What Have You Done(42)

Sean grabbed for the bottle and took another sip. “The baby was yours. No more secrets, right? That’s what we agreed to? Kerri was scared and had no one else to turn to, so she called me and asked for help. I had to play dumb when they caught it in the autopsy. Had to pretend I was hearing it for the first time, but there’s no sense in pretending anymore. We’re way too far down the rabbit hole. The baby was yours.”

Although he’d already figured as much, the confirmation of this news shook Liam. He put his head in his hands, contemplating what he’d just been told. “Why didn’t you tell me she was pregnant with my baby?”

“She asked me not to. She knew you were fixing things with Vanessa and thought if she told you, it would screw everything up. She had your best interests in mind. We talked a few times about what she was going to do, and then the next thing I know, you call me and tell me she’s dead.”

“What was she going to do?”

Sean stood up. “She was going to keep it. She was going to have your baby. But you’d never know. Not as long as you were still with Vanessa. She wouldn’t have allowed it.” He wiped the top of the bottle with his shirt and held it out. “You want some? Makes the news go down better.”

Liam reached over and took a sip. The alcohol stung his throat. He coughed, handing it back. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“I’m good at keeping secrets. As you can plainly see.”

“But that was my child.”

“So you wouldn’t have killed her if you knew she was pregnant?”

Liam jumped off the chair and grabbed his brother by the collar of his shirt. “I didn’t kill her!”

Sean pushed Liam away. “Yeah, you keep saying that. But we’re running out of suspects.”

“What about you?” Liam cried. “You knew everything I knew about Mom and Kerri. You could’ve done this.”

“Yeah. I’m risking my career going behind Heckle and Keenan and trying to kill this investigation while protecting the primary suspect, but I’m actually guilty. That makes sense. Come on, Liam. You need to figure out what really happened that night. I’ll help you, and I swear, I’ll bury this if it was you, but you need to come to terms with what might have happened before anyone else gets hurt. I can get you help if you need it.”

“I don’t need help because I didn’t do anything.”

“Then find out who did!”

Liam was angry and scared. Sean was making sense, and that frightened him the most. He had come to tell his brother about Kiki and the pictures, but decided not to. Not like this when his only ally was accusing him of murder. Instead, he turned to leave. “I loved her more than you know,” he said over his shoulder. “There’s no way I could’ve killed her.”

“I don’t think you killed her,” Sean replied. “But you gotta come to terms with this in case you did. If it was you, we can get you some help, but I can’t be there every time. Not when it comes to things like this.”

Liam threw the front door open and left the house, climbing down the stairs and running toward his car, which was parked in front. When he got in, he began to scream, his vocal cords tearing against his throat, a mixture of pain and fear and anger combined in the inhuman sound that filled the small space. He knew now that there was no one he could ever turn to with this. No one would be willing to help him find the truth. Too much evidence was stacked against him. It was clear now.

He truly was alone.





30

Sean waited until his brother drove away and then walked into the kitchen. He rifled through his cabinets, pulling out a glass and carrying both it and the bottle of Jack back into the living room. He placed them on the coffee table, then made his way into the foyer and stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“You can come out now,” he said. “He’s gone.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. He’s gone.”





31

It was early evening when Liam returned home. He made his way up to the front door as Vanessa was pulling into the driveway. Headlights illuminated the house, and he turned, surprised to see her.

“Hey,” he called as she climbed out of the car. “I hope I didn’t wake you this morning. I had to get in the lab a little earlier than usual.”

“I heard you, but I had an early shift anyway.” Vanessa shut the car door. “Thought you might’ve called at some point.”

“I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure if we were on speaking terms. I know I screwed up last night. I’m sorry.”

Vanessa walked up the path toward him. “You think one day we could clean out the garage so we can actually park our cars in there?”

Liam smiled. “I’ll call in the dumpster tomorrow.” She’d ignored his apology, which meant the argument was most likely over. That was how it usually went.

“They asked me to work a double again,” Vanessa said as she pushed past her husband and unlocked the front door. “But I said no. I was hoping we could just stop fighting and curl up in bed and watch some television or something.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Liam and Vanessa walked inside. The house was quiet. They kicked off their shoes and placed them in the corner, next to the closet. Vanessa dropped her pocketbook on the small bench under the staircase, unzipped it, and pulled a stack of envelopes from inside.