“And then what happened?”
“He lunged at me with the knife. Thank God Liam was there with me—otherwise I’d be dead. Liam ran at him and tackled him, and he dropped the knife. That’s when I picked it up and…”
“Mrs. Cass?”
“I’m sorry. This is so hard…”
“Please take your time.”
“He got away from Liam. He’s bigger than Liam. And then he came at me again and…”
“And…？”
“I still had the knife. So I did the only thing I could do: I stabbed him with it when he came at me.”
“So you were the one who stabbed him?”
“That’s right.”
“It wasn’t Liam?”
“No.”
“So here’s the thing, Mrs. Cass. The blood splatter pattern on Liam’s clothes makes it look like he was the one in front of Jason when he was stabbed. You have almost no blood on your clothes at all.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. Liam was right next to me. And he bent over Jason after I stabbed him, which I guess is how all that blood ended up on him. He tried to resuscitate him, but it didn’t work. Obviously.”
“I see.”
“Am I… am I under arrest?”
“Given the circumstances and Olivia’s corroboration of your story, we are not planning to pursue charges at this time.”
“…”
“But our investigation is not complete. There will be an autopsy.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”
“I have one other question, Mrs. Cass.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you protecting Liam?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Detective, my husband just tried to kill me.”
“But Liam is the one who stabbed him, wasn’t he?”
“Detective, my husband of twenty years is dead. This is been a really hard day. I don’t… I can’t even think straight. I told you what happened. I have nothing else to say.”
Chapter 64
Erika
Detective Rivera doesn’t believe my story.
She thinks Liam is the one who stabbed Jason. To be fair, he is covered in blood. But I couldn’t take a risk of him going to jail for this. If anyone should take the fall for it, it should be me. I’m the idiot who married the guy. I am the fool who believed his lies for twenty years of marriage.
Detective Rivera met us at the emergency room and was plainly surprised to find that Olivia was not only alive, but clinging to Liam as he carries her into the emergency room. He mostly kept his mouth shut as I told the detective my story about how I stabbed Jason in self-defense. He and I are the only ones who know the truth.
With Hannah’s help, I gave her directions to the cabin where they found my husband’s body.
“I can’t believe it,” Rivera kept saying. “I really thought…”
I couldn’t blame her. I thought the same thing.
While Hannah is off getting her wrist X-rayed, I’m left with Liam in Hannah’s room in the ER. It’s the first moment we’ve had alone since we rescued Hannah and Olivia. Well, I should say he rescued them. I helped. A little.
There’s so much I feel like I need to say to him. I thought the worst of him, and he knew it. That’s not the way a mother should behave. I’m ashamed of myself. I’m ashamed of the fact that I had no idea what Jason was up to.
My own husband. I can’t believe it.
“You didn’t have to tell the detective you killed him,” Liam says quietly. “We could have told her the truth.”
“It’s better this way.”
“Why?”
“You know why.” I look down at my hands, which have finally stopped shaking. “I’m not letting them put you in jail again. Not for that.”
“It was self-defense.”
“No, it wasn’t. And you know it.”
Liam stares down at his sneakers, which are caked in a combination of mud and blood. He doesn’t contradict me, and I’m glad, because we both know it would be a lie. I’m sick of the lies.
I squeeze my knees with my fingers. “But I’m sorry I accused you of… well, you know. I was wrong. Obviously.”
He doesn’t look up. “Well, it’s not like you were the only one who thought so. The whole town thought I killed her.”
“Yes, but I’m your mother. I should have believed you.”
He chews on his lip, his eyes still downcast. “Yeah, but… let’s face it—over the years, I gave you plenty of reasons to believe I’d do something like this.”