Page 35 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

THIRTY-FIVE

Liam

Present

“Is the shirt too much?” I ask as I walk into the office with a piece of paper taped to my chest that says, “I told you so.”

Gabriel raises an eyebrow. “You aren’t supposed to be so damn cocky about this. People died,” he hisses as he grabs for it, but I swiftly maneuver away from him.

“I mean… I’m aware, but why focus on the negative things when we could focus on how right I am? Honestly, I’m doing a good deed by distracting people from all the death,” I say as I show off my shirt some more.

“So, I’ll be over tonight to grab Lucille’s things.”

“Oh? Satan is finally moving out? Oh, joyous day,” I say before realizing that if Lucille is moving out… “What the fuck do you mean?”

Gabriel glances over at me. “We’ve been dating for like… two days. I think that’s a bit soon to move in together.”

“Is it?” I ask in horror. Have I literally wooed the hell out of this man and coerced him into my safe haven only for him to turn around and betray me like this?

“Yeah… it doesn’t mean I don’t like you and that we can’t stay over at night… but I think that maybe… maybe it’s a bit too soon.”

I think the issue is that he has a house to return to. “Is your house insured?”

Gabriel gapes at me. “You’re not going to burn down my house!”

“I would move everything valuable out of it first!” I assure him.

“How about this… we do date things first—like little dinner dates, you meet my parents, things like that—and then I’ll move in with you or you move in with me. See? We haven’t even discussed which house we’d move into. These things need to happen first!”

“We’re definitely going to work on this,” I decide. “I can’t do dinner with the parents. I’m allergic to meeting humans that I can’t bully.”

“You can meet my parents.”

“I really don’t think I can. Gabriel, the ones who always have the most sway over someone are parents, especially you, the sweet precious child they adore. They’re going to meet me and decide that you’d be better off with someone awful like Chris.”

“Sitting right here,” Chris comments. “It’s almost like I’m in a romcom as an extra, I’m so close.”

“See? Imagine that,” I say, but I’m immediately distracted as Michaels walks in, drops a huge ice cream cake on the table, and walks out without another freaking word.

“Is this for us?” Penny asks.

I’m all smiles as I saunter over to it. “Oh ho ho. It’s my ‘I told you so’ cake, and I will only share with those who are willing to apologize to me for not believing me.”

“You’re going to share with everyone,” Gabriel says.

I stare at him in disbelief. “No… Gabriel… please… don’t do this to me.”

“I kind of like you two together. It’s fun seeing Liam get smacked into place,” Penny decides, which makes me determine she’s getting none of my I Told You So cake… that is, until Gabriel cuts off a piece and hands it to her as I watch in shock. How dare he not only give her a piece but the very first piece?

I’m lucky enough that I get to be in the interview room when Matthew talks to William, who seemed to act a bit more coherent after being told that Tobias had confessed that he wasn’t involved before taking his own life.

“Can you clearly tell us how you ended up with Tobias?” Matthew asks.

William leans back in his chair and closes his eyes, and I can’t help but wonder if we’ve already lost him. “I don’t remember much… I remember getting home from the bar, and I stepped into the house and… there was so much blood. So much blood everywhere. I screamed for my mom, then searched the house as I tried to call the police, but my phone was dead. I ran across the yard to Tobias’s house and… I’m foggy. I don’t know what it was… I don’t know if I saw something that made him do it or if he’d always planned to, but he struck me. I think he struck me. I don’t remember. I just remember him taking care of me. Wiping me down, telling me it’d be okay. Telling me what my father did to my mother. The hit was bad enough I struggled for a bit and had to rely fully on him. And then… even when I was better, I could only rely on him. It was weeks of it… months…

“He told me he was going to protect me. That he knew I was just like my father and that he’d save me from turning out like him. I was stuck in this darkness… there was so much darkness. And he became the only thing to look forward to. I was confused… I knew he was the monster, but at the same time I started to feel like he was my savior because good things only ever happened when he came.” A sob escapes him. “I’m so confused. I don’t fucking know…”

“When did he start trusting you enough to let you out of there?”

“I don’t know… I don’t know why… I believed him… I loved him… I don’t know.”

“He’d ask you to help him?”

“Not often. Just to check on them… or care for them if he couldn’t. I did martial arts growing up. I knew how to fight… so when one night I saw someone trip the camera where he was keeping those men, I knew they were going to find him and hurt him, and I had to protect him. I was already nearby, I’d just left after checking on them since he couldn’t make it, so I pretended to be him… thinking I could catch the intruder for him. Then he’d tell me what a good job I’d done… and I don’t know why. I don’t know why… he’s really dead?”

“Yes. He’s dead.”

“I wanted to save him.”

“From what?” I ask, speaking for the first time.

William looks up at me and seems to think about it for a long moment. “From everything and nothing… and I don’t even know why.”

He sets his head down and doesn’t seem interested in answering any more questions, so I get up and leave the room, where Michaels is waiting outside.

“Chief Hopkins has admitted to removing the photographs,” Michaels informs me.

“Looks like a chief position will be opening up,” I say. “Maybe you should take it so I don’t have to see your face as often.”

“You really think anyone else could put up with you? You know how much shit I’ve looked the other way on because I know you get answers nobody else can?”

“Hmm…”

“The chief destroyed the photographs, but what we can see from the video is more than enough… and we found more on Tobias’s computer.” He takes a deep breath. “Oh, Jeffers wants to see you and apologize for shooting you.”

“Tell her she owes me her life and can start off by bringing me a steak for lunch every day. Two steaks. Gabriel wants one too.”

“I… don’t think she’s going to be coming back, but if she does, I’ll let her know. I’d love to know all the names of the people who were coerced into helping him… I have an idea you know.”

“And if I do?” I ask.

“It’d be a good idea to hand it over.”

“Then I’d have fewer people to do my bidding,” I say before glancing at my watch. “Oh… I have to go. I have dinner plans with Gabriel.”

“Gabriel’s too sweet for you,” Michaels states.

“Right?” I give him a smack on the shoulder and hurry off to my desk to grab everything I need.