The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden(40)

“You can go to work,” I tried to tell him. “Liam will be okay.”

“I think it’s better I stay home,” he insisted.

I didn’t want to admit how grateful I was that he stayed. Nothing else happened after the police stopped by last night, but the whole night I kept jerking awake after having nightmares. I couldn’t remember any of them when I woke up in the morning, but my body was covered in sweat.

I try to get my own work done, but it’s difficult. I’m supposed to be writing an article about the best local playgrounds, but my head isn’t in the game. Besides, Hannah and Liam have been too old to go to playground for years. I’d like to be nostalgic about the simpler times, but I can’t. Ever since Liam was four years old, he was a ticking time bomb.

I hope they find Olivia. That’s all I can think about. I hope she ran away. I hope they find her in some motel, tearful and wanting to come home.

What little concentration I have is broken by the doorbell ringing. When I see Jason coming down the stairs, I realize that the doorbell has been ringing for several minutes. I don’t know what’s wrong with me if I don’t notice a doorbell ringing ten feet away from me.

Jason reaches the door before me. He squints through the peephole, and his face turns pale. “Shit. It’s the police.”

Jason squares his shoulders and cracks opens the door. It’s Rivera and Murphy again. But there are more people behind them. This doesn’t seem like a good sign. When the police come with a squad of people behind them, you know you’re in trouble.

“Hello, Mr. Cass.” Rivera doesn’t bother smiling this time. “We have a warrant to search your home and your wife’s Toyota.”

I step forward. “Liam is at school.”

“We don’t need Liam right now,” she says. “But we do have a warrant for his phone.”

God only knows what’s on his phone. I don’t want to think about it. “Can you come by later for the phone?”

Jason is busy inspecting the warrant, but I’m not sure why he’s bothering. These are police officers. If they need to inspect our house, we’re not going to stop them. I only hope Liam was smart enough not to leave something behind.

My own phone starts ringing within my pocket. I pull it out and see the name of the high school. My stomach sinks. “Detective, can I take this call? It’s the school.”

She nods curtly and I swipe to answer. “Hello?”

“Mrs. Cass? It’s Principal McMillan. I’m afraid we have a situation.”

She has a situation? She should see what’s going on in my house. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to come here as soon as possible. Liam and another student were involved in a fistfight in the hallway. They’re both in my office.”

Oh God.

“Is Liam okay?” I say.

“He’s fine.” Her voice softens slightly. “But we don’t tolerate fighting on school property. I’m going to need you to come here right away.”

I don’t know how I’m going to manage that, but I can’t say no to Mrs. McMillan. “I’ll be right there.”

Jason has lowered the search warrant and is staring at me. So are the two detectives. I wish I didn’t have to have this conversation in front of the detectives. The timing couldn’t be worse.

“Liam got into a fight at school,” I say, trying to ignore the way Rivera is looking at me. “I need to go there to pick him up.”

“Jesus.” Jason frowns. “Okay. I… I’ll stay here and you go get Liam.”

I look behind the detectives at the team of people who are going to rip apart my home. I wish I could stay. I can’t deal with Liam fighting at school on top of everything. I’ve gotten a lot of calls about Liam over the years, but nothing like this. He’s never done anything to get his hands dirty before.

I grab my purse, but Detective Rivera stops me. “You can’t take the Toyota. We need to search it.”

“But I’ll just… I’ll be right back…”

“Take my Prius, Erika.” Jason grabs his keys off the hook on the wall where he keeps them and tosses them to me. “Send me a text after you talk to the principal, okay?”

I nod. It’s probably better anyway. I have a feeling this is not a conversation that will be quick.





Chapter 35


Erika



When I get inside the school, my daughter is waiting for me by the entrance. I’m sure she’s supposed to be in class, so I assume she’s skipping. But that’s the least of my problems right now. Hannah has red-rimmed eyes and her auburn hair is in disarray—even more than usual. She looks like somebody just died.

“Mom!” she cries. And she throws her arms around me, which is something she hasn’t done in public in a very long time. Although to be fair, I don’t think there’s anyone else in the hallway. “I saw the whole thing. It wasn’t Liam’s fault.”

I pull away from her. It’s hard for me to believe that anything that’s happening right now isn’t Liam’s fault. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” She swipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Tyler jumped him out of nowhere. What was Liam supposed to do? Just stand there while Tyler beat him up?”