The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden(67)

Yes, I could do without the family. But it’s not so bad. I take a lot of business trips, when I get to have some fun, then I go back home before the police arrive. I’m much more careful when I’m near home. That girl sharing the hole with Olivia was named Hallie Barton—that’s what her driver’s license said. She ran away from home because her mother was a drunk and her stepfather beat her up, and she was hitchhiking when I picked her up. Don’t these young girls know how dangerous it is to hitchhike? I mean, look what happened to Hallie.

In any case, nobody is looking for Hallie.

I could have been happy this way my whole life. I could’ve continued doing my own activities on the side, and nobody would have been the wiser. But then there was Liam.

He did stupid things to attract attention. What was he thinking, duct-taping that girl in the closet? I know he was only five, but it made me sick when I heard about it. They threw him out of the school. And Erika later ended up taking him to a shrink. As many times as I told her that it wasn’t a big deal, she knew it was.

Liam was a reflection on me. And I knew it was just a matter of time before people figured it out. Before Erika realized Liam didn’t get his personality from her loser, jailbird father.

Years ago, I saw Liam skulking around the house of that English teacher of his. I had gone to parent-teacher night that year, and I could tell the guy hated Liam. Saw right through him the way my parents saw through me. And now Liam was going to do something stupid and obvious, and probably get himself in just enough trouble that Erika would want to take him back to a shrink.

So I gave Liam a hand. Broke the radiator to cause the leak in a carbon monoxide. I shorted out the detector. Liam never would have been clever enough to do it himself. They were supposed to be dead by morning. A neighbor would have noticed Liam sneaking around the house, and he would’ve taken the fall. But the teacher didn’t even die, and the police were too incompetent to arrest my son. So that was a bust.

And now this opportunity came up.

Sometimes I do listen to Hannah when she babbles on. She mentioned this girl that Liam liked, Olivia Mercer. I wonder if he really likes women or if he’s like me. I am attracted to women, but only in the most superficial way—as a sexual release, nothing more. I wonder if Liam is the same. I would have said he was, but on the night he came back from seeing Olivia, he was grinning to himself like any love-struck teenager. He’s like me in many ways, but he’s also different. The way he’s close with Hannah, for example. The way he’s protective of her. I was never close with anyone that way. Even Erika.

Although there was a time when I liked Erika quite a bit. Maybe even loved her. I don’t know.

On the night Liam snuck out to see Olivia, I knew this was my chance. Especially when I saw him pull back into the driveway in Erika’s Toyota. I sent him to bed, then went out myself, following the directions in the GPS. I had been wondering how I would get Olivia to come back downstairs, but it turned out she was already on her porch. Looking up at the stars. Probably fantasizing about my son.

She recognized me when I waved to her and came over to the car. She flashed me a big smile. I should have lost that extra weight years ago, because it makes a big difference with women. Women trust you more if you’re good looking. Of course, Liam takes after his mother and is more attractive than I could ever be. And that makes him more dangerous.

But to be fair, I’m extremely dangerous.

“Liam told us he was heading home,” I explained to Olivia. I pasted that worried expression on my face that I’ve noticed parents get when their children don’t come home when they’re supposed to. “But he isn’t back yet. I’m worried.”

She frowned, like she was worried too. “Oh my God, I hope he’s okay.”

“Do you think you could get in the car and help me look for a few minutes? It’s hard to keep an eye out when I’m driving.”

“Of course!”

Olivia got into the car without a second thought. I had the chloroform ready. She was out like a light. And before any nosy neighbors could realize it was me driving this time and not my son, I took off.

Liam’s relationship with Olivia. The neighbor who saw him with her at two in the morning. The hair and blood I planted in the trunk. And then after Olivia died, I was going to make her body re-surface, because it’s harder to get a conviction when there’s no body. I had been trying to think of what else I could plant on her that would be the final nail in my son’s coffin.

And now here is Hannah, messing everything up.

Well, that’s what she’s trying to do. And yes, she’s messing up the original plan. The original plan was to have a little fun with Olivia and get Liam locked away for good. I didn’t have any other ambitions besides that. But now that Hannah is here, I realize this plan could be even better than I originally thought.

Here’s what the police will discover:

Liam kidnapped Olivia, and when Hannah discovered her brother’s plan, Liam sadly had to kill both of them. And then Erika was so distressed, she took an overdose off the Xanax she keeps in her nightstand. Except they’re not Xanax, but something much stronger than Xanax that I swapped for the Xanax several months ago.

Or maybe Liam kills Erika as well. I haven’t decided that part yet.

And I, of course, will play the part of the grieving widower. Who no longer has to deal with a nagging wife, a whiny daughter, and a sociopath son. It will be even easier than when I was fourteen and played the grieving son.