Obedience Lessons

Chapter Forty-eight

Dylan's POV

His eyes warned me clearly that I was to deny it. But I wasn't sure if I should. Not if I had anything to do with Liam's death. The monster, whoever it was that killed Liam deserved to be put away forever. Even if that person was me.
I remembered it. I'd taken him down from hanging there in the middle of the room and realised the blood was everywhere. Just everywhere and I panicked. I'd never seen so much and the smell... Deep down I knew he would never get up again when I laid him out onto the floor, but it didn't stop me from pulling the sheets from his bed to cover him.

He had looked so peaceful, with a scarlet bruise necklace and face free of emotions. He was finally free.

I didn't know if he had freed himself, or if it was my father or even me that had done that to him but he had looked so fragile that I had to do something. I'd covered him up, pressed a kiss to the stiff, unresponsive skin on his forehead and started washing my hands. When that stopped being enough I washed the sink because now that was stained. Then the floors and the noose I tossed into the trash.

"I'm not asking you if you murdered my boy, Dylan. I know you wouldn't murder him, but did you help him at all? Did you give him the knife?" My dad sounded so broken that I felt horrible for every painful thing in the world. I thought of all the bad things I had done and remembered even how I had hurt Spotty. An innocent dog who had done nothing to me.

"I don't know..." I shook my head through the rage and the pain and then sudden black wall of grief that slammed over me. "I don't know, I don't know if I killed him. Yes, maybe! I can't, I can't -" I held my head to keep my thoughts from spilling out into the air between us.

My father's lips were moving but I couldn't hear him, and then he was moving, shaking me by my shoulders and talking words I couldn't hear until finally I did. "That's enough. That's enough." He was saying. "It's over now. It's done. We buried him and mourned him together and that's nobody's fault. We don't have anybody to blame for him being gone, no matter how good it feels to blame someone."

I was nodding, taking comfort for the first time from this new man in front of me. He was grieving too. It was so insensitive of me to accuse him of killing Liam. He was right. We shouldn't blame anyone.

"This is a private moment officers. My son and I clearly need some time alone," Dad directed over my head and did something that turned off the transmission. He rose me gently to my feet and slowly led me out of the room while I bit back tears. This wasn't making any sense but I couldn't remember why, or what was even happening right now? Why was he holding me? What was going on? I needed to remember, I couldn't remember anything after the cleaning, then... screaming when mom came in. Mom. She cried more than anyone else did when she saw it. I couldn't let her see Liam like that, not with bruises around his neck, not with... not with his hands sliced by blades.

The cuts. I remembered the cuts now.

Liam had promised me he'd never do anything stupid after he found out he had HIV. He'd promised he wouldn't end his own life and after than he removed sharp objects from his room. That entire holiday we had been hunting for knives because he had had his housekeeper hide them.

My parents didn't know he used to cut. I thought only I knew. How did dad know the knives were hidden where he couldn't find them? How did he know if Liam didn't get it himself? And how were those cuts to his arms so wrong?

Confusion brought on the tears that stung the bruises on my face. And I remembered, all too late for the cameras who had put them there.

Andy's POV

Louisa called as we drove back downtown, "He's onto us. I don't know how or what really went down but ten minutes ago transmissions switched from my guys' station and to another location. Right inside the headquarters, Andy."

"Fuck, damn this shit. Get Dylan out of there. Please Louisa, get him out of there now."

"He's a Ryman, Andy. That title alone protects him more than anyone of us. I suggest you, me and Bree get to a secure location. Meet me back at the parking lot of the Mini mart."

"Fuck that, Louisa, no. I'm not leaving him in there." Bree was losing it beside me, demanding to hear what was going on. I summarized it for her while Louisa ranted on the other end. "Well get out of here then! I can't ask you to do this for me. You've done enough!" I ended the call while Bree dialed a number on her own mobile. "What are you doing?"

"Calling backup. You want to get Dylan out of there we're gonna need more than just the two of us."