Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

ERIKA

J ason texts me that the police are almost done, but they still need Liam's phone, so I herd the kids back into the car and head home. The kids both look startled by the number of police cars around our house. I can't even imagine what the neighbors are thinking. But if they've been reading the local papers, they could probably take an educated guess.

Detective Rivera is talking to Jason when I unlock the door. She regards Liam's bruised face. "What happened?"

"Just a little scuffle at school," I say. I hate that she has to see him like this. Liam has never been in a fistfight before in his life. He's not a violent kid. At least, not in the way that Tyler is.

"Liam," Rivera says, "I'm going to need your phone."

Liam reaches into his pocket and hands it over to her without argument .

"It goes without saying," Rivera says, "you don't leave town without letting us know. We'll be in touch about anything we find."

With those words, she takes off, leaving my family alone again. I survey the living room, which doesn't look like much has been disturbed. I wonder what they've been doing here all this time.

"They were mostly in Liam's room," Jason says, as if reading my thoughts. "And the car. They spent forever going through your car."

"Are we going to see the lawyer?" I ask.

He nods. "Yeah, he fit us in for an hour from now." He looks Liam up and down, at his ripped shirt and bruised face. "You better change clothes."

Liam nods and goes upstairs. Hannah goes up to her room too, leaving Jason and me alone in the living room. Jason glances at the stairs and lowers his voice. "The attorney has a connection in the police department," he murmurs. "He said they're close to an arrest. They're hoping to find something here today that will make it a slam dunk."

I push away a sick feeling in my stomach. I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe there's a good possibility Liam is about to get arrested.

"But they won't," he says.

I wish I believed in Liam's innocence the way Jason does.

Our attorney is named John Landon. He looks tall and capable, with a full head of gray hair, and a suit that looks very expensive. I didn't even ask Jason what this guy is going to be costing us. I don't want to know. But I know what attorneys charge, and if this guy is any good, he's probably charging us a fortune.

Liam sits down between us in front of Landon's mahogany desk. Not surprisingly, his cheekbone looks even worse than it did earlier in the day. He's going to have one hell of a shiner. It will be his first. He's never even needed stitches or had a broken bone before.

"What happened to your eye?" Landon asks him.

"I ran into this kid's fist," Liam says.

Jason shakes his head. "Some of the kids are giving him a hard time at school. They think he's guilty."

"Who does?" Landon asks.

Liam drops his eyes. "Everyone."

Landon nods, unsurprised. "I'm afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better. I just spoke to my contact at the police department, and it sounds like they found something during their search."

All the hairs on my arms stand at attention. "What did they find? "

Landon spreads his arms apart. "I don't know yet. But it's something big, apparently. They said to expect an arrest in the next twenty-four hours."

Liam's face pales. "You mean they're going to take me to jail ?"

I always thought of Liam as a kid who could deal with anything. For the most part, everything seems to always roll off his back. Even when he got expelled from kindergarten all those years ago, he didn't seem all that bothered by it. But at this moment, he looks absolutely terrified. I don't blame him. I would be terrified too in his shoes. I'm terrified for him.

"I'm afraid so," Landon says. "But I'm hoping based on your age and lack of priors, you'll be able to make bail. They're hoping to make a big deal out of some complaint from a guy named Richard Young—a teacher Liam had."

Liam looks like he's going to be sick. Of course, we all remember Richard Young. That was the first time the police ever showed up at our door, and I thought there was a reasonable chance Liam could end up in jail. But nothing ever came of it. What Young had claimed Liam did was horrible beyond words, but the man had no proof.

As for me, I was never sure.

"Do you know what Mr. Young accused him of doing?" Jason says.

"Yes. I do. "

"So you recognize that was completely blown out of proportion." Jason folds his arms across his chest. "That guy was really paranoid. I mean, Liam was only thirteen at the time. Can you imagine? There's no way he could have…"

Landon looks at Liam for several seconds. We made him put on a dress shirt and nice pants before this visit, and aside from the bruise on his face, he looks like his usual handsome, clean-cut self. "No, I agree. It seems unlikely."

I let out a breath.

Landon folds his hands in front of him and focuses his gaze on my son. "Liam, I'm only going to ask you this one time. Do you know what happened to Olivia Mercer?"

Liam glances at me and then at Jason. "No," he says.

Landon lifts an eyebrow. "You should know that anything you tell me stays in this room. Knowing the whole truth will help me to defend you. I don't like surprises."

"I don't know what happened to her," he insists.

I watch my son proclaim his innocence. As the words leave his mouth, I get this strong sense that he's lying. But then again, he's always lying. Nothing he says anymore has any basis in reality. It makes me want to grab his shoulders and shake him.

Landon considers his words. I wonder if he's thinking the same thing I am. "Mr. and Mrs. Cass, may I speak with Liam alone?"

Jason frowned. "Why?"

"Because Liam is my client. The two of you are not. And the attorney-client privilege doesn't apply to you. If he gets charged, they'll almost certainly try him as an adult. So I think we should treat him as an adult."

"Is that all right with you, Liam?" I ask him gently.

I place my hand on his shoulder, even though I know he doesn't like being touched. Not that he ever complains about it when I'm affectionate, but he never came to me for hugs the way Hannah used to. He just didn't care. He never needed physical affection like other children.

"It's all right," Liam says.

Even though it almost kills me, we leave Liam in the room with Landon. Jason is just as unhappy about it as I am. As we sit in the waiting room, he keeps sneaking looks back at the closed office door. "What do you think they're talking about in there?"

"I don't know."

I glance around Landon's small waiting room—at his attractive, blond receptionist and the few people occupying seats across from us. Landon is a criminal attorney, so presumably everyone here has been accused of committing some sort of crime. The woman across from me is about my age, with schoolmarm glasses and hair gathered into a bun. I watch her flick through a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine.

What crime could this woman possibly have committed? She looks like someone I'd run into during a PTA event.

Then again, if there's one thing I've learned in the last sixteen years, it's that looks can be deceiving.

Jason bounces his right foot against the carpeting, casting a look back at the closed door to Landon's office. "I can't believe they're bringing up that garbage with the English teacher," he mutters. "If that's all they've got, they're grasping at straws."

"That was really bad, Jason. Liam is really lucky he didn't get charged."

"Charged? He didn't do anything!"

I don't know what to say. I should probably agree, but I can't bring myself to say the words.

"If he really did that…" He pushes his glasses up his nose. "Erika, our kid isn't a monster."

I can see in my husband's eyes that he means it. I wonder what it is they found in our house that's so significant and if it will be enough to change Jason's mind.