What Have You Done(67)

The file room was nothing more than an oversized closet. Metal storage shelves were screwed against the wall with cardboard boxes filling each one. The boxes appeared to be in chronological order, which was helpful because all Liam had was the date from the hospital visit. He had no idea which officer originally took the report.

He worked quickly, pulling down anything that marked the date of Kerri’s hospital visit. He was locked inside a police station, one floor down from the nearest exit. The BOLO had to have been spreading across the state. Each passing minute made him more vulnerable. All the Lakewood police needed was an email bulletin alerting them of the situation, and it was over. His hands moved as fast as they could.

The third box he checked that matched his month was marked “Snyder.” He flipped through until he found the date he was looking for and slowed down. Officer Snyder had been busy that day, but what was in the file was not unmanageable. Drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace, backup on a parking ticket argument, bar fight, another bar fight. All typical calls during the summer season at the shore. He stopped when he saw the report from Kimball Medical Center and pulled it from the box.

It was a domestic violence offense. According to Kerri’s account, she had been at a local motel with her boyfriend when they’d gotten into an argument. The argument had intensified until other guests began calling the front desk to complain. When the manager had knocked on Kerri’s hotel door, she’d opened it and begun screaming for help, stating the boyfriend had attacked her and punched her in the face and hurt her wrist. She said he was trying to kill her. The manager took Kerri to his office, and they called the police. Officer Snyder had taken the boyfriend into custody, and an ambulance had taken Kerri to the hospital. Liam scanned the document to see the named assailant.

Sean Dwyer.

How many people know about you and Kerri and what happened with Mom?

There was a note stapled to the report, handwritten by someone. He guessed Officer Snyder. Charges dropped. Assailant released (on the job).

It appeared Kerri had dropped the charges as soon as she was discharged from the hospital. Perhaps she’d panicked when she’d said he was trying to kill her, but with the witnesses and the call to 911, the police had to follow through. In the privacy of her own thoughts, when things calmed down, she must have decided to drop everything, and they’d both hidden what had happened that night. But why was she at the shore with him in the first place? She’d never mentioned it. Neither had Sean. How was Sean involved in all of this?

Liam took Kiki’s photograph out of his pocket and studied it. The hooded man could’ve been Sean. The figure was the right height and build, but it also could’ve been a lot of people. Sean was average in height and weight, but seeing this new evidence of the arrest made the picture a little clearer.

He copied the record and made his way back up to the main floor, listening to see if he could hear anyone. The officer behind the desk hardly looked up from what he was reading to wave goodbye. When Liam got outside, he walked without knowing exactly where he was going. He just had to keep moving. Thoughts and emotions overcame him like a tidal wave.

He stopped when he saw the cell phone store across the street. An idea occurred to him. He jogged through the intersection and walked inside. Like the police station, it was empty but for one salesman behind the counter.

“Hey there. What can I do for you?”

Liam dug into his pocket and came away with Kerri’s phone. “Yeah, my wife dropped this in the toilet. Any way you can bring it back to life for me?”

The salesman took the phone, opened the back, examined it, and then nodded. “No problem. You just need a new battery. Everything else seems okay. They make these things pretty watertight these days. I got a battery right here.”

“You mind if I plug it in real quick when you’re done? I have to make a call. It’s important.”

The salesman replaced the battery and handed over a spare charger. “That’ll be seven dollars, ninety-five cents.”

Liam handed him the cash.

“Got an outlet by the door if you want some privacy.”

“Thanks.”

Liam took his change and made his way over to the front door. He plugged one end of the charger into the phone and the other into the outlet. He had no idea if anyone had thought to shut off Kerri’s phone, but he knew he couldn’t use his. He watched as it came to life.

“You got Wi-Fi in here?”

The salesman nodded. “Wouldn’t be much of a cell shop without it.”

“Okay,” Liam whispered to himself. “Let’s see what we can see.”





50

The department was in chaos as they hunted for Liam. Don stepped on the gas and listened to the engine of his new Mustang respond accordingly. His peripheral world passed by in a blur. He gripped the leather steering wheel and concentrated on the road ahead. Kelly Drive opened up to two lanes coming into the city, and with most of the traffic heading in the opposite direction, he tested the car to see how fast it could go. The road bent and twisted, following the path of the Schuylkill River. He wove in and out of each lane, increasing pressure on the accelerator, feeling the tires hug the pavement. His body shifted in the bucket seat. Sometimes driving helped to put things in perspective.

Don had purchased the car at the auction house the summer before. It was a midnight-blue GT with white racing stripes running from hood to trunk. A failed investment banker had it repossessed by the city after he’d gotten laid off, and Don had called in a favor with the dealer, paying what the banker owed in cash before it had a chance to see the auction floor. It was his. All his. Sure, it was a midlife crisis purchase, and of course Joyce teased him about being a cliché, but he didn’t care. He loved it. This was his toy, and when he took it out, he liked to play.