I’m getting out of here. If it’s the last thing I do.
Chapter 39
Erika
Jason 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 looks at Liam’s bruised face and her eyes widen. “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 it 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 rolls his eyes. “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.