Page 185 of Between Secrets and Obsession

“Hi, Liam Evans?” He’s older, but it looks like he could take any of us in a fight.

“Yeah,” I say. “That’s me.”

“I’m Detective Knight.” He turns his head and looks around. “Do you have a moment to chat in private about what happened?”

I glance at Mason and Hunter. Mason gives me a head nod, and by his reaction, I know I can trust this guy. The two of us walk into a long hallway with no one else around us other than the random person going from the vending machines back to the waiting room. The detective pulls a small notepad from his pocket and begins with his questions.

“So the car is registered to Victoria O’Leary. Did you not change it over into your name?”

“That’s my ex-wife,” I explain. “She was coming to pick it up soon.” I blow out a breath. “I actually have to call her and tell her about this because she’s not aware.”

“Oh, alright, makes sense. Can you tell me what you were doing before the explosion?”

I go through the afternoon, about how I went to work and explained what I do for a living. Then I tell him we had a few beers and the girls came back from being together, and how I remembered I had bought something for Maddie. I recall every step from kissing her, to going inside, to unlocking the vehicle.

“So it blew up after you hit unlock?” he asks.

I nod. “Within seconds.”

He studies me carefully. “Do you know anyone who would have some sort of vendetta against you? Someone who’d want to hurt or kill you?”

“Considering my profession, I’d say there are a lot of people who don’t really care for me.”

“Enough to want you dead?” he asks.

My mouth goes dry as I go through the list of people I’ve brought to jail this year. “Most of them have issues. They all seemed pretty upset, but I couldn’t name any one who would go to this extreme.”

“No one?” he presses.

I think about Victoria again, but the last thing I want to do is name-drop her and bring more attention to the mob than necessary. It’d just open more drama, and she’d somehow spin it to make me look insane, but itcouldbe her.

“No one,” I say.

“Well, here’s my card. If you think of anything or anyone, please give me a call. We'll be doing a full investigation due to the nature of the explosion. Stay safe, Liam. This is a dangerous situation until we figure out who did this.”

“Thanks, Detective.” We exchange a firm handshake, and before I go back to the waiting area, I pull out my phone, look around, then call Victoria.

Having to reach out to her fucking sucks, but I need to confront her, though I’m not sure she’d admit it anyway. Surprisingly, she answers the phone on the third ring.

“What do you want?” she asks in her typical bored tone.

Not the nicest way to answer, but not completely unexpected either.

I release a frustrated sigh and keep my voice low. “What the fuck are you trying to do?”

“Excuse me?”

“Listen. I know you tried to fucking kill me, Victoria. You planted something in the goddamn Mercedes so it would blow the hell up when I unlocked it. That’s really messed up, even foryou.”

“What’re you talking about? I didn’t try to kill you because honestly, I don’t give two shits about you anymore. And what do you mean, blow up? I scheduled to have it picked up next week.”

I pause for a moment, trying to comprehend what she said. “What?”

Between gritted teeth, she speaks. “I already found a buyer. Now I’m fucking livid. Is this a fucking joke?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “No! But it’s destroyed. A piece flew and struck Maddie in the head,” I tell her, still fuming. “You sure this isn’t just another one of your childish games?”

“How dare you! Why would I destroy something I spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on? Are you an idiot?” Her voice raises an octave until she’s nearly screaming. The sound is like nails on a chalkboard. “Wait, never mind. That was a stupid question.”