Or maybe if you hadn’t given up so easily…if you had run after him as he left the restaurant.
I hid my face in my hands, then shook my head. I had to stop doing this to myself, blaming myself. It was just so darn hard not to.
I rose to my feet and walked toward the door. “Matt…I’m…”
I didn’t get to open it before, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a car driving up into my street. It wasn’t just any car, and that was why it grabbed my attention. It was a big black limo, not a car often seen in Cocoa Beach on a Saturday afternoon. It drove up and parked in front of my house.
For a second, I wondered if it was Sydney coming home. She was filming a movie in Canada these days, so we hadn’t seen her in four weeks. But she would at least have called first if I knew her right. She wasn’t big on surprises.
As someone stepped out, I realized I was right. It wasn’t Sydney. It was someone else, just as famous, if not even more so.
“Oh, no,” I mumbled.
“Who is that?” Olivia asked, coming up behind me as I was staring at the Rockstar of the Cooking World, striding up toward my front door, wearing black sunglasses and a tight white T-shirt that showed his abs.
“Isn’t that…?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Oh, my God… What is he doing here?” Olivia asked, her voice growing shrill with excitement.
I exhaled. “My best guess is he’s coming to talk to me.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “You? Why would he come and see you? Don’t you think he’s here for Sydney?”
I gave her a look. “I know a few people in this world, too, you know.”
“Okay, sorry. I just didn’t know that you knew…him?”
“Because he’s too cool for someone like your mom?”
“Actually, I think he acts like an idiot on that show of his. But I know a lot of kids from my school who love to watch it and who idolize him. It’s not my thing, though.”
I sighed happily, thinking I had to have done something right with this child, at least. I stroked her cheek gently, wondering how I got to be so lucky when there was a rapid ra-ta-ta-da on my door.
Olivia gave me a taunting look. “You better open that.”
I grimaced, then took in a deep breath and braced myself for what awaited on the other side of the door. Him coming here after what had happened could hardly be a good thing.
Chapter 14
“Liam Berkeley?”
I bit my lip as our eyes met. His had changed drastically. He had also lost weight and seemed to be a shadow of the man I had met in Philadelphia two weeks earlier. His red-rimmed eyes looked down at me. The words seemed like they wouldn’t leave his lips. Seeing him like this made my heart ache. He spoke through gritted teeth, fighting to get it out.
“You…knew. You knew. How?”
I exhaled deeply. “Maybe we should go inside. I’ll make us some coffee. Or maybe something stronger? Wine? Whiskey?”
I stepped aside and let him into the living room, where he sat on the couch. The way he placed his hands in his lap with a resigned gesture and slumped his shoulders made him suddenly seem like an old man.
I rushed to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, then pulled out the bottle of whiskey that I had gotten as a birthday present from a friend whom I suspected had hoped I’d open it and he’d get to drink himself at my party.
I poured coffee in the cups and returned to Liam with glasses and cups and placed it all in front of him.
“I have some cake too if you like?” I asked.
He lifted his hand to stop me. “I don’t want anything. Except for you to sit down and explain this to me. Because ever since…that night, I haven’t been able to understand anything that’s going on. I need you to explain it to me; I need you to make sense of all this because I can’t.”
I nodded. “First of all, I am so sorry for what happened to your son…”
Liam closed his eyes briefly. “Tim.”
“Tim, yes. I am so sorry for what happened to him. I can’t even begin to imagine…”
Liam lifted his hand to stop me again. “I don’t want to hear it. Everyone says the same things, and it makes me want to puke, to be honest. No, you can’t imagine what it is like to lose your son. And why would you want to? Nothing could be worse in this world. Why would you want to know what it feels like?”
“I think people are just trying to be nice,” I said and grabbed a cup of coffee. My hands were shaking, and I poured a little whiskey into my coffee, thinking I needed it. Sitting in front of Liam under these circumstances, I needed something to keep me strong.
“I don’t want people to be nice to me,” he said. “I want them to talk to me like I’m a normal human being and not some fragile woman who might break into pieces any second.”
“Not a fan of women, I take it?” I said and took a deep sip from my cup.
He sighed. “That’s not what I meant. What I meant to say is, I need you to treat me the way you would have before this happened. You came to me. You told me my boy was going to die. You hold the answers, and now I want to hear them because I can’t stand all these questions in my head, all these things I can’t explain. Put me out of my misery and tell me why my son had to die. Please.”
I took another deep sip before I put the cup down while gathering my strength. “All right. I’ll tell you what I know. But first, I need you to tell me exactly what happened on the night Tim was killed.”
Chapter 15
“They say they got an emergency call from someone claiming to be Tim who said that he was inside our house and that he had just shot his mom and dad and that he was going to shoot himself. He told them he was armed and that he would shoot anyone who came to the house if they tried to stop him from killing himself.”
Liam leaned back in my old couch that I bought off Craigslist and took a moment to gather himself.
“I know they’re not lying since I heard the recordings, but the voice on that tape wasn’t Tim’s.”
“But the police had no way of knowing that,” I said. “I’m guessing it looked like the call came from your house, right? When they traced it?”
Liam nodded. “You’re right about that. I don’t know how that is even possible.”
“It’s not that hard today, using spoofing technology,” I said. “It can be an app or computer software.”
“I saw them from my window right before they stormed the house. You’ve probably heard it all on the news or read it in those magazines that are all writing about it. A hashtag with my name in it on Twitter exploded when it happened, or so I’ve heard.”
“They thought he was armed, right?” I asked. “When they came to your house? Because the caller had said he was and then your son made one wrong move and…well, they assumed he was going for his gun?”
Liam rubbed his stubble and nodded. “Yes. That’s exactly what happened. I wasn’t in the room, so I don’t know what he reached for, but he reached for something, and the police claim they were convinced it was a gun. It could have been his phone or maybe nothing at all. They’re still investigating it, though. I hope the officer who shot him will rot in jail.”