Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Liam
“Why is that in our house?” I ask as I step into the living room the next morning.
We spent more than half the night at the hospital and got home with just a few hours to sleep before it was light outside. I spent the entire time researching everything I could about Whitaker that I hadn’t already looked into previously.
The problem is… there’s so little about him from before his supposed death. He had no social media, he worked a normal job, and there was absolutely nothing else about him.
The man had as clean of a record as they come.
“That… in our house…” Gabriel looks around, like he doesn’t see the thing that I’m speaking about. Then his eyes settle on the issue and he cocks his head. “Jesse? Are you talking about Jesse?”
“Of course he’s talking about me,” Jesse says as he’s busy staring at his computer, likely doing the same thing I spent my night doing.
“Have either of you found anything out, at least?” Gabriel asks.
“I found out that I am only capable of being around humans for a set period of time, besides you, of course,” I announce, hoping it makes the newcomer uncomfortable enough that he leaves.
“Oh wow, Liam, none of us would have ever guessed that,” Gabriel says. My sweet boyfriend is really so sarcastic. He couldn’t be any more perfect.
I smile at him while his cat glowers at me from where she sits in his hands whispering death threats at me.
“Did you bring a shovel at the very least?” I ask Jesse.
Jesse glances away from the computer to raise a judgmental eyebrow at me. “It might seem weird, but I don’t usually bring shovels to people’s houses. Do you bring shovels instead of a bottle of wine when you’re invited to dinner nights?”
“I do so I always have a way to dispose of the humans I’m tired of interacting with.”
“It’s a shocker Michaels is still standing, then,” Jesse says.
“You see, Jesse, you have to be smart about who you dispose of. I wouldn’t want to get rid of Michaels because his replacement might be harder to blackmail.”
“Oh, you’re right, I definitely didn’t consider that… like a normal person wouldn’t.”
“Who were you on the phone with earlier?” Gabriel asks me curiously.
I just scowl and assume he’ll know who. Weirdly enough, he doesn’t seem to.
“It fascinates me how he acts like there’s only one specific person he hates so you should know who he’s talking about,” Jesse says.
“It was about the court date dealing with Kenny,” I grumble.
Kenny is the man who was involved in the robbery that resulted in the deaths of my parents.
While time is working against us since it happened over twenty years ago, he has still agreed to confess and the court will then decide how it ends.
Honestly, at this point, I just don’t even give a shit what happens to him as long as I don’t ever have to see his face again. I doubt he’d experience many repercussions over something that happened so long ago.
“I don’t see the sense in even going. Nothing is going to come of it. It’s been too many years at this point. It’s just going to be him giving his useless statement and then what?”
“I think it’s still important,” Gabriel says. “Even if nothing comes of it, it’s important for him to face what he’s done with consequences. For him to admit to his wrongs.”
“Do you think I could get a free pass to beat him up? Like what if I asked the judge if I could punch him in exchange for him not even getting a slap on the wrist?”
“Yes, that’s generally what judges grant,” Jesse says.
“Who invited you in this house… better yet, why don’t you go to court in my place? I would like to use my blackmail card.”
“No one will ever suspect me as I try to play off being an annoyingly tall white man. Yeah, no one will notice a thing,” Jesse says with significant sarcasm. I swear this household is just packed full of sarcastic men.
“Let’s go to work. And tonight, you best arrive with a shovel in hand.”
“What’s the—” Jesse hesitates before he gives me a look. “Are we digging up Whitaker’s grave?”
“We sure are. Spend the day seeing if you can get medical or dental records for him. I want to know which part of his body we need to examine,” I say.
“I’m supposed to be dealing with Nadine.”
“Let Merna do that.”
“Her name is still not Merna.”
“You’re right, she’ll probably fall asleep on the body and contaminate the evidence. I’ll do it,” I decide.
“Hon, you’re a lot of things… a medical examiner is not one of them,” Gabriel says.
I would like to assure him that I would be the best fucking medical examiner, but Gabriel’s sweet look makes me decide I’ll just agree with him. “Fine, I’ll find the records. You two just fiddle around.”
“Got it,” Jesse says. “Off to work to fiddle instead of do my job.”
The three of us head to work, and boy does Matthew the Jealous take note when we all roll up together.
“Do not make this worse,” Gabriel warns me before I can even say anything. It’s like this man can read my mind and… I kind of like it.
“I would never make anything worse for Matthew,” I say as I sling an arm over Jesse’s shoulder and pull him close so I can brush a snowflake off his shoulder.
Gabriel jerks me off him and gives me a look that tells me the joke is over. “I think Matthew is really feeling upset,” he hisses.
Jesse glances over at Matthew and looks guilty. “I’m just… I feel like Whitaker would prey on people I’m close to. It’s for his own good.”
“Hear that, Gabriel? Jesse is staying away from Matthew to protect Matthew’s life by hanging close to us,” I say. “Makes me feel warm fuzzies inside.”
Jesse freezes as he realizes what I’m implying. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
I pat Gabriel’s shoulder. “He definitely meant it like that.”
Jesse looks distraught now. “No! I really don’t want either of you to get hurt. Shit, you’re right. I’m just…” And then he scurries off like fleeing from us will miraculously save our lives.
“Don’t forget your shovel,” I yell after him.
“What’s the shovel for?” Matthew asks as he walks up.
“Jesse has this annoying neighbor he asked us to… ‘plant bushes for.’” I even throw in some air quotes to get my point across.
“You’re going to bury a neighbor together?” he asks, like he’s disappointed he wasn’t invited to our fake murder.
“So just… asking for a friend… how tall are you?”
His expression shifts. “You’re burying me?”
“The less sleep I get and the more you talk to me, the higher the possibility,” I warn him.
Gabriel gives me a look. “Liam, we’ve talked about this. You cannot bury your friends.”
“You should never have to talk about that.” Matthew trots after us. “Is something going on with Jesse?”
I stop and turn around to face him. “Matthew.”
“Yes?”
I grab him by his shoulders. “I want you to listen to me.”
He looks extremely serious, like he thinks I have all the answers. “I am.”
“Why do you think I care about anyone enough, besides Gabriel, to know if something is going on with them?” I ask.
His expression has turned thoughtful. “That’s annoyingly true.”
“I’m thrilled you finally understand. Now have you figured out anything?”
“I’ve been here as long as you have.”
“Disgustingly inadequate.”
As I step into the elevator with Matthew and Gabriel, Matthew sets a hand on my chest, and I’m confused by this until he pushes me out of the elevator just before the door closes.
I stand, gobsmacked by this display.
Did he seriously just push me out of the elevator? What the hell has happened to my standing in this place?
A snicker coming from behind me makes me turn around to glower at whoever is making the noise. Chris quickly looks away, and I feel significantly better as I decide that he’s moved up my shitlist to rest right beside Donna.
“It’ll be your turn soon,” I threaten.
“For what?” Chris asks, sounding a bit worried.
My silence seems to concern him more than anything I could have said.
The elevator opens and I ride it up with a very uncertain Chris. When I reach the third floor, I walk past Michaels who is yammering on about something, and I find Matthew at his desk.
“I have pepper spray,” he says.
“Tears just invigorate me,” I warn.
Matthew looks at Gabriel for help. When he finds Gabriel too preoccupied to save him, he asks, “It’s so close to Christmas; aren’t you in the mood for forgiving?”
“I never forget and I never forgive. I will not pay you back now. I want you to never know when it’s coming.” I start to turn from him before hesitating. “Are you afraid of just arachnids or all insects?”
Matthew smiles at me. “I’m just so happy to be your friend.”
“Kindness has the opposite effect on me,” I inform him as I give him a smirk and slip into my office. I pull up Minesweeper and set to work sweeping some mines in an attempt to lessen my desire to do something to Matthew now.
Gabriel comes in and slides into his seat across from me, and Robinson rushes in a moment later with two coffees which he bestows upon us. “Thank you, Robinson,” Gabriel says, although I have no idea why he’d show the man who played a part in his kidnapping any ounce of kindness.
Robinson tells us, “I had them send me the security footage to watch again. The man who Richard wheels out is completely covered. We got nothing off him. Nothing about him. It’s hard to even gather how tall he is because it looks like he’s scrunched down in the wheelchair.”
“This is a man who has been active. This isn’t his first kill, and if he has been active as long as I anticipate, he knows what he’s doing. Especially to willingly go into such a highly populated area to do what he did,” I say.
Gabriel glances over at me. “Do you want to go talk to Richard again?”
“No, he had nothing of worth to say. He’s not going to crack with the questions they’ve been asking. I’ve been told that Nadine’s ‘brother’ is coming in of his own free will here in half an hour. Let’s see if he shows.”
“What are you working on?” Gabriel asks as he swings his chair around and sees me finish off the final mine in my game. I waggle my eyebrows at him, positive that he’s just witnessed pure seduction.
Gabriel rolls his eyes. “I’m heading down to talk to Jesse. You coming?”
“I would absolutely love to, but I have more mines to sweep.”
He just shakes his head and heads out the door while I start a new game and try my best to think this through.
There has to be something. Some tell. Some mistake.
No one can be perfect. His assistant sure wasn’t.
He was rash and fucked up by trying to kill me.
It was such a rookie mistake. Why would such a careful man use such a rookie pawn?
Every person he lets into his life is one more person who could cause him to lose this game he’s playing.
Is it simply a control thing? Is the kill just a fun side quest but the real fun is manipulating those he uses to capture them?
Or possibly the control of locking the victims up and watching them beg?
I click the wrong square and watch as I lose the game.
I stare at it for a long moment before closing the game and heading out the door. I hurry down the stairs and into the medical examiner’s office where Jesse is talking to Gabriel. The body is out but covered, so I uncover it and stare down at the woman, wondering what stories she could tell me.
“So are you real Jared or fake Jared?” I ask as I slide into a chair after Gabriel finishes up the preliminaries for the interview with Nadine’s fake brother.
“My name really is Jared. I know Nadine’s real brother’s name is Jared too,” he responds. “She always said I was the better Jared.”
“You introduced yourself as Nadine’s brother,” Gabriel points out.
“Nadine and I grew up together,” he says, and I know from looking into him that this is indeed true.
They lived on the same street as each other growing up.
“She…” He rubs his face. “She’s like a sister to me.
She really is. I can’t believe… fuck.” He’s having a hard time looking up, and I can tell he’s close to tears.
His reactions seem genuine. “She didn’t get along with her mother, so she moved in with my family and started calling me her brother back in high school.
There’s nothing more to it. I should never have said I was her brother but…
I never imagined something like this would happen. ”
“I understand,” Gabriel says softly. “Can you tell us if you saw anyone hanging around her room that you didn’t know? Did anyone try to visit her?”
“No. It was just me the whole time. No one else ever came in besides nurses and doctors.”
Gabriel slides a picture of Richard across to him. “Do you recognize this man?”
“I don’t… I don’t think so. I’m so sorry I can’t help.”
“It’s not your fault,” Gabriel says. He asks him some more questions, but I’m already bored of the man. I don’t think he has anything more to add to it.
Jared sighs. “If you need me, I won’t be far.
I haven’t decided if I’m staying until they release her body for the funeral or what.
No one else is going to plan one for her.
I was all she had. Her family can burn in hell for all I care.
Nadine wasn’t the best teenager. She got in a lot of trouble, but instead of helping her, Nadine’s mother just wanted to write her out of the family and start over with a new kid.
Easier to replace her than fix her, kind of thing,” he says as his eyes lock onto Gabriel’s.
“Please… find who did this. She didn’t deserve this. ”
After we finish up and Jared leaves, I lean back in my chair and close my eyes.
“I’m afraid he was telling the truth,” Gabriel says. “What do you think?”
“I agree. Why would he fly here after she was hurt to join in on some massacre of a woman he kept in constant contact with? They messaged each other nearly every day.”
Gabriel grows quiet, so I open my eyes and look over at him as he stares at the chair where Jared had sat.
“You’re really upset over this one,” I observe.
“It’s kind of foolish, isn’t it? I need to separate my emotions from the job… but I just… when I realized she was still alive, I was so happy we’d saved someone. And now… it’s led to this.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, not quite understanding but also aware that when someone hurts, comforting words should be spoken. I don’t want my Gabriel to ever hurt.