“Right,” I say, nodding. “At least I can be grateful forthat.”
“How did he know where you’d be?”
“Tori called me earlier today—supposedly to apologize—and I told her I was going to the fair. They must have followed me there and seen I was on my own. I don’t think this was the first time Liam tracked my whereabouts. It was probably him who followed me in my car that night, trying to intimidate me and get me to leave town. Tonight, though, he had more in mind than intimidation.”
“But wait—if you didn’t figure it all out until you were in the police car tonight, why did he see you as such a threat?”
I lean back in the chair biting my lip. “I’ve been wondering that. When Tori called, I still thought Percy was the killer and I mentioned that I’d become convinced that something had happened at the party that led to Jamie’s death. Once it was clear Percy had an alibi, Liam must have realized I’d be back looking for suspects, asking questions about the party, and circling closer to the truth. The irony is that you’d mentioned the 23andMe test the other day, but I didn’t put two and two together then.”
“But Liam was obviously convinced, based on how determined you’ve been, that you’d get there at some point.”
“I can’t be sure, but I do know I wouldn’t have quit.”
Still holding my hand, Sam flops back on the couch and lets out a ragged sigh. “It’s staggering—all of it.”
“I know. And it’s going to shatter Drew,” I say, and without warning, my eyes well again with tears.
“Do you have any wine left?” Sam asks. “I could pour you a glass.”
“What I could really use is some chamomile tea. Do you want some too?”
“Isn’t that the stuff that tastes like boiled weeds? Sure, why not.”
He follows me into the kitchen, and after filling the kettle, I join him at the table. It’s odd to have him here—considering what happened yesterday, I didn’t expect to ever be sitting across from him again. While we wait for the water to boil, I tell him more details about the night as they occur to me, piecing it all together as I do.
The kettle clicks and though I start to jump up, Sam insists on making the tea himself. He returns to the table with a mug for each of us.
“Does it surprise you?” he asks quietly.
“What part?”
“That Liam was capable of this?”
“Yes, it’s shocking—not only that he murdered his own cousin, but what he did to Jess. It’s like something a psychopath would do.”
“Did you ever see any hints of that with him?”
“Never, but from everything I’ve ever read, homicidal psychopaths can appear normal. I mean, didn’t Ted Bundy have a girlfriend while he was murdering women? And some have wives and kids.”
“It’s just—”
I pull back in my chair. “Wait, what are you saying, Sam? You don’t think Liam killed the two of them?”
“I can accept that he killed Jamie—that’s obviously why he came after you, because he was worried you’d figure it out. But there are some parts that just don’t add up. Jess was this sweet young girl and it’s hard to imagine her having any interest in a guy like Liam. Besides that, I almost never saw him at the club, even before Jess died, so how would they even have met? And the whole idea of Tori covering for him doesn’t sit right with me. She’d have to be some kind of monster to do that.”
Though my first instinct is to protest, I take a deep breath and digest what he’s saying.
“Itdoesseem improbable,” I admit. “But if he killed Jamie, it had to be because of the DNA test and the fact that it would link him to the other murder. What other explanation could there be?”
Sam nods his head lightly, clearly deliberating.
“Not to bore you with economics, but in my line of work, if the data you gather rejects your hypothesis, you need to assume that either the hypothesis is wrong or the data is wrong.”
I scrunch my face, letting his words sink in. “Are you saying my hypothesis—that Liam’s the killer—isn’t entirely supported by the available data? So I need a new hypoth—”
And then at that moment, the hypothesis shifts in my brain, making me gasp. “What if Liam didn’t kill Jess, butTaylordid? He taught sailing at the club, so he would definitely have crossed paths with her. And—and that could be why he moved away four years ago.”
“Yeah,” Sam says, nodding slowly. “That makes a lot more sense. He must have confessed in a panic to his parents at some point, or they figured it out. Though the kid had a reputation as a fuckup, Jamie always said Liam and Tori were fiercely devoted to him. If this is what happened, they obviously decided to keep quiet and just ship him off to Florida, praying he’d never do it again.”
