On the other hand, with his distant personality and extreme coldness mixed with the constant state of aloofness, it made getting close to him next to impossible. However, every once in a while he allowed Remi to tap into his softer side, a unique treat only a select few have had the opportunity to witness. A sudden burst of wind swirling outside caused her to stir slightly, which in turn triggered Liam to move a little. It was then she noticed the blanket and felt Liam’s left hand protectively holding her arm. She thought, there was no way he wasn’t aware of her being on the couch with him. Knowing how alert he usually was, she couldn’t have just sneaked into his arms, threw on a blanket, and him not notice. While she continued to overthink the whole scenario, Liam woke up. She silently debated on whether to pretend she was still asleep or fess up to being awake. But instead, she slyly waited to see what he did first and was thrown for a loop when he readjusted the blanket over her. She began to wonder just who the hell was this man? Cause surely the real Liam would have already moved her off. Suddenly, he tightened his arms securely around her body. Oh my, was the first thing to pop into her head. It all felt way too good and surreal. Nothing or nobody had ever made her feel safe the way he did. She sighed, louder than intended. Tipping off her couch mate that she too was no longer sleeping. Afraid that this rare occurrence would never happen again, she wanted to savor it as long as she could. “Did I wake you?” he whispered, quickly removing his arms, and conspicuously stretching them above his head. Possibly in an attempt to conceal the fact that two seconds earlier he’d been holding her. “No,” she sheepishly replied. She then slowly lifted her head and locked eyes with his, but neither spoke. The two were becoming adept at having awkward moments, but this time Remi broke the palpable tension. “This is a bit odd, huh?” she murmured while smiling facetiously. He followed suit by half-grinning then conveniently saying, “I think that wine did us in.”
She nodded in agreement but wasn’t sure how much she actually believed that. Suddenly feeling weird lying there, she moved to sit up, but as she did that, her hand accidentally pushed into the lower left side of his stomach. Liam winced, forcing Remi to apologize. “I’m so sorry; I forgot about that.”
“It’s okay; it’s just still a little tender,” he explained.
“Scar tissue?”
“I think so.”
“My head is like that too,” she said. Liam’s focus shifted to the right side of her head, and with a somber expression, he asked, “Does it still hurt?”
She nodded. “Sometimes, but not too much.”
As he continued to stare at it, she got the distinct impression he wanted to say something but didn’t. Clamming up wasn’t unusual for him, she expected as much, but considering the position the two were currently in, and after last night, she thought maybe Liam was finding it easier to open up to her. Of course, unable to read Liam’s mind, Remi had no idea what he was or wasn’t feeling. All of a sudden she fashioned the sweetest, impish smile and Liam inquired what prompted it. At first, she thought, don’t say anything but her smile gave it away. She figured, what the hell, go ahead and confess. “I liked this,” she said quietly.
“Liked what?” he asked, bewildered.
Purposely avoiding eye contact, she looked everywhere but at him, and replied, “Sleeping here, with you.”
She secretly hoped he enjoyed it as well, but when he didn’t reciprocate, she felt incredibly stupid and desperately wanted to rescind the admission. “This is something I never do,” he said, moving to sit up. “What’s that?” she asked, wary of his impending response. “Sleep with a woman without having sex,” he said nonchalantly. She grimaced, evidently not what she wanted to hear. “Should I be flattered or insulted?” she asked. A wry grin appeared as he replied, “Neither, just stating a fact.”
Unfortunately, their curious interaction came to an abrupt halt when Liam’s phone beeped, signaling a message. He reached over to pick up it up and exclaimed, “Shit, it’s almost seven; I’ve got to get ready for work.”
“Me too,” she said, reluctantly climbing off the couch. Pressed for time, he rushed to make a quick cup of coffee and offered to make her one too, but she politely declined then unceremoniously hightailed it out of his apartment as quickly as she could. She had thought maybe he would have suggested to drive her to work, especially with the crappy weather, but figured after last night; a more typical Liam move would be to distance himself. While getting dressed, she mentally prepared for the return of no-emotion, icy demeanor, Liam. She got the hint loud and clear that whatever step forward they might have taken last night; by morning, they had dropped at least five steps back.
As Liam waited for the elevator, he kept recalling waking up with Remi, and how when it came to her; his good judgment flies out the window. Her admission of enjoying sleeping with him was a true double-edged sword because something that categorically wrong shouldn’t have felt so right. Remi closed the door behind her then instantly saw Liam standing at the end of the hall. The sight of him conjured up that intense feeling of contentment while waking up wrapped securely in his arms. Of course, on the other hand, all that did was cause the resurrection of the dreaded awkwardness. When she just about reached him, the elevator doors opened, and without even turning to see if she was there, Liam’s hand gripped one of the doors, stopping them from closing. “Thanks,” she said, squeezing between him and the one door. “How did you know I was close?”
“Just a hunch,” he said, pushing the first-floor button. While the elevator descended, Remi asked if he was looking forward to going back to work. “I am, but I’m also looking forward to being back down on the docks.”
“Your happy place,” she remarked, smiling.
He thought for a moment. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
When they stepped off and into the lobby, Liam finally asked if she wanted a ride. Though she did, she turned him down. “Thanks, but it’s your first day, you shouldn’t be late.”
Outside, the precipitation was a mix of ice and rain, so Liam asked if she was positive. “Yeah, I’ve got an umbrella,” she said, popping it open. She then waved and told him to have a good day. Liam called out, “Will you at least let me drive you to the station?”
She turned around and just grinned. “I’m fine, really.”
Knowing she wasn’t going to budge, Liam gave up but told her to be careful. Some things never change, she thought. On the way there, she received an email dinner invitation for that evening from her mom. She replied yes and that she’d see her later.
DeGrazerio and Weston were watching that infamous grainy Bank of Philadelphia video for the hundreth time when DeGrazerio pointed to one specific masked man and asked, “How tall would you guess he was?”
Weston moved in closer for a better look. “Six-three or six-four.”
“Weight?”
“About 215.”
DeGrazerio nodded in agreement. “Notice the posture, movements, and subtle mannerisms?”
Weston nodded.
“Remind you of anyone?” the agent asked, more than convinced Liam was the guy on the screen. “This crew pulled off numerous heists without any glitches, but for some reason, this particular heist went awry,” rambled Weston. “How could they be so successful up until that point?”
“For starters, all good things come to an end—eventually,” said the agent. “But I also believe this job went to hell the moment Catalano was locked inside of the vault with Matthews.”
Weston chimed, “For argument’s sake, say I agree with you.”
“We know that the man inside of the vault isn’t the one who injured Catalano, but the big question is why didn’t he?” asked DeGrazerio.
Weston surmised, “Maybe he had a sudden stroke of conscience.”
“Possibly, but wouldn’t he have been worried that she could have identified him, especially since they were alone together for hours?”
Weston explained, “First off, if she never saw his face then he probably wasn’t too con
cerned, and second, they definitely forged some sort of bond while inside there.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because that night at the warehouse, those two were extremely tight and I didn’t get a boyfriend/girlfriend vibe, it was something that went much deeper,” he said then added, “and the overprotectiveness that Matthews harbored for her was intense.”
The agent sighed then asked, “Do you buy that Catalano truly didn’t remember what happened until right before the death of Schaffer?”
Without hesitation, Weston quickly replied, “Yes, I do.”
“Okay, but once she did, we can assume she knew that Matthews was one of the masked men which in turn means she’s been lying to us and covering for him all at the same time.”
Weston covered his head with his hands, a sinking feeling of dread harshly washed over him. Desperately not wanting to doubt Remi, but if she had been lying this whole time, he’d have no choice but to arrest her. That thought devastated him. After their first few contentious meetings, he and Remi had gained a more cohesive relationship and felt somewhat fatherly towards her. But if all of this conjecture were true, this would change things considerably. Just then, one of the secretaries rushed into the office, carrying a manila folder. “The results from the red bag are here,” she said, handing it over. Weston watched as the agent tore into it. He then slid out the papers inside and began looking them over. “Dammit,” he shouted. “No discernible fingerprints.”
Completely irate, he continued reading, and that’s when he said, “Hold on, there’s trace DNA from two sources, one belonging to Schaffer and since Olivia was ruled out as the other, it’s unknown.”
The agent kept reading over the report then stated, “And get this—a microscopic trace of gunshot residue.”
Weston interjected, “Schaffer never fired a shot.”
“Nope, but both Catalano and Matthews did,” proclaimed DeGrazerio, who looked at the results one more time then glanced at Weston. “That means one of them handled the bag after a shot was fired.”
“Which also means that at least some of their story, if not all, was completely fabricated.”
Weston disputed, “You don’t know that.”
“No, but here’s my theory,” the agent stated. Weston waited with bated breath, fully preparing himself for what he was about to hear.
“I think Matthews had the diamonds the entire time,” he said. “And I think Schaffer wanted them, so he set up a meeting with Matthews to get them.”
DeGrazerio paused while gathering his thoughts.
“What about Remi, I can’t see Matthews taking her along when he’s obviously got a thing about protecting her.”
DeGrazerio agreed but deduced, “I bet he didn’t bring her, she probably just showed up.”
Weston sighed, undeniably frustrated by how this just played out. “Matthews was at the warehouse with Schaffer, and Catalano unexpectedly showed up,” said the agent. “We know from their statements that Schaffer was threatening to kill Matthews, so Catalano shot Schaffer who in turn aimed his gun at her which prompted Matthews to shoot and kill him.”
He continued, “And what I’m willing to bet that happened is, that Matthews planted the diamonds on Schaffer to make it appear that he had them all along.”
Weston added, “Hence, the reason gunshot residue was found on the bag.”
“Exactly, because Schaffer never fired a shot, so it didn’t come from him and yet when the officers arrived, Schaffer was the one holding the bag.”
The detective grabbed the results, and while perusing them himself, he said, “The other DNA more than likely belongs to Matthews.”
DeGrazerio nodded with a wide smug grin filling his face; he declared, “I think it’s time to get that warrant.”
Grudgingly, Weston agreed.
During Olivia’s Monday morning office meeting, she handed out accolades for the successful fundraiser and gave an extra special shout out to Remi for the excellent work she did in handling the entire silent auction. Though Remi blushed, at the overabundance of boasting, her mind was solely on Liam. A few minutes later, Olivia dismissed the staff, except Remi. “You seem preoccupied,” she said while grabbing a seat at her desk. Remi immediately apologized.
“It’s okay; I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright with you.”
“Oh yeah,” said Remi. “Things are great.”
“Wouldn’t have anything to do with that gorgeous young man you left with on Friday night?”
Remi smiled, visibly admitting it was. “He seems like a real gentleman, that’s hard to find these days,” she commented. Again, Remi just smiled, as Olivia knew of what she spoke, especially since she was once married to a jerk like Mitchell. Remi thanked her for the concern but told her not to worry. She then attempted to work, but all she could do was reflect back to the night before or more like early morning. Liam had only been back for a little over 48 hours, and his physical presence had completely discombobulated her. It wasn’t a good way to start the day, she thought, but she better pull it together and focus.
The second Liam entered the corridor Mary greeted him with a huge smile. “It’s great to have you back,” she said fondly. Liam thanked her, as he walked into his office. Everything on his desk was exactly as he had left it. Nothing had been moved. The familiarity and normalcy were welcoming, and he was looking forward to working on projects again. He just wished he didn’t have the whole investigation and DNA thing hanging over his head. Sadly, that was his truth. Facing the consequences of his actions was never something he feared, but the issue now was those consequences involved more than just him. Leaving town did nothing to sway the investigators in a different direction, in fact, it probably just made them more suspicious. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. Like Remi, he too thought about what transpired earlier, but he had convinced himself it meant nothing. Just then, Mary knocked on the door, and when Liam told her to come in, she handed him a stack of papers that Simon had left for him. “I’m sorry to bog you down with this stuff already,” she said. Liam was grateful for the much-needed distraction. He immediately began studying up on the current crop of clients and two proposals that Simon was putting together. In the past, Simon had often sought Liam’s advice and expertise when dealing with potentially huge deals, so it was safe to assume that he was ecstatic that Liam was back. Because it took close to four hours of non-stop reading, it also kept Liam from thinking about the investigation and Remi for that matter. However, once finished and the diversion was gone, he couldn’t stop the negative thoughts from surging back into the fold. Since it was noon, he decided to get some fresh air by taking a stroll around the shipyard, a place he always found solace in and to hopefully clear his head. As he casually roamed the docks, exchanging pleasantries with some of the workers, he felt relaxed. However, that positive feeling didn’t last, because as he stood watching a cargo ship towing a small tugboat, Liam suddenly had a flashback of Remi shouting at him. “You heard me, give me the bag!”
A quick moment of clarity hit him. “The velvet bag,” he whispered. He couldn’t believe it had been there the whole time and his muddled thoughts prevented him from thinking of it sooner. He needed to talk to Remi, ASAP but didn’t want to do it over the phone, so he sent a text:
We need to talk. Can I give you a ride home from work? – Liam
Remi saw the text and instantly wondered why he wanted to talk. Her first thought was that he wanted to discuss what happened last night. However, she quickly dismissed that because knowing Liam, that was probably the last thing he wanted to discuss. Regardless of what it was, a ride home wasn’t a bad thing, so she texted back:
Ok…I’ll be done at 5 – Remi
Somehow, Liam needed to get through the next few hours without dwelling on the investigation. Not an easy task, but he was determined to make that happen. When he got back into the office, he organized things and got further acclimated to the current accounts. He a
voided checking the time, figuring it would go faster if he just worked non-stop.
For Remi, the curiosity was killing her, and she couldn’t stop looking at the time. When 4:45 rolled around, she anxiously began packing up. Again, wondering if the ride home was code for something else. She then thought it was possible it was just his control freakish nature and the fact she turned down the ride to work; he probably needed to assert himself. But when she looked at the text again, the part about needing to talk stood out. Even in a text, it sounded ominous. Her mind ran in overdrive. “He’s going to tell me he’s definitely moving to Miami,” she murmured to herself. That thought made her sick, and when the clock struck five, she almost dreaded seeing him, which was most ironic, since she couldn’t wait for him to come back to Philadelphia in the first place. She was just stepping off the elevator when Liam texted that he was out front. She sighed as she exited the building and spied his truck. The closer she got to it she silently began questioning possible scenarios. One being, would he get out to open the door for her? The other, would he stay in the driver’s seat and barely acknowledge her? Always the gentleman she thought, unsurprising, he got out and opened the passenger side door. “Hi,” she said, smiling in an attempt to gauge his demeanor. “Hey,” he replied rather coldly, which was the only hint she needed that the conversation they were about to have, wasn’t going to be good. As he started driving, Remi asked how his first day back was to which he simply replied, “Fine.”
UNMASKED: Sequel to Behind the Mask Page 14