Chapter 20
TWENTY
Liam
Jesse stares at the trunk where I already have a spade shovel and a flat shovel waiting along with some other tools.
It’s set to snow at least three inches tonight and even more tomorrow, Christmas Eve, which means two things: the ground is going to be a fucking nightmare to dig into, and we’ll at least have snow to cover what we’ve done.
“What happens when we somehow connect this to Whitaker and we need to dig up his grave but someone else has already dug it up?” Jesse asks.
“Simple. We blame it on Donna,” I say before I get into the car.
Jesse sighs as he adds his shovel and gets into the back seat. “Mr. Smartass, I’m being serious.”
“We have frigid weather for the next two weeks. The snow won’t have melted. If we can figure it out within the next two weeks, they’ll dig up the grave with the snow on top. They’ll never see what we’ve done.”
“What about the casket we’ll have busted into?” he asks as I start driving.
“We’ll just pretend like we have no idea who did that. The serial killer must have… unless he’s in it. Then maybe he was trying to get out.”
Gabriel is giving me a look, so I simply smile away his worries. Obviously, I need to work on my expression because his eyes narrow more. Is he really not immediately swayed by my smile?
Ah well.
I wonder if I should mention the car trailing after us. I decide it’s best to ignore it for now. We have a good drive ahead of us, so I’ll be curious how far the car will follow us.
“Looks like it’s a little over three hours,” Gabriel comments as he sets the GPS to start.
“It’s lucky he was buried where his mom lives and not where he lived. That’d be another four hours south,” Jesse says. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this. Like… I know I mentioned I thought about doing it, but it’s very illegal… so why are you guys in on this?”
“Because saving the lives of others is more important than doing things by the book,” Gabriel replies, standing his ground and saying it in a way that makes it sound quite reasonable. He’s just so adorable that I wonder if he could get out of a murder with a few words and a smile.
I’d sure let him go free.
Jesse sighs. “I just… if anything happens, please, whatever you do, do not say that you were involved. I will take the blame for all of this.”
“Yeah…” Gabriel responds unconvincingly.
Jesse leans forward and says with conviction, “This is on me.”
“It’s not fair that it is,” Gabriel says.
“I will, without hesitation, let them know that Gabriel and I had nothing to do with your illegal deeds,” I assure him.
Jesse’s face sours when I glance at it in the rearview mirror. “Thanks… I guess. I mean, you could at least pretend like you wouldn’t throw me under the bus with a smile on your face.”
“Nah. I’ll be smiling.”
After about an hour, Gabriel decides we should grab something for dinner, so I pull off and park so they can go in to use the bathroom.
I tell Gabriel that I need to deal with something and send him in to order us some food.
Then I skirt around the other side of the building and hurry over to the car that’s been following us since we left home.
There’s this little devil on my shoulder telling me to simply slit a tire or two and wave as we drive away.
Instead, I slam my hands against the driver’s side window.
I think the little devil on my shoulder had me do that as well.
Matthew screams and jumps, and oh, the joy I receive out of it will delight me for the next hour at least. Leaving him to calm his heart alone, I head toward the restaurant as Matthew quickly gets out and runs after me.
“How the fuck did you know I was following you? I was being discreet,” he complains, grabbing my wrist to pull me around to face him.
“I noticed before we even left our driveway,” I say as I shake him off.
He gapes at me. “Then why the fuck didn’t you tell me an hour ago so I didn’t have to spend an hour of my life trying to tail you and stressing about how far or close I was!”
“You answered your very own question. I liked seeing you sweat. Matthew, what are you doing? You know what, I’m not sure I care what you’re doing. I just want to replay the look on your face when I scared you again and again.”
He sighs and then does the most grotesque thing I could ever fathom him doing: he sets his head on my shoulder. Why do these people think I want to be touched by them? “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m losing my mind, Liam. I really think I am.”
“I would like to judge you.”
“You bought a house for Gabriel for your one-month anniversary! You’re already trying to ask him to marry you! Anyone can judge me but you. I just… I also don’t like not being included. It makes me feel really shitty. Did I do something wrong?”
“I don’t know, did you?”
Matthew sighs again and nods. “Probably. I’m sorry,” he says when he draws back, looking like a dejected puppy. “I’ll head home.”
“Okay,” I reply as I head for the door, pleased I resolved that issue.
But as my hand hovers over the door, my eyes lock onto Gabriel, who is waiting in line and talking to Jesse.
Gabriel would frown deeply and run after Matthew where he’d comfort him and tell him he didn’t do anything wrong.
He’d probably even give him a hug and tell him all of the reasons why he’s a decent human being.
My Gabriel is much too sweet for this fucked-up world.
I scowl and turn back to look at the dejected man who’s throwing his body into the car like even his limbs have given up working.
With every fiber of my being fighting against me, I walk back to the car and stare down at him. He flashes me hopeful eyes, and I realize this is my cue to coddle him and tell him that he did nothing wrong.
“Matthew…”
“Yeah?” There’s too much hope in his voice.
It annoys me.
“Can you dig a hole?”
“I’m very good at digging holes.”
“Go get in my car.”
He hops out and runs off to my car without another word.
See, Gabriel? I can be nice when I force my body to do so.
I go inside and meet up with Gabriel. “Can you order me a second meal?”
“You’re that hungry?” he asks in surprise.
“Yes.”
“Sure,” he says as I head off to the bathroom. By the time I get out, the two of them are waiting for me, and I realize I should say something about Matthew. Then I decide that would take too much energy, and instead, I simply walk out and get in the car.
“Fucking hell,” Jesse cries, jumping when he sees Matthew already in the back seat. “You almost gave me a heart attack. Were you following us?”
“No. I was just… here… and ran into Liam. He, uh… asked if I could dig a hole.”
“Did… he?” Jesse asks as he stares a hole into the back of my head. We won’t even need shovels with his ability to use his eyes.
“We’ll put a blindfold on him and tell him to start digging. He won’t notice anything amiss,” I promise.
“Who in here thinks that’ll work?” Gabriel asks, looking around. I would raise my hand, but it sounds like too much work.
I sigh and grudgingly take control of the situation, seeing as I invited a Matthew-sized menace into it. “Here’s the gist, Matthew. We’re trusting you to keep this to yourself while we figure shit out, got it?”
“I’ll take it to my grave,” Matthew vows.
“I will hold you to that, and how soon you take it to your grave depends on how well you listen.”
Matthew looks concerned, which he should be.
I continue, “When Jesse was younger, he was harassed by this guy that he believed was a serial killer. The police didn’t believe him, so they didn’t even make a report of it.
Jesse moved away out of fear, and about six years ago, the man was marked as deceased.
When this case came up with Nadine, I made a comment that it seemed rather pointed to have the victim displayed like it was an autopsy.
I noted the foolish look on Jesse’s face and pestered him about it until I got answers. ”
“So… you think this dead potential serial killer is still alive and after Jesse? Why wouldn’t you share this with the department?” Matthew asks.
Jesse refuses to meet his eyes. “Because… there are a few things that happened which… weren’t quite…
legal that I did back then. If I’m wrong and he actually is the dead guy in this grave, then I don’t want to draw attention to why I thought he might be a killer.
When I knew him, I was young… while trying to survive, I’d done a few things that weren’t legal and would destroy my ability to work with the police.
I really don’t want to jeopardize my life and job for absolutely no reason unless I need to. ”
“So we’re going to dig up the body and compare it to medical records?” Matthew asks.
“Yes, we were able to get dental and medical records sent to me… in a very legal way,” Jesse says with a grimace.
“Jesse’s Southern accent was atrocious, so I took over,” I joke, just doing my best to make fun of Jesse, when I’d actually never given him the chance to get the records.
“So… in an attempt to not drag you into our illegal… mess, we thought we’d try to keep you out of it,” Gabriel says. “We really didn’t mean to make you feel left out.”
Jesse nods. “We just… it was like a tiny snowball that started rolling down a hill, picking up snow and dragging more people into it the longer it rolled.”
“I’m totally good with illegal stuff. This one time, my brother grew this whole weed farm in our grandma’s backyard. And our uncle was a super-strict cop who decided to surprise us with a visit. You should have seen us trying to sell that weed as fast as we could.”
“You sold weed?” Jesse asks with a smirk.
“I did. My biggest buyers were a bunch of grannies who were in some church club with my grandma. They thought I was cute and bought half of my supply to smoke during their needlepoint club,” Matthew says, sounding quite proud of himself.
“I’m a bad boy too.” In the rearview mirror I see him doing this weird head bob thing, like it’ll cement this fact.