Page 89 of Veiled in Brick

I glanced at Liam to find him shooting a scathing look at Carter.

“Liam?” I muttered his name, and though he didn’t look at me, I knew he was listening. “I think he’s telling the truth.”

Liam clenched his jaw, eventually letting out an exasperated exhale, and grumbled, “Jesus.” He pinched the area above the bridge of his nose as if he had an oncoming headache and said, “Okay, okay—fine. Carter, do you have the guy’s phone number?”

Carter shook his head, sadness written on his face, and he remarked, “Used a burner, so that’s long gone. Only sets up meetings if you write him and pay in advance.”

“Okay…aside from how sketchy that sounds,” Liam remarked, “with all the shit this guy gave you, you have no idea—he didn’t say anything about—anything like this shit with Zoey?”

“No.” Despite the strained nature of the relationship that Liam held with his father, Carter’s response was shockingly sorrowful. His tone conveyed that he wished he could help, his hands on his hips as he spoke, “You talk with the cops?”

Liam scoffed. “Yeah, we talked with the cops.”

Carter questioned lightly, “They can’t get the rights to look through the security cameras at your place?”

“Our place doesn’t have security cameras,” Liam spoke what had run through my mind.

“Well, yeah it does,” Carter said. “My guy said there was. I even saw one when I was there.”

Liam and I both froze, Carter’s lighthearted admission slowly sinking in until we both muttered in unison, “What?”

Liam added on, “Where did you see that?”

“Ceiling by the stairs; your side of the hall—tiny thing ’bout,” Carter held up a hand, touching his index finger to his thumb to signify roughly the size of a quarter, “this big.”

Liam watched him, and upon only seeing what I did in Carter’s expression—which was blaring, outright honesty—his eyes widened.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Liam muttered, looking to his father before saying, “but if that thing’s still at the complex, then…thank you.” Carter’s eyebrows raised, and Liam quickly stated, “I am not saying we’re good. I’m saying thank you for not being a shitty person for once.” He turned to face me, blew out a long breath, and said, “We need to get that camera.”

“And destroy it?” I asked. “If it’s his, it would give him less of an idea of where I am, but—”

“No, no—to see if there’s any way to look at what it’s recorded,” Liam corrected me rapidly. “We have no idea how long it’s been up there…or why it’s there, or if this guy even put it up or not, but it could have caught him breaking into your place if it has a good angle of your door.”

“Oh.” My reaction to his quick reasoning came out in a short gasp. “We could see who he is.”

Liam nodded, relief flooded me, and he repeated my words with a small smile, “We could see who he is.”

Our goodbye to Carter was practically nonexistent. With a short wave and something along the lines of, ‘We have to go,’ Liam and I were jogging back to my car with haste to spread the knowledge that we had just obtained. He took the driver’s seat, shook out his hands, and we were off.

I said, “I should call off meeting with my parents—get back to Salem faster, see if there’s any evidence to bring to the police—”

“There may be a better option than that,” Liam replied quietly—almost reluctantly.

“What?”

He sighed. “Call James.”

Chapter 15

My car had just finished rumbling through gravel, the sound dissipating as we hit pavement, when my phone’s dial tone ceased, and James spoke in my ear.

“Hey.” His tone was clipped—hesitant. “All good?”

The question was laced with an obvious concern, and I sighed as I stated, “Hey…yeah, all good—are you home?”

At the sound of my non-panicked voice signifying that no one was actively dying, he joked, “By home…you mean the streets? Or your place?”

I blew out a breath through my nostrils, unable to find the will to let out a full laugh. “I mean my place, Jay.”

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