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Liam was different in more ways than one, but since seeing him the other day, I’d struggled to get him out of my head. Guilt over leaving him to deal with things when he clearly needed help burnt inside me. The police’s key priority had been Ziggy when, in fact, it should have been Liam.
Ziggy had Marc to help him through everything that had happened. Liam had no one.
I should have done something.
I took one last look at him and closed his bedroom door. I made sure the kitchen was tidy and everything was securely locked, then walked to my car.
Fuck, it was cold, my breath misting in the air.
When I arrived home, my appetite had dwindled, and the football had finished. I knew the score but had wanted to see my team finally win for once. I was a sucker for the underdog.
Thankfully, the ice cream had survived relatively unscathed. I put it in the freezer for another day.
Tomorrow I had the day off. Time to do laundry, and I’d planned to cook a few meals. My shift pattern next week was peppered with nights, and I liked to take in my food. The canteen’s offerings were bearable, and Sam’s preference for pizza was tiresome.
Sleep eluded me, though. All I thought about was Liam and the frightened look on his face when I’d found him.
He might have been off the drugs now, but the way he was going, it wouldn’t be long before he’d be back on them. Failure was always a step away.
I knew that all too well.
What could I do to help him? What could I offer him? How could I put things right?
I fell asleep with these thoughts running through my head. The shrill ring of my phone woke me the following morning. I yawned and stretched, still weary.
“Hello,” I said, my voice thick with sleep.
“Hey, John. It’s Sam. I know it’s’ your day off, but can you come in? We’ve got a meeting we both need to be at. It can’t wait, apparently.”
“Yeah. I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”
Fuck it. There went my day of rest.
I made it to work in record time and met Sam on the steps of the station.
“Any idea what this is about?” I asked.
“Not a thing, just that it involves a case we worked on. Could be one of many, my friend. One of many.”
By the time we got out of the meeting, two hours had passed. Two hours when we’d stared open-mouthed at our boss as he informed us that Stuart was being considered for a move to an open prison. Something to do with good behaviour.
It was the biggest crock of shit I’d ever heard.
They had tasked Sam and me with telling the victims, and I could imagine how that was going to go. The worry that Liam would revert to his old ways weighed heavily on my shoulders. I knew damn well he wasn’t ready to hear the news.
Ziggy would be fine with the support network he had, not just from his husband but his adopted family too.
Liam, however, had no one.
“I can tell by your face you’re not happy about this.”
“Too fucking right, I’m not. I meant to tell you I’d seen Liam about a week ago. He’s not doing well. This is going to push him over the edge. We need to be careful how we go about this.”
“I’ll follow your lead, John. I need to get home and try to make it up to the wife. We were supposed to be going out today, but that’s gone for a ball of chalk.”
He slapped me on the back and walked away, leaving me standing in the middle of the car park. The promise I’d made to Liam last night to check up on him returned.
This wasn’t how I wanted my day to go, but I’d keep my promise. I always did. I drove to his house, hoping he'd be awake.
