Page 20 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

TWENTY

Liam

Present

I stare at Lucy Fur as she looks me right in the eyes.

I can see dreams of murder behind those golden eyes. Thoughts of slaughter and annihilation.

She gives the dead mouse before her feet a light smack as if to say, “I wish this were you.”

“Does it look like I want to clean up your bodies? No one cleans up mine,” I complain as I snap a picture of the cat and her kill and send it to Gabriel.

Me: Lucy Fur’s continual attempts at murdering me have so far gone unsuccessful. In an attempt to sate her bloodlust, she has presented me a mouse and written me a death threat in its blood.

Gabriel: I’m pretty sure that’s not true. She was thanking you for watching her by killing a mouse for you.

Me: Well now there’s a body and I can’t get rid of it.

Gabriel: I’m pretty sure you could get rid of it.

Me: Should I light a pyre for it? Send it off on the river?

Gabriel: I think you could just like… throw it out.

Me: She’s watching me. First, I throw out her prize. Next, I’ll become her prize.

Gabriel: She doesn’t want them after she kills them. It’s the hunt she enjoys.

“Me too, Lucy Fur. Me too. Probably shouldn’t tell your dad that. What do you think about me training you to put them in the trash when you’re done with them?”

She ignores me and wanders off, leaving the carcass for me to clean up. I grudgingly dispose of it and wash my hands before I hear the doorbell ring.

“Do we think it’s friend or foe?” I ask her. “If it’s foe, I’m sending you out to do the dirty work. I’m convinced your father could watch you kill a man and praise you the whole time.”

She hisses at me and yowls before freezing then dashing to the door. She hates everyone… there’s only one being she likes and…

I run to the door before quickly pretending like I hadn’t just bolted across the house like a child rushing out of their bedroom to open presents on Christmas morning. I even lean against the doorframe and try to smooth my hair back as I open the door and look out at Gabriel. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“My babysitter has gone out for a second, so I thought I could stay here for an hour while he’s gone and visit Lucille.”

“Ah, of course. Come in. Come in,” I say as I wave him inside.

“Don’t play it off like you didn’t just run through the house. You realize I could hear you from out here.”

“Maybe you need to get your ears checked because I gracefully skipped to the door. I didn’t run. I even had time for a pirouette in there.”

“Oh, I would love to see that,” Gabriel says with a grin, his old teasing slowly coming out to play. I’ll win him over before too long.

“I am prepared to do anything you ask, no matter how embarrassing it is,” I assure him as I step back and let him inside.

“I was wondering… so yesterday, you stopped in the police department and hugged on that guy… why? I know you gave Matthew a halfhearted answer, but was there something more?”

“To make you jealous. Did it work? Is that why you’re gracing my doorstep with your fine body this evening?”

“It very much did,” he says as he takes his knife of sarcasm and stabs me in the heart with it just a wee bit. “Now the real reason?”

“To see who handed Officer Hernandez over. I was trying to see who looked the guiltiest. I’m thinking it’s that mousy-looking guy who gives me the impression of a man trying to shit out a football every time you talk to him.”

“Do you ever feel like that’s a you thing and not a him thing?”

“There are a lot of footballs being shat when I talk to people, you’re right. Might be a skill of mine. Do you find it sexy?”

“I… don’t know how to even answer that,” Gabriel says as Lucy Fur purrs up a storm. She’s now rubbing her face all over his. He’s trying to get cat hair out of his mouth and nose as she deposits more into it. Clearly, it’s a magical experience that he adores judging by the look on his face.

“Does that taste good?” I ask.

“Very. Thank you.”

“I’m glad.”

While it’s Saturday, work ate up most of the day and would have eaten up more if they hadn’t made me go home so I could have some “mental health” time. There’s not enough time in the world to fix my mental state. Not when that asshole is on the loose. We got no closer to finding anything out and honestly, I just got more frustrated as the day went on, so this is a welcome distraction. The chief ended up calling a district-wide meeting about the fact that the killer could be using a loved one to manipulate or coerce us. It was done in a decent way that left everyone alert and on edge but hopefully not side-eyeing their partner for what they might do.

I watch as Gabriel snoops around checking her litter box, which is pristine, and her food and water. The fountain he’d supplied for her gets enough hair in it that I feel like I have to clean it far more often than I’d like.

“Is everything up to Her High Majesty Lucifer the Great and Bitchy’s satisfaction?”

“Seems to be. She’s still hissing at you?”

“Hissing, striking, yowling. I believe she goes through the five stages of grief every time she wakes up and sees me. She screeches out her displeasure hourly. She likes to watch me scoop her shit. I make sure to look her in the eyes when I do it and she loves it.”

Gabriel laughs and I love the sound of it. “You’re ridiculous. I know I’ve told you that time and time again, but you are definitely ridiculous.”

“Am I? When I just watched your cat try to stuff her head into your mouth as you laughed, you have the audacity to call me ridiculous?”

“That is correct,” he says as he battles more cat hair that’s invaded his mouth. It seems to be a losing battle.

“Have you eaten yet?” I ask since it’s already getting dark.

“No.”

“Can I make you dinner?”

“No, I was just stopping to see Lucille.”

“You’re just going to feast on the fiber the cat hair gives you?”

“Probably.”

“But if I make food and set it in front of you, will you consume it?”

“If I’m forced to.”

“I see,” I say as I head into the kitchen, pleased as can be when he follows me. He leans against the counter as he cradles the creature like a baby. She’s so delighted by every second of it, and I weirdly feel like I could relate.

“If you get lonely when she’s not around, I volunteer my body for tribute.”

“To… hold like a baby?” Gabriel asks as he raises an eyebrow.

“That is correct. I am prepared to do this for you.”

“You act like it’d be a hardship for you ,” he says as he watches me pull some pork out of the fridge.

“It’s a hardship I’m willing to face… because of you.”

“You’re just jealous of my cat. Admit it.”

“Yes, but can your cat make you dinner?”

“She brought you dinner not long before I arrived, and you chose to dispose of it,” he says, referring to the mouse.

“But did I?” I ask as I wave toward the bowl I’m mixing seasonings into. “You never specified what you wanted on your pork.”

Gabriel grins as he shakes his head. “No… we can’t joke about that.”

“Ah, I see.”

“So… what did you do while you were… off? I remember you saying you had a diner?”

“I do. A couple was retiring and I bought the diner from them so I didn’t have to start from scratch. I’m on the verge of selling it. Right now, it’s being run by two absolute dumbasses.”

“So normal people,” he says.

“Possibly.”

“What made you open a diner?”

“My father ran restaurants when I was growing up. He owned a large chain, so I know the ins and outs of one more than I’d like. Father and son time was often spent driving to one of them where my dad would share with me the wonders of a restaurant, as if I gave a single shit. So I decided to use the money he left me when he died to buy a new one to be miserable in.”

“You don’t strike me as someone who’d run a diner.”

“You are very right, but I learned from a young age that my ability to work for a boss who tries to control me is very low. I tend to butt heads with everyone I meet. Michaels puts up with me because he knows I’m useful. What about you? If you weren’t a detective, what would you be?”

“Hmm…” he says, petting his cat while I slice up potatoes. I can only imagine that cat hair is fluttering off her and getting all over my counters, but I would let him shave the fucking cat on the counter if it meant he was beside me. She could chew on the pork, and as long as he was happy, I would grimace and be happy too. “I don’t know… I really like helping people.”

“There are a lot of jobs you could do that would help people. You could have been an underwear model. That would help a lot of people understand that they’re not as attractive as their filters make them think they are.”

“That is literally the most unhelpful thing,” he says with a grin.

Buuuut it still made him smile.

I slide the seasoned pork into the oven as I start frying the potatoes. “Well, I’m glad we both have our career choices planned out if this ever falls through.”

“Seeing as you’ve mentioned burning down the diner and selling it, I’m not quite sure that’s true.”

“I’m being good… kind of.”

Gabriel seems amused by that as his fingers trail through the long hair of his satanic child. “Have you ever had a pet?”

My mind flashes back to that little black stray.

“I did… once.”

“What was it?”

“A stray dog. He was so dirty and gross when I found him. I snuck him into the bathroom and scrubbed him clean and hid him from my parents until I started scratching all over because he had fleas and they started biting me.”

“They made you get rid of him when they found him?”

“No. We took him to the vet, got him cleared of fleas and up to date on everything. We actually kept him for a few months…”

“And?”

“And then…”

“I always feel like everything that’s not superficial with you is a secret, and it makes me wonder how many more secrets you’re hiding from me,” Gabriel says, eyes holding mine.

I scoop out a potato and pop the hot piece into my mouth as I watch him. Then I grin at him—with the look he’s giving me, I can’t help it—and sprinkle a bit more seasoning on the potatoes. “It’s nothing so exciting.”

“If you ever want the possibility of me forgiving you, then you promise right this second that you’re never going to lie to me.”

Forgiving me? He wouldn’t be here right now if he didn’t forgive me. He wouldn’t bestow his beloved cat on me if he didn’t forgive me. But does he mean something more than forgiveness?

“Okay. I promise. No lies.”

“Good.”

“Let’s see… his name was Night, and he ended up going to live with another family because he didn’t like my father. He would growl at him and then one day he bit him. He latched on to my dad’s arm and my dad looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You better find him a new home before he ends up biting someone who puts him down.’ And I remember feeling like those words shattered my world. How could I get rid of Night when I adored him so much? So I put a leash on the dog, packed my bag and ran away. But I was like fifteen… let’s just say it didn’t go well.”

“What happened?” Gabriel asks.

I raise an eyebrow. “You’re so nosy.”

“I am because you clearly want me to only look at you, but when I do, I see a snarky man who is hiding so many fucking secrets I’m confident you could drown under them.”

“Good thing you’re like a sexy lifeguard ready to swoop in and save my drowning ass.”

Gabriel groans. “Why do I even try?”

“I don’t know, honestly,” I say with a grin. “There’s really nothing much there. I ended up staying with a neighbor who I really liked. An older lady who adored the dog and encouraged me to go back home because my mother was a wreck.”

“Why didn’t the dog like your dad?”

“I know you’re thinking he was some abuser or something, but he wasn’t. Night just didn’t like men. I think he was abused by a man who owned him previously. My mom promised we’d get a puppy that would like all of us. It just… never happened.”

“At least your neighbor was close and you could visit him.”

“We didn’t live there for long,” I say, and I can’t help but wonder… if we’d never gotten rid of Night, would things have gone differently?

“That’s too bad. So… you mentioned your dad passing earlier… is your mom still alive?”

“No. You mean I did what I did, and you never looked into me?” I ask.

“I guess… I felt like if there was something going on… you would have told me. I don’t know. Did something happen?”

I stir the potatoes that clearly don’t need to be fussed with. I just need something to do with my hands. “Yes.”

“You don’t want to talk about it?”

“Not necessarily, but if you will listen and take pity on me and hold me like you were holding your cat, I’ll consider it.”

“You do realize you’re taller than me? How do you think me cradling you will go?”

“Phenomenally. I’ll even forgive you when you drop me on my head.”

“I’m pretty sure I could shoot you in the ass right this second and you’d be like ‘I think Cupid shot me.’”

I grin, pleased by his level of understanding.

“It’s highly possible.”

“Did your parents know of your tendencies?”

“To kill people? No, I wasn’t chopping up people at six. Like ‘Mommy, look what I did.’”

“You know what I mean.”

“I struggled with things growing up. I always had trouble relating to or understanding people. I didn’t get why they did things certain ways, but it wasn’t until my teens that it got significantly worse. I was sixteen the first time I hunted and killed someone and the… rush it gave me… it’s hard to explain. I had been drowning in hatred and despair and all of these emotions that ate away at me. I was always smart in school—I could ace any test—but there was a time in my life that I just gave up. I stopped caring about anything except my fixation for killing this man. It haunted my waking and sleeping hours. I knew killing was wrong. I knew that I shouldn’t even contemplate doing something like that. I was disgusted by myself, horrified by my thoughts, but there was another part of me that was thrilled by them.

“So, one day, that part of my mind won out. I killed that man I’d dreamed about killing and it was like… every horrible thought that had built up in my body was finally released. It was like I was finally free of his clutches. I could breathe again. I started doing better in school. I started doing what others expected of me. And when I’d start to get that drowning feeling again, I’d kill another.”

“Did you kill often?”

“Not often. Not as much as I wanted. The opportunities weren’t exactly being handed to me like they are now.”

“How so?”

“Because I never had a desire to kill innocents. My desire to kill came from wanting to take parasites who think they’re better than everyone—the ones who pick and destroy until there’s nothing left of others—and watch them crumble and fall. That is what I love. You’ve seen it working this job, that… satisfaction they have over ruining lives. The way they eat up the emotions of those they take everything from. The people who hurt others because they love the fear, the pain, and the idea that they’re in control. I love the way they quickly fall from believing they’re a god to begging for their lives a moment before I end them,” I say before realizing that I’ve likely said too much.

I glance over at Gabriel, expecting him to scoop up his cat and rush out the door. Instead, he’s not saying anything.

“Do you hate me?” I ask.

“Hate? No. Do I understand? I didn’t use to. I didn’t at all… until I lay on that cellar floor and watched him destroy the lives of others. It’s strange how perspective changes when you’re on the other end. Before, I was like… ‘Just arrest the man. Prison will fix everything.’ But when you see what the person does… and when you know that there are people out there walking free… I mean, I feel like I live every moment knowing he’s out there. I look around every corner. I expect at any second that he could kill me. And I only feel safe when I’m…” Gabriel trails off before his eyes catch mine. “I’m just saying that I can’t fathom living a life where the person who has destroyed it is able to walk free… or how horrible it’d be to live in the same house as someone who torments you. I still don’t think you should go around killing people, but maybe there’s a fraction of me that understands it. Even if I wish I didn’t.”

The timer on the oven goes off, and I grab an oven mitt. “I’m sorry you have to feel that way.”

“There’s absolutely no reason for you to apologize. Alright, enough of this serious nonsense. Tell me how your life as a new cat dad is going.”

“Well, it suckered you into coming over, so I guess it’s been tolerable,” I say as I start dishing everything up. “Go have a seat.”

“I can carry something over.”

“No, I want to serve you—show you how much better I am than Chris.”

“You’re acting like Chris and I are a thing. Chris’s thing is that he’s risking his life to protect me, and your thing is thinking that Chris needs his ass kicked because of it.”

“Well, does he?”

“You clearly don’t listen,” Gabriel says as he reaches for the plate, but I pull it back until he sighs and heads over to the table. He sits down and I beam as I hurry over.

“Here you are, lovely sir. Here is your fine china from the lands of Amazon, laden with specialty seasonings that I picked and ground myself before tossing it with a sprinkle of love. As a side, we have hand-grown potatoes that I lovingly watered and picked before dousing them in butter and the seasonings of gods with a side of florets of steamed broccoli that was definitely not done in the microwave.”

“Oh wow… weirdly, what you’re saying is significantly different than what I watched you do, but it still looks delicious, and I didn’t have to cook it,” he says as Lucy Fur sits on his lap eyeing my masterpiece.

“What would you like to drink? Wine? Water? Coke? Beer? The blood I siphon off Michaels every time he annoys me?”

“I know that’s not true because if it was, Michaels would be a dried-up husk. I’m positive him breathing annoys you.”

“Sure does. But he loves me enough to pull so many strings for me that I have to pretend I love him too.”

“ Do you pretend that?”

“I consider pretending that.”

“Ah. Makes… sense. I’ll take a beer.”

“You’re missing out,” I inform him as I grab two cans.

“That’s okay. I’m fine missing out,” he says as he takes a bite of pork. “Oh… this is delicious.”

“You really didn’t have to sound so surprised. Like you expected very little out of me.”

“Well… I’m going to be honest, you don’t strike me as someone who’d make edible food. And this is beyond edible. This is amazing.”

“Would you like me to make you three meals a day? Because I will.”

“That… kind of sounded like a threat, but no. Though maybe the next time I check on Lucille Pawl will be during dinnertime,” he says.

“I will have the finest lobster imported from the freshest of waters.”

He shakes his head. “That is awfully sweet of you. But I promise my tastes aren’t that rich. I’m happy with anything.”

Resting my chin on my elbow, I gaze at Gabriel. “I’ve always wondered what makes someone as nice as you put up with me. Things are a bit different now, but back then, you really liked me.”

“You’re saying I don’t now?” he asks.

I’m simply trying to fetch some answers to that very question. “I would never put words in your mouth.”

“You sure about that?”

“Mostly never. Really, the only words I’d try to slip in there would be words like, ‘Liam, you are the best human I’ve ever laid my eyes on. I sure wish you’d whisk me off to pleasure town.”

“Pleasure… town? Was that supposed to be sexy?”

“It sounded significantly sexier in my head. You were going to hear those words, and your clothes were just going to burst off your body.”

He tugs his shirt. “If anything… I think they’re tighter.”

“That’s just from my delicious meal.”

“Ah, right.”

“Or… are you saying your pants are tighter? Because if so… I can work with that.”

“Maybe my socks? That sounds about right.”

“They do say the socks are a window to the soul.”

Gabriel laughs as he gives me a look. “Who says that?”

“ They do, of course.”

“Ah, right. Your alien brethren.”

I watch as Lucy Fur’s paw slips out and slowly drifts toward his plate.

“There seems to be a problem with your plate,” I comment as I watch the paw strain to reach the pork.

“She just misses me and is acting out. It’s like a mini kitty tantrum,” he says as he pushes her paw back and kisses the top of her head, rewarding her with a kiss when she’s over there being bad. I do something bad and I sure as fuck don’t get a kiss.

“So when she ‘acts out’ it’s cute, but when I ‘act out’ you get mad.”

“Reaching for a piece of pork and murdering someone are wildly different things.”

“I feel like you’re unfairly biased toward that cat. She committed murder today too and you thought it was cute and helpful. Did that little mouse murder his wife and child?”

“It’s honestly fascinating how you try to rationalize things to gain my favor.”

“But here’s the question… is it working? I feel like it’s working. After all, you’re sitting at the table eating food I made.”

“Because I’m visiting my cat. This is just me using you,” he says as he gestures at the pork.

“You can use me all you want. If you were like, ‘Boy, today would be perfect if I could walk all over someone,’ I would lie down right then and there and let your little piggies gallop over my body.”

“You are so strange.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how sexy is ‘strange’?”

“That’s a complicated question. Man, this pork was fantastic. Chris’s food is like chewing on a rawhide someone forgot to flavor.”

“Oh? Do tell me what else I do better than Chris.”

“Hmm… you are a better narcissist.”

“Ooh, sexy.”

“You brag way better than him.”

“How tantalizing.”

“You are much better at being confident and weird.”

“So basically, I’m better than him in all aspects that count.”

“I’m glad you believe the only things that count are bragging, narcissism, and being confident.”

I laugh, honestly quite pleased. I was over here expecting a dreadful night with that dreadful cat who is eyeing a potato now. And instead, I was graced with the best night I’ve had in a while.

“Isn’t this delightful? You should move right in.”

“Absolutely not,” Gabriel says as he holds a teeny piece of pork out to his cat who delicately takes it. She’s purring up a storm as she eats it. “Why don’t you try giving her a piece? Maybe you can win her heart with food.”

“Like I’ve won yours?”

“Definitely not.”

I pick up a small piece and hold it out to the cat who is staring at me with death and annihilation in her eyes. Her nose twitches before she leans forward to see what I have and chomps on my fucking finger.

She purrs louder, pleased that she’s bitten the enemy.

“Did you see that?” I growl.

“Cats have bad perception up close.”

“She thinks she’s a Komodo dragon. One bite and she’ll get to watch me die a horrible and painful death,” I say as I try to hold out the pork again.

She growls at it as I look at Gabriel, who is clearly trying to come up with another excuse for his precious feline.

“You moved too fast.”

“I’ll show you what she wants,” I say as I pick up the steak knife and hold it out to her with the handle aimed at her. She sets her paw right on top of it. “Thumbs. She wants thumbs so she can hold this knife and shiv me while I sleep.”

Gabriel laughs like the thought of my murder is hilarious to him. And he’s cute enough that I’m fine with it.

“I bet if you caught that cat murdering someone, you’d go, ‘Oh, it’s okay, I’m sure the victim moved too fast.’”

He laughs harder, and I’m quite pleased with myself and even minorly pleased with the cat. I mean… really, would I have accomplished any of this without her irritating presence?

“Would you like some dessert?” I ask.

“What do you have?”

“What takes the longest to make?”

Gabriel looks amused. “I’m not waiting here for hours. I’m going back to Chris’s in a bit.”

“Not if you’re waiting for tiramisu.”

“Isn’t that the dessert you leave overnight to set?”

“Still doesn’t seem long enough,” I say. “You could even curl up in the cat bed with your cat.”

“That’s in your bed.”

“You’re the one who put it there.”

My phone rings, and seeing that it’s Michaels, I move to toss it in the trash because there is absolutely nothing that could disrupt my dinner date.

“Answer the phone,” Gabriel says. “You know Michaels wouldn’t call unless it was something important.”

“Why do you hurt me like this?” I whine.

“You are not being hurt. Answer the phone.”

I grudgingly answer it and put it on speaker so that when Michaels verbally abuses me, Gabriel can hear and comfort me. “This better be good.”

“Paige, a patrol officer and her trainee went off the road close to your location. We have officers headed there now… but something about it seems wrong. The trainee, Officer Jeffers, only got on long enough to say, ‘Someone’s dragging her.’ And that was the last contact we’ve made with them.”

“You think it’s him, don’t you?” I ask.

“I don’t know what I think. You’re closest to the scene.”

“I have Gabriel with me. We’ll be there in minutes.”