The Perfect Son

by Freida McFadden

  No, I never suspected anything. Ever.

  But there were all those late nights. All those “business trips” he always had to take. I always accepted it blindly. There was that time I worried he was having an affair, but maybe it was something much worse than that.

  What if I was smelling the perfume of a dead woman?

  No, that’s not possible. This is crazy. Why am I thinking this way? Jason is my husband of twenty years. He’s not a murderer. I don’t know what his car is doing out here, but there’s got to be a reasonable explanation.

  “I think Olivia is in there,” Liam says. “Mom, I’m really scared he might kill them both.”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” I say. Although it’s pretty clear I’m no expert on what Jason would or would not do.

  Liam hesitates for only a split second before he darts out of my car. I call to him, not wanting him to go inside and face whatever is in there. What if it really is Jason? Could he have done something like this? He couldn’t have. Never. I don’t care what Liam says. I know my husband. A guy who can make that many puns about eggs is not going around murdering people. He just isn’t.

  I pick my way through the dirt on the ground, littered with leaves and branches, until I’ve reached the cabin ten paces after Liam. He’s taller than me so his strides are longer, and he’s more surefooted on the uneven ground. We get there just in time to see Jason stumble through the broken door.

  Liam stops short, staring at his father. “Where is Hannah? Where is Olivia?”

  Jason’s face darkens in a way I’ve never seen before. At that moment, it seems entirely possible that everything Liam just told me is true. That Jason is somebody I don’t know at all. Someone who could’ve done horrible things.

  But then he catches sight of me and the dark look fades from his face like it was never there. “Erika! Thank God you’re here. You’ve got to call the police right now!”

  “Where are they?” Liam shouts at him.

  Jason gazes at him with venom in his eyes. “They’re both in there—dead. You should know since you’re the one who killed them. You monster.”

  I feel like somebody punched me in the gut. “Dead?”

  “I’m so sorry, Erika.” Jason’s eyes fill with tears as he rushes to my side. His hand is on my back. “I tried to save Hannah…”

  “You liar!” Liam’s face is purple. “You hate Hannah! You hate all of us!”

  My legs feel like they’re going to collapse under me. No, not Hannah. She can’t be… No…

  Jason’s arms encircle me, barely catching me before I collapse. “We’re going to call the police,” he says in a soft, soothing voice. “They’re going to punish Liam for what he did to our baby.” He glares at Liam. “Don’t even try to run. They’re going to catch you.”

  Liam stares at us, his face still scarlet. But then something changes in his eyes. They grow wide, like he’s seen something terrible. “Mom,” he gasps.

  And then instead of running, he lunges at Jason. I see the glint of a knife in Jason’s hand. He hadn’t been holding it when he came out of the cabin. He took it out as he was comforting me.

  Oh my God. Was he going to stab me?

  Jason is still heavier than Liam, but Liam is younger and quicker. The knife clatters out of Jason’s hands, and Liam grapples him to the ground. For moment, it looks like Jason might manage to get free, but then Liam takes a swing at him, and I hear a sick crunch. When I look at Jason’s face, there’s blood pouring out of his nose.

  “You little asshole!” Jason howls. “I’m going to kill you.”

  “Mom, the knife,” Liam manages.

  The knife is lying in the grass. The knife doesn’t look familiar to me—it’s not one of the dull blades from our kitchen. I snatch it off the ground so Jason can’t get it. My fingers close around the handle, but I’m not sure what to do with the sharp end. I point it in Jason’s direction, but who am I kidding? I’d never be able to stab him.

  He knows it too.

  “Mom.” Liam’s voice is breathless. “Give me the knife.”

  Jason’s eyes widen as he struggles against our son, who has him pinned down tightly. I’m impressed with how easily Liam is restraining him. Liam has become stronger than his father. “Erika, don’t give it to him,” Jason manages.

  I stare at my husband. “Why shouldn’t I?”

  Jason shakes his head, his face pale. “You know what Liam is like. You’ve always known. He’s crazy, Erika.”

  Well, that’s not untrue.

  Jason sees my hesitation, and he pushes on. “Erika,” he says urgently. “You do not want him to have that knife. You know that. He’ll kill us both.”

  Will he?

  Liam looks at me with his brown eyes that are so much like what I see when I stare into the mirror. I’m not sure what to believe anymore, but between Jason and Liam, I know which one I want to have the knife.

  I turn the blade around and offer Liam the handle.

  My son smiles at me with those perfect, straight teeth—a smile I know is one-hundred percent genuine. “Thanks, Mom.” His fingers close around the handle. “And you were half right, Dad.”

  I watch as Liam plunges the knife into his father’s chest.

  Chapter 61

  Erika

  Liam knew exactly where to put the knife. With that one stab wound, all the blood drains out of my husband’s face, and seconds later, he’s coughing it out. He’s dying. He’s dying quickly. So quickly that even if we called for an ambulance now, if that were possible, it would be too late.

  “Erika,” Jason manages, choking on his own blood. “You…”

  I stare down at him, waiting for his final words to me. Is he going to tell me he loves me one last time? I don’t think I could handle it if he did. I already feel like I can barely stand up.

  “You bitch,” he finishes. “After all I did for you…”

  I flinch as if he hit me. Liam was right. Jason is not the man I thought he was. He’s sick. He’s crazy. And he’s done something horrible. He was planning to kill me, and the only reason I’m alive right now is because my son saved me.

  Jason deserves this death.

  I take a step forward, standing over him. I draw back my foot, and with all my strength, I kick him right in the ribs. It’s the last thing he feels before he loses consciousness.

  I bury my face in my hands, wanting to cry but too stunned. Jason. Hannah. Gone. Is this really happening? I think I’m going to be sick.

  “Mom.” That urgency is back in Liam’s voice, bursting into my haze. “Let’s go into the cabin. Maybe we can still save them.”

  He tugs at my arm and I follow him without thinking. My legs move automatically, but my head won’t stop spinning. I’m terrified to see what’s inside there. If my daughter is lying dead on the ground in that cabin, I’m not sure I could go on after seeing that. It would destroy me.

  We get inside the cabin, which is dark except for a flashlight lying on the ground. The flashlight provides just enough illumination to know there’s no one in here. But I hear voices. Muffled female voices.

  “Hannah!” Liam yells. He drops to his knees and plants his palms on the ground. “Where are you?”

  This time I hear the words more distinctly in my daughter’s voice: “Down here!”

  There is apparently a trap door. There’s a ring of keys lying on the ground and Liam tries each one until the lock pops open. His hands are so steady—I’m amazed. How could he be so calm after what just happened? I don’t think I could hold a key, much less fit one into the lock. He swings the trap door open and shines the flashlight inside.

  There they are. Hannah, her face tear-streaked, but completely alive. And Olivia. Also alive.

  The relief I feel almost knocks me off my feet. Hannah is okay. My daughter is alive.

  Thank God.

  Chapter 62

  Olivia

  “Hannah! Where are you?”

  Hannah’s disembodied voice
floats through the air: “Down here!”

  I reach into the darkness until my hand makes contact with Hannah’s arm. “Shush! What are you doing?”

  “It’s okay. That’s Liam. He’ll help us out.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Of course I’m sure. He’s my brother.”

  I don’t point out the fact that her father is the one who trapped me here for four days with plans to let me starve to death. So somebody being in her family doesn’t exactly make me feel good. But at this point, there’s nothing more I can do.

  The trap door swings open, and there he is. Liam Cass. The boy I’d been crushing on for nearly three months, who I used to think was the cutest guy in the whole dang school. He’s holding a flashlight, but not pointing it at our eyes like his father did. I can just barely make out his face, and he scrunches his eyebrows together. “Can you get out?” he asks.

  Hannah shakes her head. “No,” she says. “I hurt my wrist when Dad pushed me down here. And Olivia’s ankle is really bad.”

  Liam listens to this, nodding thoughtfully. “I can come down there. I’ll help you get out.”

  Before I can suggest this might not be a great idea, Liam has climbed down into the hole. He’s very nimble, and he gets in easily without hurting himself. Now that I can see him up close, I realize there’s blood all over him. It’s everywhere. It’s staining his T-shirt and splattered all over his face. Hannah clasps her hand over her mouth.

  “Liam!” she exclaims. “Are you… I mean, did he…?”

  “I’m fine.” Liam shakes his head and makes a face. “It’s his blood.”

  Hannah’s mouth falls open. “Is he… dead?”

  Liam nods slowly. He doesn’t give any other details and I’m glad.

  “I told you not to come,” she whispers, her eyes filling up with tears again. “You’re going to get in trouble now.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, Hannah. He would’ve killed you. How could I let that happen?”

  Then she throws her arms around him, and she hugs him so tightly that when she pulls away, her father’s blood is all over her shirt too. She wipes her eyes as he crouches down next to me on the floor, where I’m clutching my ankle. In the light of the flashlight, his eyes look black. “What’s hurting?” he asks.

  I show him my ankle. He shines a flashlight on it, and we both gasp simultaneously. It looks terrible. It’s swollen to twice the size it should be, the skin is shiny and red, and yellow pus is coming out of a break in the skin. I had no idea it was that bad.

  “Don’t worry,” Liam says. “We’re going to get you out of here. I promise.”

  One corner of his lips moves up in a crooked smile, and I remember how much I used to like him. How he used to make my heart speed up in my chest when I watched him race around the track after school. It seems like an eternity ago.

  Liam is tall enough to see over the trap door when he stands on the mound of dirt I made. He calls to someone else to come help him. For a moment, I’m paralyzed with fear that his father is there, but then I hear his mother’s shaky voice.

  “I’m going to lift them out through the trap door,” he tells his mother. “You have to help them out.”

  Liam is very gentle with me. He takes his time putting his left arm under my knees so he won’t hurt me when he lifts me up. I cling to his neck as he steps up on the mound and carefully raises me up to his mother. She is shaking like a leaf as she helps me get onto the wood floor of the cabin. My ankle gets twisted in the process, because she’s not as careful as Liam was, and it hurts so bad, my eyes water.

  After Liam lifts Hannah out of the hole, Mrs. Cass won’t stop hugging her. She throws her arms around Hannah’s shoulders, sobbing that she thought she was dead. Hannah clings to her just as hard. Watching them makes me want my mother so much, it’s painful. At least now I know I’m going to see her soon. It wasn’t like when I was trapped in the hole. This is almost over.

  “He told us he was going to come back and kill us as soon as he was done with the two of you,” Hannah sobs. “He meant it. You could see it in his eyes.”

  I still can’t manage to stand up. My ankle hurts more than I would have thought possible. It’s not just broken—there’s something really wrong with it. Liam looks at me, writhing on the ground, and bends down beside me. “I’m going to pick you up, okay?”

  I flinch, not wanting anyone to get within two feet of my ankle. “It hurts a lot.”

  “I’ll be really careful. I promise.”

  What choice do I have? “Okay.”

  He does what he did before, gently scooping me up in his arms. He doesn’t even grunt when he lifts me. I had no idea he was that strong. In spite of everything that’s happened, a sense of calm comes over me as he holds me, and I rest my head against his chest. I feel safe here.

  Liam carries me out of the cabin with his mother and Hannah leading the way. After about ten paces, he stops short and looks at something on the ground.

  It takes me a moment to realize he’s looking down at his father.

  Mr. Cass is lying face up on the dirt. His shirt is soaked with blood, far more than what’s on Liam’s shirt. There’s blood on his chin too, his eyes are staring up at the sky, and his mouth is hanging open.

  He’s dead. He’s definitely dead.

  It’s over.

  Chapter 63

  Transcript of police interview with Erika Cass:

  “Mrs. Cass, can you repeat for me one more time exactly what happened when you reached the cabin?”

  “After we parked, I saw Jason coming out of the cabin. He had a knife and he told me that Hannah and Olivia were both dead. He admitted he was the one who killed them, although I didn’t realize at the time he was lying.”

  “Did you believe him?”

  “I didn’t know what to believe, Detective. Jason and I were married for twenty years. I never imagined he could do something like that. But you didn’t see the look in his eyes…”

  “And then what happened?”

  “He lunged at me with the knife. Thank God Liam was there with me—otherwise I’d be dead. Liam ran at him and tackled him, and he dropped the knife. That’s when I picked it up and…”

  “Mrs. Cass?”

  “I’m sorry. This is so hard…”

  “Please take your time.”

  “He got away from Liam. He’s bigger than Liam. And then he came at me again and…”

  “And…?”

  “I still had the knife. So I did the only thing I could do: I stabbed him with it when he came at me.”

  “So you were the one who stabbed him?”

  “That’s right.”

  “It wasn’t Liam?”

  “No.”

  “So here’s the thing, Mrs. Cass. The blood splatter pattern on Liam’s clothes makes it look like he was the one in front of Jason when he was stabbed. You have almost no blood on your clothes at all.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. Liam was right next to me. And he bent over Jason after I stabbed him, which I guess is how all that blood ended up on him. He tried to resuscitate him, but it didn’t work. Obviously.”

  “I see.”

  “Am I… am I under arrest?”

  “Given the circumstances and Olivia’s corroboration of your story, we are not planning to pursue charges at this time.”

  “…”

  “But our investigation is not complete. There will be an autopsy.”

  “Yes. Yes, of course.”

  “I have one other question, Mrs. Cass.”

  “Yes?”

  “Why are you protecting Liam?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Detective, my husband just tried to kill me.”

  “But Liam is the one who stabbed him, wasn’t he?”

  “Detective, my husband of twenty years is dead. This is been a really hard day. I don’t… I can’t even think straight. I told you what happened. I have nothing else to say.”
/>   Chapter 64

  Erika

  Detective Rivera doesn’t believe my story.

  She thinks Liam is the one who stabbed Jason. To be fair, he is covered in blood. But I couldn’t take a risk of him going to jail for this. If anyone should take the fall for it, it should be me. I’m the idiot who married the guy. I am the fool who believed his lies for twenty years of marriage.

  Detective Rivera met us at the emergency room and was plainly surprised to find that Olivia was not only alive, but clinging to Liam as he carries her into the emergency room. He mostly kept his mouth shut as I told the detective my story about how I stabbed Jason in self-defense. He and I are the only ones who know the truth.

  With Hannah’s help, I gave her directions to the cabin where they found my husband’s body.

  “I can’t believe it,” Rivera kept saying. “I really thought…”

  I couldn’t blame her. I thought the same thing.

  While Hannah is off getting her wrist X-rayed, I’m left with Liam in Hannah’s room in the ER. It’s the first moment we’ve had alone since we rescued Hannah and Olivia. Well, I should say he rescued them. I helped. A little.

  There’s so much I feel like I need to say to him. I thought the worst of him, and he knew it. That’s not the way a mother should behave. I’m ashamed of myself. I’m ashamed of the fact that I had no idea what Jason was up to.

  My own husband. I can’t believe it.

  “You didn’t have to tell the detective you killed him,” Liam says quietly. “We could have told her the truth.”

  “It’s better this way.”

  “Why?”

  “You know why.” I look down at my hands, which have finally stopped shaking. “I’m not letting them put you in jail again. Not for that.”

  “It was self-defense.”

  “No, it wasn’t. And you know it.”