I want you to sit on my leg while I feed ya a cream stick,” he says as he pulls a donut out. “Come on now.”

“Why are you making this so weird?” I ask as I walk over.

“How so? My thighs are craving your buns.”

I hold my hand out, expecting him to put the donut into it, but he kisses my fingers instead. His hazel eyes flick up to meet mine as he kisses each fingertip in turn.

“Buns first, then donut.”

“Or you could just let me have the donut because you love me.”

Liam smiles at me and it’s definitely not as innocent as he’s pretending it is. “Today, I was struck with great sadness that will only be fixed by you drawing close to me.”

“Seriously?” I ask. For someone “stricken by great sadness,” he sure looks like he still wants to be devious.

“Very seriously.”

I sigh but find myself walking over and sitting on his lap. He’s like Lucille. The moment I touch him, he forgets all about his woes, and if he could purr, he’d be purring.

“You’re just the best human ever created. How does it feel to be better than everyone?” he inquires.

“It feels like you’re exaggerating to an extreme.”

Liam picks up a donut and aims it toward my mouth. So of course I have my mouth wide open, donut being stuffed in it, ass on his lap as Michaels steps in.

Quickly, I snatch up the donut with my face a bit on fire. “I’m so sorry” is what I would have said if I didn’t have my mouth full of donut. Instead, it comes out mumbled and I end up smearing frosting across my face that Liam swipes with his finger and licks while his boss watches because he’s a maniac.

Michaels is still awkwardly standing there as I manage to choke the bite down.

“It’s the only way he would give me a donut and I really wanted the donut,” I whisper.

“A call just came in from Kenny Marsh. His wife, Liz… is missing. He said she told him that she was going to take the dog out and promised not to leave the property, but when he got home, she was gone.”

“I see,” Liam says. “And for documentation purposes, where might this house be?”

“You’re not going.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to go. I was just wondering about the address because I was going to spend the whole day making Christmas cards since I’m not allowed to do anything else and thought my enemy might enjoy one. A simple ‘Ho, ho, ho, are you Rudolph because your nose is going to be red when I’m done with you.’ Or what about… ‘I’m Santa because I’m here to sleigh.’ Those aren’t good enough… see why I need it now? I obviously need time to work on my threats… I mean my Christmas card.”

“You’re not going,” Michaels repeats. “I literally came in here to make sure you were aware that you’re not going.”

“I hear ya. I hear ya.” Liam picks up his phone. “Oh no… Matthew wants to know the location, so I was going to tell him.”

“Nope. Be good. Actually, why don’t you give me your car keys?”

“They’re actually Gabriel’s, but you can have them.” Liam hands them over without hesitation, which confuses Michaels and me. Now that Michaels has them, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with them.

“There you go. Enjoy. Gabriel, I think I remember what that tattoo looked like,” he says as he draws a circle and starts putting some lines in the center.

Michaels, seemingly pleased by the lack of Liam trying harder, leaves the room.

“Is that a flower in the middle?” I ask.

“Fuck if I know. I’m not an artist. Can you take this down to Jesse and ask if he’s seen anything like it? This note as well,” he says as he writes a note before folding it neatly and handing both papers to me. “I’ll be down there in a sec.”

“Of course. But can you tell me why this matters? Like… do you think it’s somehow attached to her case? If so, it means whoever is fucking with her is related to something she’s been involved in since she was sixteen.”

Liam is quiet for a moment as he seems to think about the proper answer to this. “I don’t know why it stood out, but it just hit me when I was looking at her. I’ll tell you in detail later. Tonight?”

“Okay,” I say, one hundred percent confident he’s planning on running off to the crime scene the second I leave this room. I take the stairs down and head into Jesse’s office, where I pass him both notes as I finish off my donut.

“Uh… probably rude not to offer you any,” I realize.

“You act like I wanted the last bite of your donut. Are we that close? I’m not even sure I’m that close with my own mother,” he says. “But don’t worry, Matthew got me one.”

I laugh at Jesse’s expression as he opens the first paper and looks at the atrocious drawing.

“Did a two-year-old do this? Because if so, they really need to learn to hold a pen better,” he comments.

“Liam did. He said this is a tattoo that he swears Abby used to have. I… guess he’s wondering if anyone else has come in with it? He explained it all in the note.”

“Oh, I didn’t notice the note,” Jesse says as he unfolds it and then flips it to me. “He drew a dick. A very happy dick.”

I look at the drawing of a dick with a happy face on it and sigh.

“Maybe it’s like… symbolism?”

“You think this happy dick with a speech bubble that says, ‘I’m better than you, Jesse’ is symbolism?” he asks.

“Yes?”

He tapes the dick to his wall like it’s now a work of art and goes back to the drawing of the tattoo. “I can’t have a picture of the real tattoo?”

“It’s not there. There’s a coverup tattoo now.”

“What’s the significance of it, then?”

I stare at Jesse. “You honestly think I know a quarter of what’s going through Liam’s mind?”

“You chose to date him, so I thought it was a possibility.”

He taps his pen a moment before pointing to the middle. “This supposed to be a flower?”

“That or a shit emoji. I couldn’t quite tell either.”

That makes Jesse laugh. “You know… something about this does look familiar, but I can’t place my finger on it. Let me think about it.”

“Thank you. Let me know as soon as you find something.”

I walk out the door and cock my head when I see something moving around in Matthew’s car while Matthew is in the lobby waving to a woman I don’t know the name of. Hurrying over to Matthew, I catch him before he leaves.

“Can I ride with you? Michaels said that Liam can’t go, but he said nothing about me not going.”

“Sure,” he says as he heads out the door. I follow him over to his car and get in the passenger seat. “Is Michaels going to prohibit Liam from doing everything? Like… I get the whole unbiased bit, but I feel like we’re putting our top racehorse out to pasture.” Matthew pulls out onto the street before glancing over at me.

“Liam’s going to do whatever he wants to do. But Michaels also has to do things the right way, even if Liam won’t listen to anything anyone else says.”

“True. Oh shit, I was going to tell him about this guy. So my brother is an officer over in Wester and they had a guy get away with killing this seventeen-year-old girl’s mom and dad. Caleb Hill is in his early thirties and was posing as a teenager when he was chatting to this kid, Leanne Peters, online. When she refused to meet him in person, she said he started to become violent while saying it was because her parents wouldn’t let her leave. But they couldn’t pin enough on him. She recognized him because he’d met her once late at night when she thought she was sneaking out to meet another seventeen-year-old. However, he’s claiming that he’s never met her and has no idea who she is, so they can’t prove he did it. I think we should loan them Liam. Not just because it’d be peaceful to have breaks without Liam… but to solve things… although… mostly for the peace.”

I grin. “We could definitely get money out of loaning him out.”

“Sure would,” he says.

The coat and boxes Liam covered himself with fall off as he sits up.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had the hots for me, Matthew,” Liam says as he hovers behind Matthew who jumped the moment Liam started moving. “Sorry. I’m spoken for. Gabriel, were you jealous?”

Matthew’s waving his arms around but thankfully still watching the road. “Jesus Christ! What the fuck are you doing in my car? Where the hell were you?”

“If your car weren’t so trashed, you’d have seen me. I was like ‘Can I really hide like this?’ And then I remembered how poor your observational skills were and went ‘Yes, yes I can.’” He drapes his arms around Matthew’s neck. “Say more nice things about me. I really liked it when you called me a stud.”

“What the fuck? When did I call you a stud?”

“When you were talking about him being a racehorse,” I say helpfully.

“Why’s this feel like a fucking threat? Like if I don’t say the right thing, you’re just going to off me?”

“Good. Come on now. Lay it on me.”

“I like it best when you’re silent,” Matthew grumbles as he pulls in behind another car. “Aren’t you not allowed to be here?”

“I won’t even take a single step onto the property. I will merely maniacally stare at him from the road. That’s not illegal, right?”

“Not quite sure it’s overly legal ,” Matthew says.

“Glaring isn’t illegal by any means,” Liam counters as he grabs a hoodie that’d been in the back seat and flips it over Matthew’s face, quickly tying the arms behind the headrest before leaving the car. The scene of Matthew’s hidden face squished against the headrest while incapable of reaching the knot is enough to make me lose composure and start laughing.

“Fucking hell, Liam! Goddammit!” Matthew cries as he struggles to get free. “Gabriel, that better not be you laughing.”

“I would never laugh,” I say as I reach around to the back of the seat to undo the knot while Matthew helplessly waits for me to save him.

When I finally free him, he looks at me. “You’re far too kind for that man. If you ever come to your senses, give me a call.”

That makes me start laughing again. “Liam’s a good guy.”

“Is he? Is he ? Like, Gabriel… is he ?”

I just grin as I get out and find Liam standing in the road staring at the house that people are busy wandering around. He’s got his arms folded and his eyes narrowed when I walk up.

He seems to notice me because he starts rambling. “So a couple walking home from dinner see a woman jump off a bridge. In their eyes, she’s committing suicide. They rush forward to save her, but it’s too late, she’s killed herself. No one thinks otherwise at this point. Everyone who looks sees a suicide, and while a few of us question if it’s not, what’s important is that the public is not aware that some people in law enforcement question if it’s not a suicide. That tells me there’s likely only one or two reasons why the wife was targeted because targeting her draws attention to the case again. It suddenly becomes clear the first one was not a suicide, and the specifics begin to feel more convoluted with her disappearance.

“So there are a couple of reasons why the assailant would risk everything when it could have been excused as a suicide. Number one, the wife saw something she shouldn’t have. But if she did, she would have reported it that night. Which makes me think it’s reason two: there’s something about her the person liked and they couldn’t pass it up. It was worth the risk because they wanted her for some reason.”

“You think a serial killer?” I ask.

“I don’t know yet. But she’s similar to the woman who jumped. Not in looks… no, they look very different. But in… a way.”

I think about it. “You’re right… their appearance, while different in ways, could seem similar. They both seem to be well put together—stylishly dressed, nails done, makeup… which leads me to believe that they have the resources for these things. So they want these people for something? But what? Jane Doe showed no signs of assault of any kind. She seemed okay other than the bruises on her hand, so what was so interesting about her?”

“That’s a very good question,” he says as I notice his eyes tracking someone. It seems like everyone else watches too as Kenny starts across the yard toward Liam.

I’m immediately wary, anxious he’s going to put this on Liam in some way. I have no idea what makes no one stop Kenny as he hurries over before halting at the curb. I slip in front of Liam, ready to brawl this man if I need to. It takes a lot to get me to want to fight someone, but I’m prepared to do it for the man I love.

Liam won’t let me stay there, though. He’s confident he’ll destroy this man if he tries anything and doesn’t want me involved. And I’m confident I don’t want him to even speak to the man.

Kenny’s eyes meet Liam’s. “When I came into the police station with my wife, I was told that I was in good hands with this amazing detective. That if anyone could figure out who was stalking Liz, it was you. I was told that I got fucking lucky they pulled you off another case because with you helping, you’d have everything figured out and we could stop fretting. They didn’t tell me your name, they just repeated how lucky I was. And instead…” He lets out a sound that could be mistaken for a laugh, but it’s sure not a happy sound. “Instead… I was held in an interrogation room for hours, and no one wanted to fucking help me or my wife. They’re all questioning why they should help me.”

“Sounds rough,” Liam says, clearly not caring about Kenny’s woes in the slightest. If no one else was here, it makes me wonder what he’d do. Would he walk away or would he beg me to let him kill him?

“I love Liz so much.”

Liam looks amused. “What if someone knew where she was? What if all someone had to do was make a simple phone call and she’d get to come home to you? You two have a daughter, right? What if she had to watch her mother’s head be caved in? What then? You want me to find your wife? You want me to give a single fuck about your life? Tell me what you did with the money. Tell me how that money made everything better. Tell it to me in a way that made my parents’ deaths worth it. You knew things weren’t going right. It’s why you left, wasn’t it? You thought they were going in for the money and leaving, and the moment things became uncomfortable, you left. You never once thought to call the police? You were concerned but not concerned enough to care about anyone but yourself.”

Kenny’s standing there, staring at the ground as damn near everyone here is listening in.

“What did you do with the money?”

“If I tell you what you want to hear, you’ll find my wife? They told me how amazing you are. You’ll find her?”

“I’ll at least think about it,” Liam says, voice cold.

“As soon as I had the money, I ran out and bought Liz a ring. I bought it on the way home. And then, I was going to put a down payment on a house to get my baby girl out of the shitty neighborhood we were in where hearing gunshots wasn’t even surprising anymore. I was going to raise my baby girl somewhere good so she could be good. So she wouldn’t grow up like the other kids in the neighborhood. Hell… it seemed like so many of them didn’t even get to grow up.

“But when I heard what happened… I hid the money. My wife got in a car accident, so I had to dip into it months later, and I felt so sick using it that I couldn’t stop sobbing. I just wanted the fucking money. I just needed it. I didn’t want any of that shit to happen. I swear to you, I never fathomed anything would happen to any of you. But you’re right… I knew he hurt you. I knew he could have killed you throwing you down the stairs. I knew I should have gone to the police, but I didn’t want to go to prison. I thought everything would work out, that he just wanted to fuck with your father… that as soon as he did that, he’d take some money like I did and leave… but he didn’t. I’m so fucking sorry that he didn’t. I’m so fucking sorry that I didn’t do anything.”

Liam watches him for a long moment before saying, “My father was a good man. He donated so much money to charity because he started in a place like you did. He knew what it fucking felt like to not have food on the table. My mother organized food drives. She supported holiday dinners for people who couldn’t afford it. But none of you fucking saw that, did you?”

Kenny shakes his head. “I just cared about myself and my family. And I care about them so much that I will fucking rot in prison for Liz. Please. Please, find my wife.”

He drops to his knees before Liam, and when he grabs for him, Liam steps away so Kenny can’t touch him. Kenny’s hands fall and hit the road Liam’s standing on. “Please? I don’t even know what I’m begging for. My Liz? For you to forgive me? For these fucking nightmares to end. Do you want the money back? I don’t have all of it, but I can pay it back. I’ll pay it back.”

Liam’s expression is cold and a little shut off. He’s hard to read when he gets like this. Before I knew his secrets, I used to believe he was just thinking, but now I wonder if he’s thinking about what it’d be like to kill him. Then I find myself wondering how often he has the desire to kill. And how often he goes through with it.

“I’ll pay it all back. I’ll give you everything,” Kenny pleads.

Liam’s stare is icy as everyone in the department watches the scene. I feel like someone needs to break the tension, and maybe that someone should be me, but I don’t know what to do or say. So I just reach out and take Liam’s hand.

For an instant, he seems unsure of what to do with it before his fingers tighten around mine. His gaze shifts over to me, and he watches me for a second, like he’s not sure what expression to make or what action to take.

“What kind of dog was it?” he asks.

Kenny appears so startled that he doesn’t seem to know what to say before he realizes what Liam’s asking. “Liz’s dog that she went out with? A bloodhound.”

“Does the dog ever get loose?”

“Y-Yes.”

“So if he got loose, being a hound, he’d have chased an animal that would have likely moved toward the trees,” Liam says as he takes a step back.

He pulls me after him as he heads into a patch of trees surrounding a small creek that runs between two neighboring houses.

“You okay?” I ask as the two of us move along the creek.

“Perfectly fine. Thank you.”

“Liam,” I say as Matthew jogs over to catch up. Seeing that Liam is still holding my hand, he reaches over and takes Liam’s other hand.

Liam freezes and looks over at Matthew. “What the fuck is this?” The grip he has on Matthew’s hand doesn’t look pleasant at all, but Matthew puts up with it for some reason.

“Well, I thought if Gabriel’s touch could make everything better, my touch would be like ecstasy ,” Matthew says.

“Michaels! Matthew is sexually harassing me again!” Liam calls out, even though Michaels is back at the department. It’s funny how he’s gone years harassing others but the moment someone harasses him back, he wants immediate reprimanding to take place.

“Just shut up and enjoy it,” Matthew hisses.

“When the fuck did he become so mean?” Liam asks as he tries pulling his hand free, but Matthew won’t let go. “And why’s he so strong? Is this your jerking-off hand? Is that why it’s so muscular?”

“This is what friends do,” I inform him.

“Hold them down with their jerking-off hand? Also, when the fuck did Matthew and I become friends? That’s the last thing I want to do with you.”

“If that’s the last thing, then hand holding must not be too bad,” Matthew says as he gives Liam’s hand a little shake. Liam is over there shaking it for a whole different reason.

“Everyone is staring at us,” Liam complains as he looks behind us.

“Out of jealousy,” Matthew assures him. “Gabriel and I have tamed the beast and wowed the others.”

“Fucking hell, you haven’t done shit. You asked if I’d nibble on your cream stick, and suddenly you think we’re friends?”

“Stop calling it a cream stick,” I beg.

“His long john? Is that better?” Liam asks. “You know I like your long john best, my sweets.”

“Aww, we’re passing around pet names now? If Gabriel is Sweets, then Liam is Sugar and I am?—”

“Shithead.”

“Weirdly, I feel like I got the short end of the stick there,” Matthew says.

“Any stick is short when we’re talking about you.”

Matthew gasps. “You’ve seen my stick.”

“You have?” I ask, wondering when the hell this happened… and why.

Liam holds up a thumb and pointer finger and puts them about an inch and a half apart. “Vienna sausage.”

“Vienna sausage, my ass,” Matthew grumbles.

I see something and snap our train to a stop. “What’s that?” We release hands—much to Liam’s happiness—as I point at a mark in a tree. The tree hasn’t started to scab over yet, and the mark is seeping a bit, telling me it’s fresh.

Liam walks over and inspects the mark before lifting something invisible and swinging, as if testing out the arc the object would have taken. “Blunt object, not super thick in diameter. Impact would have been lower on Liz; at this height, he would have been aiming for her back… must not have wanted to hit her head.” He makes the swing and freezes. “It flipped out of his hand when he struck the tree, not having expected the impact. See here how the wound in the tree stops but there’s a ring here?”

I step forward and see that whatever it was must have eaten into the tree.

“That ring would have been caused by the object being snapped back, as if he lost control of it.”

“So it would be something hollow?” I ask.

“Yeah, hollow with a sharp end.” Liam draws back and reenacts it again.

I question, “Where’s her dog in this? Like… it’s not often a big dog would just stand by while their owner gets taken. Was it so far ahead it didn’t see anything?”

“Looks like it wasn’t too far away,” Matthew answers as he points to a leash hooked between a large root and the tree base. The end of it has been chewed off but there’s no dog in sight.

“Matthew, can you get Kenny over here? See if he can find the dog. It could have bitten the attacker if it was this close,” Liam says, surprising me that he wants Kenny anywhere near him. Unless he wants him close to the leash for some “light strangling,” as he’d doubtlessly call it.

“Got it,” Matthew replies, hurrying back as I see Liam scooting leaves back before kneeling.

“You find something?”

“Sure did,” he says as I come over and see that there’s a pipe lying among the leaves. Matthew returns with Kenny and the team, half of which go to help look for the dog, but the other half come over to document what Liam’s found. Once it’s cleared for Liam to move it, he lifts one end of the pipe with a gloved hand.

“Huh.”

“What?”

“It’s a strip of steel tubing, but what makes it interesting is that the inside is polished… they’re often used for hydraulic cylinders.”

“Which… means?” I ask.

“See the grooves in both ends? Neither side shows any wear, telling me that it wasn’t removed from something… but there’s a blemish in one end.”

“From hitting it against the tree?”

“No, from when it was made. It was likely scrap, which means it would have come from somewhere it’s being manufactured. The average person wouldn’t have any purpose for something like this. With this type of steel and the polished inside, it has a specific purpose. How many manufacturers that work with steel are in the area?”

“Uh…” I hesitate. “I have no idea, but I’m going to find out and look super smart.”

“Perfect,” he says. “I don’t think there are many… you could call the scrapyard. They might have seen something like this if they got the scraps in. If they have, they might know exactly which company it came from.”

A young woman comes out and Liam looks at her as she rushes over to her father.

“Dad, what’s going on? I pulled in and saw all the police cars… they said you needed my help finding Puppins.”

“No wonder the dog doesn’t want to come. I sure as fuck wouldn’t respond to a name like that,” Liam mutters.

“If I called you Puppins…”

“I would run forward with my tail wagging,” Liam realizes. “Damn… you’re good.”