Page 17 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

SEVENTEEN

Liam

Present

“So… why are you hiding the photographs from anyone in the precinct who hasn’t already seen them? Wouldn’t it be best to warn people?” Gabriel asks as he comes into the room I’m sitting in alone. The people in homicide learned quickly about their loved ones being involved in a photoshoot since word spread while the detectives and techs investigated the area. With a few glowers and threats from me to them, I was able to keep it from spreading any further than it already had before Michaels called an emergency meeting asking for it to stay quiet for the time being.

The door opens again, and Michaels comes in to scrutinize me some more.

“Sergeant Michaels, would it be best to warn people?” I ask as I throw Gabriel’s question at him.

“This has caused unease throughout all of the detectives involved. I’m afraid that it will cause panic and possibly result in unfair judgment if they believe they’ve found the suspect. No one in this department would be considered unbiased. At the moment, I believe the best course of action would be to see what we can find before this is released to the entire precinct.”

Oh look, Michaels can actually use that head of his for something other than finding women—besides his wife—to screw. Imagine that.

“And I will prove to you why Michaels is right—for once—after he answers the very important question of…” I make sure they’re both waiting with bated breath before going, “Did you catch the killer on camera?”

“No… we’re unsure how he got into the house at this time.”

“Weren’t there security cameras in place watching the exterior of the house in case he returned for something?” Gabriel asks.

“There were, but they didn’t catch anything,” Michaels answers.

“That’s because he never went into the house,” I say as I wave at my masterpiece. “Every photo has a match, but does every match have a photo?”

“What do you mean?” Michaels asks.

“Besides those of us already involved, we have one person whose loved one is missing from this beautiful collage. Her name is Maze Holden. Dear god, who decided to name this woman? Did they procreate in a corn maze and dedicate their daughter’s name to it?”

“That’s my niece,” Michaels says.

“That explains everything,” I realize, which weirdly doesn’t make him more understanding.

Michaels doesn’t look impressed. “Instead of being irritating, how about you clarify what’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that our killer is phenomenal at his job,” I say.

“Should you compliment the killer?” Gabriel asks.

“Come on. The man has single-handedly turned us all against each other… or at least he will if any of this information gets out. Maze was one of the officers sent there for security. She did a sweep, but what we don’t see is that she goes inside and plants all the photographs.”

“You’re saying my niece is working with the killer?” Michaels asks, looking ready for a fight. Sadly for him, I would destroy his ass in seconds.

“No. I’m saying that the killer is manipulating people into doing the dirty work for him. But if this gets out, you could lose control of your entire department. I can guarantee the killer sent a threat to Corn Maze and told her to put the pictures up and set up the phone. I’m sure she didn’t know the phone was a bomb. She couldn’t bring herself to put up the picture of her loved one, but by hiding it, she revealed to us that she was involved.”

“That makes sense… if you knew a killer had intimate pictures of these people in their safe locations… that would put you on edge. I would not hesitate to put up pictures if someone threatened my parents,” Gabriel admits.

“Or his cat. He’d probably off all of us for that ball of fury,” I say.

“I would not.”

“Let me… let me speak to her,” Michaels says as he hurries out of the room.

I catch Gabriel staring at me the moment Michaels leaves. “Is the light from these blindly bright fluorescent lights hitting me just right so you can’t make yourself look away?”

He raises an eyebrow. “You know something else that you haven’t told Michaels.”

“How are you so good?” I ask.

“Because… I know you. I spent an entire year staring at you.”

“Oh? Did you like what you saw?”

Gabriel folds his arms over his chest. “I don’t know anymore.”

I grab my heart. “Fuck, Gabriel. Vicious. They always say a pet is just like its owner, and I’m starting to see the resemblance between you and Lucy Fur. That’s okay. I would still burn down the world for you. I could start right now, if you’d like? Tell me who’s on your shitlist.”

“Funny.”

“I’m just glad you didn’t say it was me.” I grin as I lean back. “You really want to know my secret?”

“I honestly don’t know how much worse of a secret you could hand over.”

“That’s true. Fine, fine. But we’re not sharing it with the other lesser beings.”

“Depends on what it is.”

“I’m aware the killer has conned people into handing over the victims to him.”

Gabriel snorts. “You’re saying someone here handed me over to him?”

“Sure as fuck am.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“You know who it is?”

“Sure as fuck do.”

“But everyone is still alive,” he says. “You can’t tell me someone handed me over and you wouldn’t have…”

“Right, but I promised you I wouldn’t, did I not? I’m a changed man. My heart has grown three times too big for the teeny spot it’s supposed to be in… or more accurately, I’m using the person who did it. And I’m going to find the other three and use them as well.”

“So if it’s someone you’re using, then it has to be Robinson.”

I hesitate.

“I mean, you’re evil to everyone, but it’s a rare day when Robinson decides to get you coffee out of the kindness of his heart.”

I keep hesitating.

“We have to tell Michaels… not that it’s Robinson; I know he would have only done it if he had absolutely no choice.”

“What, so now you’re going to forgive him?” I ask in disbelief. This man really is too kind.

“Are you serious? You were the one planning on not handing him over!”

“Yeah, because I’m blackmailing him, not because I like anything about him. And anyway, I’m not yet sure about telling Michaels. If we tell him, they’ll investigate it. They’ll find out who was involved. They’ll have to bring in outside sources to pick up the pieces, that’s fine… but the issue is that this will tear our entire precinct apart. Who can we trust when we don’t know who will turn on us?”

“We have to stop him now.”

“What’s to say he won’t con the FBI? Someone else? Everyone has someone they love, Gabriel. The problem we have is the moment word gets around, no one will trust anyone.”

He heaves out a sigh, then says, “Fuck.”

“Fuck is right.”

“I want to think about it.”

“Fine. And it’s fine if you cave. I don’t trust any of them anyway. I’m confident they’re all scheming assholes. No one can be as perfect as me and you.”

“I’m still mad at you.”

“I know.”

“And I don’t forgive you.”

“I’m aware.”

“I probably never will.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“But…”

I watch Gabriel as I wait for him to finish that sentence, but it doesn’t seem like he’s going to. “But?” I encourage.

“I feel like you’re the only hope we have.”

I think about that for a second. “Do you blame me too? For going into the house to get to you instead of calling it in?”

“No. If… If someone I cared for was inside a building and I knew that time was of the essence, I would run in too. It would be really hard to stand outside and wait, knowing that every second matters.”

“I still feel like I did something wrong.”

“You might think that you’re unbeatable, that you’re above everything, that you know and understand everything, but you’re still human,” Gabriel says.

I watch him for a moment, wanting to say something more but uncertain whether I should. He’s the only one who can make me feel this way, and the only one who makes me second-guess everything I do.

The door opens and Michaels walks back in with Maze. She already knows what’s coming, though it doesn’t seem like Michaels has told her. But she takes one look at me and goes, “He made me do it. He was going to kill my sister. He was going to kill her.”

Honestly, I feel kind of proud that she merely took a look at me and blurted out everything.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Michaels asks.

“I was patrolling four months ago when I got the call to go to the park. I saw… I saw Officer Li’s head sitting on that park bench. He was a nice guy. He always asked me how I was. He was so fucking nice and then he was just…” She shakes her head. “I know it was wrong, but I just kept seeing my sister like that. Every time I closed my eyes, there she was… nothing more than a head. She’d never say hi to me again or tell me that she loved me. Nothing ever again because she would just be a head. So I hung the photographs up. I didn’t realize what the phone was. I’m so sorry.”

“Do you still have the note he left you?” I ask.

“Yes. It was in my mailbox along with the pictures.”

“I’m sure there’s nothing on it that will give him away, but I’d still like to look at it,” I say.

“Of course. This is going to ruin my life… but I’d have done it again and again to protect her.”

Gabriel asks, “Do you know if there are any cameras that would have caught your mailbox? Neighbors’ or your own?”

“No. I have no neighbors across the street, and I don’t have a camera on it myself. I wish I did, but I live out in the country. There’s literally nothing but fields that surround me.”