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 prior to 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 sensation 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 found. “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 furrows his brow. “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.
Chapter 40
Transcript of police interview with Richard Young:
“You say you were Liam Cass’s English teacher?”
“That’s right.”
“And when was that?”
“It was about three years ago. He was in eighth grade.”
“And what was your opinion of him?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“I hated him. I feel terrible saying that because what kind of teacher hates one of his students? But there was something about Liam that I instantly disliked. And I have to say, I was alone in my opinion. Universally, all the teachers adored him. Middle school kids aren’t easy, but Liam seemed like a good kid—the kind teachers hope for in our classes. He was obviously very bright, well-behaved in class, and always handed in assignments on time.”