Page 14 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

FOURTEEN

Liam

Present

After Lucille, Lucifer’s spawn, chased me out the door the following morning, I arrive at work far earlier than I should have. No one else is here yet besides the night crew, so I make my way upstairs to my old desk that Robinson graciously cleared off for me after I made him aware that he would owe me until the day he dies. And even as Death comes for him and takes his hand, I will make sure he knows that in the afterlife he will still be my bitch.

He… seemed rather concerned by that for some ridiculous reason. I swear he’s just an overly emotional guy.

I try to pretend I don’t notice that his desk is butted up against Gabriel’s and mine. And while I’m immediately aware that I hate this arrangement, it does make it easier to bark at him to get me coffee the moment he arrives.

I grab a notebook, open it to the first page, and then proceed to stare at the blank page until Gabriel walks in at ten till eight. By then, Robinson is already back from the coffee run, and I send him out to get another for Gabriel. I even tell him I’m going to time him, but don’t bother to do so.

“Why are you already being mean to people?” Gabriel asks as Robinson comes rushing back in and slides a cup in front of Gabriel.

“Robinson, am I being mean or cruel to you in any way at all ?” I ask, since I’m still the only one aware of his involvement.

He looks alarmed. “No! Who thinks that? I’ll assure them that’s not the case. I’m more than happy to do anything you ask.”

“Thank you.”

“We actually need to go to the briefing now, are you good?” he asks.

“Quite well, thank you. Save us a seat.”

Robinson nods. “Of course.” And off he goes.

“He likes me because I’m sweet,” I say.

Gabriel’s eyebrow lifts. “You are literally the most suspicious man I’ve ever met. How the hell did I not see it before? You have this weird charm where you’re a dick, but you get away with it for some reason. And I think I was suckered into it because of that.”

“You think I’m charming?” I ask as I clutch my heart. “How lovely. Thank you.”

“I really didn’t mean any of that as a compliment.”

“And yet I’m going to take it and run with it,” I assure him as I grab my coffee and head out the door with Gabriel close behind me.

“How was Lucille Pawl last night?”

“I’ve renamed her Lucy Fur since you like atrocious names so much. She’s named after her father… Lucifer.”

“Do not call my cat Lucifer!”

“I’m not. It’s Lucy… Fur . Like cat fur. I woke up with Lucy Fur sitting in the doorway of my bedroom staring at me. And when I went to pass her to use the bathroom, she sprang up and bit me on the knee. I have fang marks in my knee. I’m afraid the only way they’ll heal is for you to kiss it.”

“She must have been scared.”

“Of what? Her own inability to find happiness?” I ask.

“I found her when she was like three weeks old. I bottle raised her. She’s never been without me. This is really hard for her.”

“What did you feed Lucy Fur to make her so mean?”

“Stop calling her that!” he says as he chases after me, and I’m not going to lie… I love it.

We walk into the conference room, and as promised, Robinson has saved us two seats. I sit down next to Gabriel with my notebook in hand and start drawing Lucy Fur with demon horns and tail as we wait for Michaels and a few other stragglers.

“You’re back!” Penny says as she comes up from behind me and gives me a hug. I’d much rather she’d choked me or something less revolting. I swear I can still feel her touch even when she draws her arms back.

“I am.”

“Did you bring me pie?”

“I only give you pie when I want something out of you,” I remind her as I see Gabriel notice Chris and jump up to talk to him. Just like that, Donna swoops in and takes Gabriel’s spot, and I have to stop myself from simply pushing her out of it, watching her tip out onto the ground and wallow around a bit as I pat the chair for Gabriel to return to. She even starts talking to me like I care about a single thing that’s happened in her life over the past year. Instead, I try not to fixate on the way Gabriel is standing obnoxiously close to Chris. There should be a solid six-foot distance between them and instead there’s barely four.

“And that’s how my entire house burned down,” Donna says as I realize that maybe she did say something interesting, and I paid attention for a whole grand total of none of it. Honestly, it sounds like I tuned back in during the best part.

“What?” I ask.

“I want you to prove my ex-husband did it.”

“Were you in it when it was burning?”

“Sure was.”

Clearly, he didn’t try hard enough. “Hmm…”

“What?”

Oh right… kindness. Gabriel wants me to exude kindness, which I oddly feel like my anger over her taking Gabriel’s chair doesn’t fit into. “Uh… Send me the details, and I’ll look into it when I’m not busy with this case.”

“Thank you. No one else can find anything. But I know. I really know. I just have to prove it. And you’re so good at this stuff.”

I watch as Gabriel sits down next to Chris, and I try my hardest not to push Donna out of the chair.

Why do I have to play nice? Oh right… I’m at the end of Gabriel’s leash.

Michaels steps into the room and goes up to the front. “I know we went over some of this yesterday, but since a few people were out, we’re going over it in depth again today. First off, Detective Hyde, I just want to say how glad I am to have you back with us. We’ve suffered a great loss losing Detective Rick Hughes.”

My mind flashes back to the head on the table. I wonder if they ever found the rest of him, which leads me to wonder if the killer has a burial ground of sorts. Does he destroy the bodies? Memorialize them? Or send them off to sea in the hopes no one will ever stumble upon them?

No, that’s not right… he saves parts of them to display… he doesn’t care that we know about the bodies. He wants us to know. Just like enlisting Robinson to hand over Gabriel; he wanted him to know what he’d done. He wanted to make him miserable, to live with the fact that he would be accountable for Gabriel’s death.

Which makes me question whether there were others. Did someone hand over Rick? What about the first guy whose head was found at the park? And the officer who’d been rescued? Do we have four accomplices who were forced into it to protect those they love?

I could stand up right now and ask if anyone here was involved, but no one’s going to volunteer that information when it would ruin their lives. It’d make distrust run rampant through the department as everyone would begin to question everyone else. No… but if I find out on my own, I could have more people in this office at my every beck and call.

“We would also like to welcome Detective Paige back,” Michaels says.

Oh? How sweet of him to act like he wants me here. Did he die a little inside when he announced that? I hope he did.

People clap for some reason, like I did something awesome by taking a year off only to return when they realized that they can’t figure out shit without me.

“We ran all traces of blood at the crime scene. The blood in the kitchen where the assailant was stabbed belonged to Paige. We checked the area where Paige stated he’d cut the man’s leg, but the rain was working against us,” Michaels says.

“Liam, you got hurt?” Penny asks. “You went right home… did you even go to the hospital?”

“He didn’t because he’s too tough,” Gabriel says snidely.

“I am. I also chew my pills instead of swallow them with water like a real action hero,” I lie.

“That’s kind of sexy,” Penny says.

I nod approvingly. “That’s me. The sexy pill chewer.”

“Paige, do you think you could give us some information about the man that Hyde might not have?” Michaels asks.

I think about the killer. I think about how cocky he was. How confident that he was going to win. And how hard he ran when he realized he wasn’t going to best me in a fight.

If I hadn’t fucked up, that is.

“What was the name of the officer who was also taken?” I ask instead.

“Carlos Hernandez,” Michaels says.

“I don’t believe our killer is going to handle having his targets taken from him. I think Officer Hernandez and Detective Hyde are going to be at great risk until this man is stopped. To me, he was like a lion. When a lion rushes into a herd of gazelle, they’re focused on one gazelle. It doesn’t matter what passes them; they’re locked on to one animal and that’s who they’re determined to hunt. We’ve taken that from him, and there’s no saying what he’ll do to get them back.”

“But why is he focusing on people in law enforcement?” Matthew asks. “It’s quite clear we’re his target.”

“Have we looked through all recent arrests?” Donna asks. “He could be related to a recent arrest.”

“Or he could simply hate law enforcement,” Chris says.

Just like I simply hate you for taking Gabriel from me.

Shit… focus… I have to focus.

The killer is making a mockery of us. He’s making us pick at each other… he’s likely making people distrust each other. But it’s not limited to homicide. The first man taken was an officer from the cybercrimes department, and Hernandez is a patrol officer.

So is he just trying to get us to tear each other apart? To become untrusting of everyone? I mean… what if he blackmails Chris into handing Gabriel over to him? Or does he just want to play his fucked-up little game?

I already agreed to play with him, and he ran from me.

“We’ve put in a call to all surrounding hospitals to look for the specific wounds we know he has, but so far no matches,” Michaels continues.

I gather up my things and head for the door, and Michaels stares at me. “Paige, where are you going?”

“I’m going to the scene to investigate it,” I decide.

He gives me a very pointed look. “We’re not done talking.”

“Well, how about if you find anything new, you inform me? If not, then I’m going to head out. When I’m back, I would also like to meet with the cybercrime department and the rest of the police officers. Preferably people who were on the same schedule as the ones who were taken.”

“You are not running off alone. Do you know how many strings I’ve pulled to get you back into this position and on the case? How hard it was to force people to look the other way when you ran headfirst into the building Hyde was being held in instead of calling for backup? There’s a possibility we could have stopped him if you hadn’t rushed ahead.”

“Do you think I’m not fucking aware of that?” I growl. “I knew I triggered a camera that was out in a fucking field. I didn’t know whether the killer was in the building or outside of it. If I were confident he wasn’t in the building, I could have waited, but if he was in the building, he could have killed Gabriel and Hernandez and hidden any evidence, since he would know that the police were on the way. I’m well aware I fucked up.”

“Stop,” Gabriel says. “This killer would absolutely love to know that we’re turning on each other. Liam had seconds to make a choice. And his choice resulted in both me and Officer Hernandez living. The police presence could have spooked the killer if Liam hadn’t acted immediately. It could have resulted in him killing us. And there is absolutely no guarantee he’d have been caught. I’ll… I’ll go with Liam to the scene and explain what happened.”

“Fine. Detective Nye will go with you.”

I look over at Matthew and question why I have to be subjected to more misery. Maybe if I were to take Robinson instead, I could be a happier human. He could run off and find us little sandwiches and maybe a picnic basket and blanket so Gabriel and I could have a fun little picnic date that he would be no part of.