What Have You Done(55)

“This isn’t a celebration. This is camouflage. We have to look like everything’s normal. Like it’s all mundane, okay? We start sulking around and acting nervous, people will start asking questions. And the more questions they ask, the more risk we take of this getting out in the open. We play it cool, let Heckle and Keenan put Kerri’s case to bed, and then we find the truth. You with me?”

Don nodded and held up his beer. “Always. You know that. You don’t even have to ask.”





42

Deep within the peacefulness of a sleep that was heavy and uncompromising, Liam began to hear a faint buzzing sound that was neither loud nor soft but simply there. He opened his eyes and was instantly blinded by light peering down at him from a sun that was rising over the Delaware River. He sat up slowly, suddenly aware of the ache in his head.

The storage containers were piled three high in rows that seemed to stretch on for miles. They were different colors, each one having come in from the Atlantic for distribution throughout the eastern half of the United States. He looked down at himself and could see his clothes were dirty and stained with oil. The ground under him was dusty and dry. He could hear seagulls squawking as they circled the sky offshore. He was at the shipyard.

His phone began to ring, and he recognized the sound from when he was asleep. He leaned against one of the containers as he climbed to his feet.

“Hello?”

“What in God’s name are you doing?”

It was Sean. Liam rubbed his head and looked up at the sky again. “What are you talking about?”

“Where are you?”

“At the shipyard.”

“Why?”

“I… I don’t know.”

As reality began to seep into his clouded mind, Liam looked up and down the rows of containers. He appeared to be alone. What was he doing in the shipyard?

“It was almost over,” Sean barked from the other end of the phone. “Heckle and Keenan were going to put the case away, and that would’ve given us the time we needed to figure out what to do next, but you had to go back for more. What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Liam replied. Little flashes of memory began to burst in his mind’s eye. The bar. Police. His house. Had he been home last night? He couldn’t recall any of it with certainty.

“The hotel owner from the Tiger was drowned in his tub last night. A neighbor called it in after they found his front door open and went to make sure he was okay. His hands were tied behind his back. Sound familiar?”

“Wait. What?”

“Jane found a set of partials on the outside of the tub that didn’t belong to the victim. Where were you last night?”

“After I left your place, I went to a bar in South Philly. I don’t know the name of it. Sean, I had a fight with the hotel owner last night at that bar. It’s on record. The cops came. That’s all I can remember. I just woke up in the shipyard.”

“Yeah, I know about the fight at the bar. You wanna know how I know? Jane tried your cell when they got the call. You never answered. If you’d picked up, they could’ve given you the prints to run, and you could’ve made them go away like you did with Kerri. We could’ve ended this and gotten you the help you needed. But you weren’t around, so she ran them herself. The prints are yours.”

Liam fell to his knees as his vision blurred with tears. “Sean, I just woke up in the shipyard, and I don’t know how I got here.”

“You’re sitting there feeding me lies about being framed. I tried to help you. I don’t understand. Why? I told you to come inside my house and talk with Vanessa. I begged you. We could’ve worked it all out. Why didn’t you call me after the cops came to the bar you were at? I could’ve come and picked you up. I was already in the city at the Hard Rock with Don.”

“I don’t know what’s happening.”

“After your prints hit as a match, the fight at the bar came up as a cross-referenced incident. So did Guzio’s name. Internal Affairs went into your files and found the match report from Kerri’s scene. They checked all your records and found out about what happened with Mom. It all comes back to you. They know everything. They got a warrant for your house and pulled hair samples. They’re running them now. Liam, there’s an APB out on you.”

“I got rid of the match report and all that stuff.”

“They went through the FBI’s back door in the database program. They found it all.”

“Jesus,” Liam whispered. He banged the back of his head against the steel container, trying to loosen the cobwebs so he could think clearly. “I’m going to turn myself in. I have to. Before anyone else gets hurt.”

“No,” Sean replied. “You’re going to run and hide until I figure out what to do. If you turn yourself in now, they’ll nail you with everything they’ve got. You’ll go away for life. You know what happens to cops behind bars. Let me see what I can work out on my end with IA and the DA, and we’ll go from there. Maybe we can make a deal or something.”

“If I run, I’ll look even more guilty.”

“You are guilty! This isn’t about guilt or innocence anymore. This isn’t about you being framed and finding some shadowy culprit pulling the strings from behind a curtain. This isn’t about Don or me or Vanessa or whoever else you had on your list of suspects. We’re beyond all that. This is about avoiding the death penalty. Let me do what I have to do. I need you to stay hidden until I call. Don’t answer your phone unless it’s me. Don’t even answer it for Vanessa. The cops are over at your place.”