Sin of the Saint

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: SUSPICION

 "...What?"

"Your brake lines were cut, Liv," Axel said again.

Liv blinked, her mouth falling open with no words, "I...who would do that?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," he said, leaning over her, trying to shield her from the cold with his arms resting above the window. "Call the cops. If anything...this is attempted murder. So...no matter who it was, the cops have to know...this must have been done while we were in the movie."

Liv nodded and reached for her phone with quivering hands. In fact, she knew of seven people who it could have been...but one was locked up in an asylum, Leah couldn't have known, and the rest of them were all mysteries to her.

Especially Cupid.

The cops arrived minutes later and took a statement and both their ID's. A tow truck was called and taken to the station for further investigation. However, Liv couldn't get a hold of her parents.

"They're not answering..." Liv said before calling her brother's number, Axel watched her intently.

She called him a few times before James' croaking voice answered.

"Liv...you had better be dying..."

Liv sucked in a breath. "James...where are mom and dad?"

"They went out of town to visit cousin Hayley's new baby," James said, yawning. "Don't you remember?"

Liv sighed—she really had forgotten.

"No offense, sis, but you've been very forgetful lately," James said. "Are you okay—"

"James, are you home alone?"

"No...I'm at a friend's house. Mom and dad said you'd be late, so I came to Max's house."

"Stay there until mom and dad get back...I'm, um..." she glanced around at the cops and Axel's concerned face, "I'm...having some car trouble. I'll be staying somewhere else tonight too."

"At your boyfriend's house?" James sneered with a sleepy chuckle.

"Ah...no...no—I don't know," Liv shook her head. "Just stay over there, okay?"

"Yeah. Night."

Liv hung up the phone and turned to Axel, "My parents went out of town...I'll be all alone if the cops take me home. I'd rather them take me to the station, I mean...I'd be safe there right? Maybe I can have them put me in a holding cell? Who's to say whoever did this won't try it again when I'm home alone—"

"Liv, relax," Axel placed his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them. "We'll have the cops take you to my uncle's house. You'll spend the night there with me, my sister, my cousins, my uncle and aunt...you won't be alone, okay?"

Liv took a deep breath in while Axel pulled her in for a hug. She pressed her face into his chest, breathing in his warmth and while she felt his cheek against her hair, his hand brushing her long snow-flecked locks.

"You kids are out awful late...your parents or guardians know where you are?" an officer addressed them.

"We're both eighteen...but yeah, they all know we were going to a movie premiere...but we were trying to get home when this happened," Axel answered. "Officer...did someone try to hurt her? They were cut deliberately, weren't they?"

"I can't say for certain, but between us it looks that way," the officer said quietly. "My partner and I will escort you both home just to be safe. Where do you live?"