“I do,” I say before slipping the paper through the bars. “What’s your plan?”
“Whitaker is going to try to push all of this onto Jesse at some point; I just don’t know when. If he can’t get Jesse to cave to his whims, he’s going to destroy him. He’s going to punish him for leaving him. So I need you to keep Jesse busy.”
“Doing?”
“Just focus on what Michaels needs pertaining to the head in the trunk, but keep Jesse with you and keep him distracted.”
Liam winks at me, and it’s annoying how sexy it is and how much it makes me want to kiss him through these vomit- and piss-soaked bars.
“Officer, can you get him out?” I ask.
“Out?” Wilcox asks. “I didn’t put him in there. He scurried in there the moment he heard you were coming.”
I stare at Liam in disbelief.
“I thought I’d look more badass if I told you my plans through the bars,” Liam explains.
I sigh and watch him walk out. “I almost kissed you.”
“I know you did,” he says with a grin. “The bars were working. I wonder if I set up a little sex dungeon with a cell?—”
“I’m leaving your ass. You hear me? You had me fucking worried and you’re over here fantasizing about a sex dungeon.”
Liam reaches out and cups my cheek gently. “No. What I’m fantasizing about is spending every moment of my life with someone as perfect and loving as you.”
“You are such a sweet talker.”
He smiles at me. “Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a compliment!” I say.
Liam walks over and tries to coax Wilcox into letting him borrow his laptop. The man heads off to find him one and Liam takes a seat to wait for it. Meanwhile, I’m standing here questioning what the hell I’m doing. Once Liam finds what he needs, is he planning on running off too? Is he going to hunt this Tate Piers down? But then what? The department now knows we’ve been targeted. If they connect Tate Piers to the case like I have and he suddenly winds up dead, aren’t we just going to be left investigating his death?
I turn with the intention of finding Jesse like Liam asked and damn near run into Michaels.
“Sergeant,” I say, startled. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I’m a bit concerned about all of this,” he tells me while gesturing for me to walk with him. “Do you really think Paige has a handle on this situation?”
“If anyone does, he does,” I say, which we both know is true… even if Michaels would never admit it.
“For now, we’re keeping it quiet. I don’t know who is watching him, but if it’s someone in this department, I will find them. And I will make them regret ever setting their sights on one of my detectives.”
“I didn’t know you liked Liam that much,” I tease.
He hesitates. “You’re right, I’m heading home and enjoying Christmas. See you tomorrow, Hyde.”
I can’t help but laugh as he heads off. I know he’s joking. We have another body to deal with and a long night ahead of us. What a shitty way to end Christmas.
My issue is that I feel like I’m caught between what I should do as a detective and what I should do as a friend to Jesse and a partner to Liam. But what happens when this all comes spiraling back down on us? What happens when someone starts searching and finds something that leads them back to Liam? I feel like I’ve lost control of the situation and it’s making me anxious. Yet Liam still looks as confident as ever.
Liam can’t be lucky all the time, can he?
Before I get too far, I get called in by some techs who want to know if I can provide them with any information about the box. It’s hard when I don’t want to contradict something Liam might have said, but I give them what I can. I can’t tell them that I know the identity of the dead man, so they’re left questioning who the head belongs to and asking me where Jesse might be since they saw him around here somewhere.
I hurry upstairs to look for Jesse, but I can’t find him anywhere. While I’m now aware he’s likely the one who contacted the police about Liam, I know he must be feeling pretty desperate at this point. I wonder if I told him we knew what was going on whether he’d give us anything in return. Was the whole thing set up from the beginning? Did Whitaker ask him to pull us in right away? Or was this Whitaker’s plan B whenhe saw that we’d found the Christmas present he’d arranged for Lacey?
Did Whitaker find killing Liam too risky, so he instead chose to hide him away until he was done ruining Jesse’s life? I mean, what better way to drive Jesse further from us than to drown him in guilt over getting Liam arrested? Then what about Matthew?
