Paint the town blue

Chapter XXXVIII

Charles's POV

Probably, that trip into the forest and a therapeutic emotional outburst was just what I needed, because it really seemed to make me feel better: my head was no longer tormented by thoughts, I seemed to put a block on thinking about how it would be wise to act in my situation and just decided to give myself to Max in in every sense of the word. I even agree to become like Bonnie and Clyde with him, and if he decides to run away somewhere, then I'll run away with him. Yes, it may be unwise, stupid, pointless, but if he's around, then I'm willing to take the risk. Damn, if Sebastian knew about this, he'd definitely give me such a beating that my brain would immediately start working properly.

I was sitting in the living room and reading some old magazine left by the previous residents-this house, which we now use as a shelter, belonged to some old friends of the Ocon family, so it's not surprising that he knows everything here like the back of his hand. Actually, that's why he allowed us to hide here: it's impossible to trace the connection between Esteban and the owners of the house, because few people knew about the friendship of his family and the previous owners – his family is too secretive. And Esteban himself can hardly be called a social bird, because he prefers to keep everything to himself.

I remember once asking Max how the police hadn't figured out his location yet, since he and Esteban were on the phone, and quite often. He said that Ocon had set up a left SIM card and a phone specifically for their calls, and they usually called at a certain period of time, that is, when the medical examiner was at the station.

"But it's so illogical. If someone finds out about this phone, he'll be able to track not only the calls, but also the location, and it will be too strange that he will be registered in Esteban's office."

"He thought of that, too. Estie will just put it on the list of evidence for one of the active cases."

"And how will he explain that the phone is on all the time?"

"It's not on all the time, it turns it on only when we agree to call, otherwise we would have been caught long ago."

I asked him more and more about the details, and Max told me a lot, but also kept silent about a lot. He was just saying that he didn't go into the details that deeply, and that he just trusted Esteban. I was surprised that he believed him so blindly, but he asked: "You believed him when the trial ended, didn't you? Did you trust him?" It goes without saying that I gave a positive answer, because I really trusted Esteban even more than myself, and Max added: "If you trusted him, then I could trust him too."

The next time Esteban came, I asked him out of curiosity how the investigation into my abduction was progressing. He was a little tense, but he said that he had done everything he could with the evidence, and that Alex was working well, but too slow and inexperienced, so he didn't pose a threat to the three of us. But Liam bothers him.

"Liam? What is he doing again?"

"He sticks his nose where he isn't asked, everything is as usual."

"And how does Alex react to this?"

"They don't talk. Alex once quarreled with him and told him not to get involved in his investigation, and apparently this hurt the profiler's ego. They haven't spoken since, but Liam gets involved anyway."

"Did Frederic reprimand him at all?"

"He did, but you know Lawson. He even tried a couple of times to introduce himself as a detective or a psychologist from the station in order to get certain documents from the nuth... from Max's place of detention, but nothing came to him without a warrant."

"It is logical. You know, I feel sorry for him."

I smiled a little, and Esteban and Max looked at me in surprise. I explained that Liam would make an amazing detective, because he is meticulous and clings to cases like a tick. Max grunted in displeasure and said irritably that if this Liam was a detective, they would've been found long ago and separated again. To be honest, I didn't think about it right away, but here he turned out to be right: Liam's brain works perfectly, and if he were a detective, Max and I would've been apart for a long time and each in our own "place of detention". Just thinking about it made me feel uncomfortable, so I try not to think about it, although sometimes it can be difficult to avoid such thoughts.