Page 6 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

SIX

Liam

Present

“Do I need to repeat the question?” I ask Robinson as my hand tightens slightly on his throat. I have to do everything in my power not to tighten my fingers, not to force the truth out of his lips. “Where the fuck is Gabriel?”

“I don’t know! He was at home when he was taken! Why the fuck do you think I was involved?”

“You were the one who took him, weren’t you?” I ask as I push myself halfway into the front seat. As he begins to reach for his gun, I snatch his hand and shove it down.

The very presence of this man irritates me, but I can’t allow my anger to overrule me.

“W-What are you talking about?” His voice shakes and I don’t find anything he says convincing.

“Please, don’t irritate me more than you already have. After you hurt Gabriel and dragged him out, what did you do with him?”

“I-I didn’t! Why the fuck do you think I did it?”

“You’re not the killer. I can tell that much. The moment I brought the cat into the department, the look on your face told me either you hated cats with a passion or you hated this particular cat. Given the fact that you have a picture on your desk of your lovely family with your daughter holding a cat, I have to assume it’s not a dislike for cats but the fact that the blood on her paws belonged to you.”

I unbutton the sleeve he was fumbling with and draw it up to show the claw marks. “Did you really believe that you could wash the cat’s paws off and no one would notice?”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“I could smell the hydrogen peroxide you tried using to clean her. You were going to cover it up by pouring the water on her feet but that’s when I walked in. How stupid do you think I am? You knew that if there was enough peroxide, it could break down the blood and potentially make the test unreadable, which leads me to believe you also tampered with Penny’s test when she went to call the sergeant.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Did the killer threaten your family?”

He quickly throws the car in park and gets out, like he possibly thinks he can escape from me. “I’m calling this in and you’re going to be arrested.”

I get out of the car and calmly shut the door as I stare at him. “I will do anything to bring Gabriel back and if that means destroying your life, I will do it with a fucking smile on my face. You’re not an overly cold and ruthless man, so I have to assume the killer is holding something over you. I won’t tell the police what you’ve done if you tell me everything. And here’s the thing, it’s not just that you’ll be fired, it’s the fact that the killer will know you told someone. And I bet he knows where your daughter sleeps. I bet he knows just how to get you to do what he asked.”

Robinson starts backing up as he screams.

It’s rather uncalled for, and so is him melting to the ground. It’s all really dramatic and time-consuming when I just want information.

“There were pictures of my wife and child! Pictures of my daughter in her bed .”

“So you decided that Gabriel’s life wasn’t worth that of your wife and child?” I ask, even though I’m well aware I’d pick Gabriel over a roomful of people any day. I have no problem admitting that I’m an asshole.

He’s sobbing now. “I’m a horrible person.”

“Definitely,” I agree, just for the hell of it. Makes me feel a little bit better for some reason. “Where did you receive the photographs?”

“They were on the seat of my car with a note the day Gabriel went missing.”

“You have the note?”

“Yes.”

“You weren’t even smart enough to get rid of the evidence?” I ask.

“I don’t fucking know!”

Robinson hurries back to his car and opens the glove compartment.

“You…” I point as I try to understand this. “You… you hid it in your glove compartment? Literally all I had to do was just pop open that sucker and everything was right there?”

He doesn’t say anything, so I snatch up the photographs and the note.

They’re pretty impressive photos of his wife and daughter. They aren’t shots one could get off the street; they’re pictures taken to make him feel vulnerable. To make him feel like nowhere is safe for his family.

Honestly, it’s no wonder the man caved so quickly to protect the ones he loves.

“I’m a horrible person,” Robinson repeats as he sobs harder.

“We already did all of that,” I say as I scan the note. It’s very concise.

Leave Detective Gabriel Hyde on the Timber Park bench by eleven tonight.

Nothing else. It doesn’t explain how to leave him there or what he’ll do if he doesn’t, but boy do the pictures paint the intentions quite clear. The note is typed up, likely with no fingerprints or anything to go off.

“The park bench… I’m assuming the area where the dead officer was found… well, parts of him, that is.”

“Yes.”

I remember my interest being piqued by that case, but of course I refrained from digging. I knew if I began to dig, I might not be able to keep my promise to my precious Gabriel.

And Gabriel comes first.

But I do remember that the killer was thorough. No evidence left behind. The cuts were clean. There was absolutely nothing that could be identified from the body to lead the detectives to even speculate who the killer might have been.

So I can’t fathom the note is any different. The photographs were printed on a personal printer, and the note likely was too. If we found the printer, we could access its internal memory log to see what had been printed, but by that point we’d likely know who the killer is.

“So how’d you do it?” I ask.

“I went over to have dinner with him… I planned to do it then, but I couldn’t. And that fucking cat got out when I was leaving. I was going to say something to him, but I realized it’d be the perfect opportunity to get him out in the dark. I waited in my car until he was halfway under the porch. When it was clear he couldn’t see me, I dropped down on him and grabbed him in a chokehold. He jerked his head up, smashing it on the beam above, and that’s when I realized he had the cat in his arms. She clawed the shit out of me as I applied pressure until he passed out. I taped his hands and legs before I put him in my trunk and drove him to the park where I left him where I was told.”

“You didn’t hang around?” I ask.

“No. I ran. I ran back home. I packed up my wife and daughter and drove them to my mom’s four hours away. I made it back home just in time to walk through the door at work.”

“I see.”

I flip through the photographs some more as my mind races along.

“Anything else?”

The color in his face drains as I realize that there’s definitely something else.

“Give it.”

Robinson is shaking as he pulls out his phone and fiddles with it for a second before handing it to me. It’s a video, and when I press play, I’m forced to watch my precious Gabriel be dragged across the room. He’s bleeding, blood discoloring his forehead before it rolls down his cheek and drips from his chin.

There’s tape over his mouth but his eyes show anger… and fear.

And I never want Gabriel to have to feel that way.

Killing people who have killed others has always interested me, but nothing has made me so blindingly enraged as seeing Gabriel defenselessly lying there, knowing that I have absolutely no idea whether he’s dead or alive. This video was sent the night Gabriel disappeared, probably to remind Robinson what he willingly did to keep him from talking—to remind him that he sacrificed a man’s life to save his wife and daughter.

“How did you receive this?” I ask.

“Email.”

If the man is as careful as he’s been in the past, I have to assume it’s untraceable, but I’ll still have someone look into it.

“We’re going back to the station,” I say. “Give me the keys.”

He hands them over without hesitation, and I pop the trunk of his car before waving toward it.

“W-What?”

“I’m just giving you the same seat you gave Gabriel. Get in.”

Robinson lets out a laugh like he could possibly be confused, but when I don’t relent, he walks over to the trunk and climbs right on inside.

I’m quite pleased by this. Honestly, I’m not sure if I could have ridden in the car with him beside me without punching him at least once. This is for his own safety.

“W-What are you going to do to me?”

“Do? I’m simply driving back to the department,” I say as I set a hand on his head and stuff it down so I can close the trunk.

He lets out a sad noise that’s cut off by the trunk closing. Really, his fate is significantly better than the other people who I’ve placed in a trunk.

I get into the car and start it before punching the steering wheel. It doesn’t help in any way, but I can’t get the look on Gabriel’s face out of my mind. Fucking hell, I need to save him.

I turn the car around and head back to the department. There has to be something I’m missing. Something I’ve overlooked. The killer is careful. He’s calculating. He wants to make Robinson do his dirty work, not because he needed help but because he wanted to make him feel shitty. He wanted to hurt him.

Make him feel weak and defenseless.

I grit my teeth as I drive, and when I reach the department, I pull into a parking spot. Two more cars have joined the rest, and as I get out of Robinson’s car, I find that Sgt. Michaels is getting out of his.

I pop the trunk and Michaels stops whatever he was going to say to look over as Robinson’s head pops out.

“Why the fuck is he in the trunk?” he asks.

“He likes it in there. Do I judge you for the things you like?” I retort.

Robinson doesn’t know what to do now that he’s been caught climbing out. He’s clearly considering the idea of sinking back down into it, and if he does, I’m probably not going to open it for him again.

“Did you put him in there?” Michaels asks.

“Robinson, did I force you into the trunk?”

“Nope, not at all,” Robinson says as he finally commits to getting out.

“Tell him why you wanted to ride back there,” I order.

Robinson is at a loss for what to say as he opens his mouth then closes it again. “I was wondering what it’d be like… to be locked in the trunk of a car as a victim.”

“See? He loved it,” I say as I head back into the department.

“Paige, you don’t work here any longer.”

“I’m aware, I gave you a phenomenal letter of resignation.”

“You wrote, ‘I quit, you bald-headed asshat’ on a napkin.”

“It was a cloth napkin. I didn’t want it to look too shabby,” I assure him. “Now do you want me to find Gabriel, or do you want to bitch at me in the parking lot?”

“This isn’t legal.”

“Do you want me to find Gabriel?”

“Let’s get you on as a consultant at the very least.”

“Takes too long. Come on, Robinson,” I call as I head inside. I retrieve the cat from the closet, and with Robinson by my side, I ride the elevator back up to the third floor. The moment I’m out, Penny is on me.

“I need a new sample.”

“Don’t worry about the sample,” I tell her.

“If it’s the assailant’s blood, then I’m worried about the sample,” she says.

Robinson doesn’t seem to know what to say to get himself out of this situation and because I’m such a kind soul, I decide to help him out.

“The problem is that it’s not the assailant’s blood. When the detectives were there assessing the scene, Robinson saw the cat under Gabriel’s car. He reached under to grab the cat, and it nailed him. My theory was wrong.”

She stares at me. “Your theories are never wrong.”

“I’m only human,” I say, allowing her to take the cat as I usher Robinson into his office and shut the door. I head over to his desk and wave toward it. “Get the video up on your computer.”

He quickly does so as I slide into the seat and watch it again and again and again. I crank the volume all the way up and start it again. I can hear Gabriel’s intake of breath. The soft chuckle from the assailant, the way Gabriel sounds being dragged across the concrete floor… and then another sound that hits right as the video is cut off.

“What is that sound?” I ask.

Robinson shakes his head. He’s quite useless, but at least he’s not wallowing on the floor anymore. “I… I don’t know. It’s cut off. Maybe a loud vehicle driving by?”

I play it again and again, keeping my eyes closed so no matter what, I don’t have to see the look Gabriel is giving the camera… so I don’t get distracted by those pleading eyes.

“I… I think it’s a train,” I say as I play it again.

While I don’t know the exact time the video was taken, I feel like someone like this wouldn’t have held on to it for a while. He would have wanted instant gratification. He would have likely recorded it, checked to make sure there was nothing telling in it, and sent it Robinson’s way. Then he would’ve chuckled his way to his bed for a blissful night’s sleep.

“What time did you leave him at the park?”

“Late.”

“No, I need an exact time,” I say. “Did you text your wife that you were taking her to your mom’s?”

“Y-Yeah. Okay. I messaged her at ten thirty. I left him about then.”

“Get me the train schedule for that night. Probably sometime between ten forty-five and midnight. Document it on a map for me.”

“You think he’s in this area?”

“This video was sent to you at midnight. Honestly, I don’t think he’s far from here. Likely in the city. We have to assume the killer waited long enough to make sure you were gone and that no one was watching before he collected Gabriel, but not long enough someone could have stumbled on him. By the time he loaded him in his vehicle, drove him to the location… hmm… are these your handcuffs?”

“No, I just put tape on his hands and legs so he couldn’t pull the safety latch in the trunk or run away if he woke up.”

“Did the killer retape them?”

“It doesn’t look like it.”

“The blood is still wet on his forehead. Head wounds bleed a lot, but it’s not overly dry. I wonder if he sent it soon after making sure Gabriel couldn’t get away… which makes me wonder about the other missing detective. I wonder if the killer forced another detective to bring this Rick Hughes guy to him as well. Anyway, get me the train schedule.”

“Okay,” he says as he hurries out the door.

While he does that, I look into the other detective who went missing. While no one realized he’d gone missing until the day that Gabriel had, he could have been missing an entire twenty-four hours longer. He’s a single man who lives alone and had the day off. His phone that was left on the kitchen table showed no sign of use for the twenty-four-hour period before Gabriel was determined to be missing.

Robinson returns at some point during the evening and slides a map over to me. He’s actually done a decent job for a man currently on the low end of my shit list.

Only one train cruised through the city during those hours that night. The problem is that this single train went past hundreds of houses, especially at the distance the noise of a train could be heard.

“Do you… I mean… is there something else you’ve found?” Robinson asks as Penny knocks on the door before coming in with the cat carrier.

“Liam, you weren’t exaggerating. This thing came from hell and is prepared to drag us all down with it,” she says as she shows off her battle wounds.

“Did you get anything off her?”

“Just Robinson’s blood, like you said.” She turns to him. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us you were scratched by the thing?”

“I did! I even had to get into Donna’s car for a napkin, remember?” Robinson says. Quite the little liar he’s become to save his own ass.

“We do have one problem. And it’s a big one,” Penny informs us.

“What’s that?”

“While the cat was maiming us, she somehow got her collar caught in her mouth and we can’t get it off her. Thought maybe you could, Liam. Okay, bye,” she says as she hurries out of the room.

I glower after her as I turn to the cat. “You’re lucky Gabriel loves you,” I grumble as I unzip the carrier and reach into the abyss. She’s all claws and fury as I grab the collar and pull the safety latch free, retrieving it from within. Quickly, I zip it back up as I twirl the collar once before freezing.

“What?” Robinson says.

What do we have here?