Page 80 of Chance of a Lifetime

Her cat Angel padded into the kitchen and Liam bent to scoop up the purring feline who was one hundred percent Team Liam. Great. At least Cora wasn’t the only one who’d gone off the deep end.

She put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Okay, this is how it’s going to go. You need someone in your corner who can help find something to clear your name, and—God only knows why—I’m in your corner.” His face lit up, and she held out her hand. “No, don’t get excited yet. I’m going to try to find information about that mugger. You said he’s about your height and wore a dark hoodie. This could be the convenience store robber we’ve been trying to catch. But, Liam, you should know that I’m at my rope’s end here. I’m actively withholding information by not telling them your tie was the murder weapon, and that goes against everything I believe in. I’m putting my neck on the line for you, and to be honest, I’m not even sure you’re worth it. So, I need something from you in return.”

“Anything, my lo—” He paused. “Anything.”

“Complete honesty. I want the whole truth. I know you’re hiding something else from me.” She laid her fist against her chest. “I can feel it.”

He pushed away from the table and walked to the kitchen sink.

“If you care about our relationship at all,” she pleaded, “you’ll just come clean.”

“There’s nothing else.” His back was rigid as he stared out the window.

The disappointment was crushing. So, this was how he wanted to play it. She tried one last time. “Do you promise me there’s nothing else?”

Liam gripped the edge of the counter and gave a curt nod. It was as good as she was going to get.

“Swear it,” she challenged. “I want you to swear that you’ve lied to me about nothing else.”

Liam slowly turned to face her, his expression shuttered, his voice thick with some dark emotion. “Cora, I know you don’t have a good reason to trust me, but I only hid my relationship with Margaret because that’s what she wanted. She didn’t want to taint her husband’s good name, so I agreed to keep our affair a secret. I truly didn’t believe it would have any relevance to the investigation, and I swear to you, I had absolutely nothing to do with John Brady’s murder.”

It wasn’t until later, when she was driving back to the police station that she realized he’d never promised a thing.