Rockwell Agency: Boxset

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Hannah got out of the car. “Winnifred, have a seat,” she said, opening the passenger side door for her. “Agnew, can I speak with you briefly?”

  Winnifred mumbled her complaints, but she got into the car, and Agnew closed the door behind her, stepping away with Hannah.

  “What’s wrong? Where’s Liam?”

  “He just flipped out on me,” Hannah said, throwing a hand up. “He just lost it.”

  Agnew nodded soberly. “Well, you did offer to help my grandmother kill him.”

  Hannah slammed both hands over her face. “If he turned out to be the killer! It was my way of saying that I was so sure he wasn’t that I would be willing to bet his life on it.”

  “Well, betting people’s lives isn’t often a good way to reassure them,” Agnew said. “It’s strange how that works, isn’t it?”

  “I need to find him,” Hannah said. “I can’t think about anything else right now, and I don’t want Winnifred to know that he’s lost. I have to …explain somehow.”

  Agnew glanced at his grandmother. “I’ll keep her busy, until I hear from you.”

  “She’s going to get suspicious.”

  Agnew shook his head. “No. I’ve got this. But you need to give me your car.”

  Hannah handed him the keys. “I have your number. I’ll text you. He can’t be that hard to find.”

  His expression didn’t inspire much confidence in her, but he took the keys, and he headed back to the car where his grandmother impatiently waited, ready to start figuring out who had killed her granddaughter.

  On foot now, Hannah looked in the direction that Liam had stalked off and sighed, heading the same way but not knowing what he might have done or where he might have gone. She pulled out her phone and called him, unsurprised when it rang and rang without him picking up. Hanging up, she texted him.

  Please call me. This is all a misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Liam. I would never want to hurt you.

  She stared at her phone for a long time, waiting to see the little three dots that would mean he was texting her a reply. But she wasn’t surprised when they never showed up.

  Frustrated and confused, Hannah hailed a cab. One pulled up right in front of her, splashing the rain from the night before over her shoes. But she didn’t care. She got in and gave the cab driver Liam’s address, hoping that he would have chosen to go home but doubting it at the same time. The last time he had been in his house, he had almost bled to death. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was some time before he considered the place a safe space again. But it was the only thing she could think of, and maybe he would have gone home to get into his own clothes, at the very least, before going out …wherever.

  She was in the back of the cab, staring blankly out the window and wondering how things had gone so wrong so quickly, when her phone rang. Hannah jolted, jerking her head around to look at the screen, as it lit up beside her. When Liam’s name flashed across the screen her heart flipped over, and she grabbed at the phone, fumbling with it, as she tried to answer quickly. “Hello? Hi—hello? Liam?”

  “Hi,” a woman’s voice said. “I’ve got Liam here with me. This is the last number that he called. Sorry to bother you if I’m bothering you, but it sounds like you were looking for him.”

  “I was.”

  “Might you be the girl who has him so upside down and sideways?”

  “I think I might be,” Hannah said, “and who are you?”

  “Just your friendly bartender. Your guy here is drunk, and I may have had to knock him out.”

  Hannah frowned, motioning for the cab driver to pull over. “Knock him out? Knock him out why?”

  “Because he wasn’t himself,” the woman said. “Anyway, can you come get him? I’ll text the address to you. I think he needs to rest, and I think you two need to talk.”

  “Yes, yes I’ll come right now,” Hannah said. “Thank you. Thank you for calling me.”

  They hung up, and right away a text came in with an address. She gave it to the cab driver, and he nodded, pulling back out onto the road and heading in the opposite direction. “We’re close by,” the driver said. “Two or three more minutes.”

  It might have only been two or three minutes, but it felt like ages to Hannah. She drummed her fingers incessantly against her knee, watching out the window for the first glimpse of the sign for the bar they were heading for. When they finally pulled into the parking lot, she was out of the car almost before the cab driver had come to a stop. “Will you wait?” Hannah asked, spinning back around to look down at the cab driver. “I just need to get my friend. I won’t be long.”

  “Meter’s running!”

  “Sure, yes,” Hannah said. “That’s fine.”

  “Then I’ll wait.”

  With that reassurance, Hannah hurried towards the front of the bar, pulling on the locked door, then rapping against it loudly. “Liam?”

  The door opened almost immediately, but it wasn’t Liam standing there. It was a drop-dead-gorgeous redhead with short shorts and a tight top, and Hannah blinked at her, wondering why she was surprised that this was who Liam had gone running to.

  “Hi,” the woman said. “I’m Misti. Thanks for rushing over. He showed up, and he was a huge mess.”

  Hannah stepped inside, looking around the dimly lit bar. “Thank you for calling me. What exactly happened?”

  Misti waved a hand. “He banged on the side door, desperate for a drink. Didn’t want to go home. Wasn’t making a ton of sense, but I got the idea that he’d had a bit of a heartbreak. And then he tried to kiss me, which confirmed that.”

  “He did what?”

  “He tried to kiss me,” Misti said, leading her back around the bar where Liam was sprawled out on the floor. “Don’t worry—that’s not like him. He’s never tried to do it before. He was just really drunk, and really sad, and that’s what guys like Liam do when they’re drunk and sad.”

  “Is that so?”

  Misti looked up at her, stopping mid-crouch. “I hope that doesn’t upset you. I didn’t mean it that way. I get the feeling you two are trying to be something more than the usual. That’s great. There’s nothing between me and Liam, which is why I knocked him out when he tried to kiss me. He was asking for it, to be honest. He’s not usually the guy who’s asking for a knock in the jaw.”

  Hannah didn’t really know how to talk to this woman, so she didn’t try. She crouched beside Liam, turning his face towards hers and noticing the bruise flowering along his jaw. He had been banged up more than his fair share over the last few days, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about this injury.

  When she touched him, Liam’s eyes fluttered open, and he stared up at her, disoriented.

  “Hi,” Hannah said, her voice sounding far away even to her. “You okay?”

  “No.”

  Hannah nodded. “No kidding. I’m going to take you home now.”

  “No.”

  She ignored him, draping his arm over her shoulders and lifting him up from the floor easily. It didn’t matter that he was making no effort to help her. He felt light as a feather.

  “Well …,” Misti said. “You’re a lot stronger than you look.”

  Hannah glanced at the woman, as she situated Liam against her, slipping her arm around his waist. “Thanks again for calling me. I’ll carry him out of here—I’ve got a cab waiting, actually.”

  “Great,” Misti said, stepping back to let them by. “Liam, get some rest. Feel better.”

  Liam looked down at Hannah, and she thought he was about to protest. But he clamped his mouth shut, and he let her guide him out from around the bar. But once they had gone a few steps, he took his arm off her and walked ahead. “Sorry,” Liam muttered to Misti, as she held the door open for him to walk outside. “I think I was an ass.”

  “You were,” Misti said, giving him a smile. “See you later.”

  Hannah walked out after Liam, motioning towards the cab. “That’s us.”

  �
�I’m not going with you, Hannah.”

  Sighing, Hannah grabbed Liam’s arm and stopped him, turning him to face her. “You’re misunderstanding. You’re angry with me, and I hurt you, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, and I would never want to hurt you. But you don’t understand, Liam. I would never, ever work with Winnifred against you, and it hurts my feelings that you would think that I ever would. What I was saying, and what I sincerely believe, is that there is no chance in the world that you murdered Trinity, no matter what documents Winnifred can show me. And I’m so confident in that that I would make a wild promise that I would never keep to prove how sure I am. Agnew informed me that’s not how people reassure other people, and I’m sorry for …doing it wrong. But I was just trying to convince her to stop trying to kill you, and I thought that if she felt some connection to me then she might …I don’t know. She might be more likely to go along, because I don’t want to be afraid for you anymore, Liam. But I am always, always on your side and only your side.”

  The words had come flowing out of her, tripping over each other, and she found that she was shockingly close to tears because she was so upset at the misunderstanding and everything that had happened over the last half an hour.

  “Please try to understand,” Hannah said quietly, forcing back her tears. “I would have hoped that you would think better of me than that.”

  Liam took a step towards her, reaching his hand out to grab her arm. Hannah reached out to steady him, and when she did, he jerked away from her. Liam bent over, and he threw up all over the pavement of the parking lot.

  Chapter 26

  Liam

  Expelling the contents of his stomach oddly made Liam feel better. It also made him feel less drunk. He’d had a lot to drink, and fast, and he’d thrown it all back up. His head still spun a bit, but he was thinking more clearly. He sat in the back of the cab, driving towards his house, Hannah silent beside him, and he tried to pinpoint in his head the moment that everything had gone wrong. Well—there was one obvious moment. The moment that Winnifred had put her first curse on him after accusing him of stealing from her granddaughter. That was the moment that everything in his life seemed to have turned upside down. But it wasn’t really the moment that everything changed.

  That had happened the moment that he’d realized that he had genuine, strong, real feelings for Hannah. Before that moment, he’d had troubles—major troubles, like a witch attempting to kill him repeatedly—but he’d felt in control and positive that they would figure things out. Having genuine feelings for Hannah, though, had sent him into a tailspin.

  He sat in the back of the cab, feeling terrible for taking the first opportunity to push Hannah away from him as hard as he could. Looking back, it seemed so ridiculous that he had reacted to her statement to Winnifred the way that he had. It had felt, at the time, like a knife in his gut, but if he had taken a moment to think instead of feel, he would have realized that wasn’t how Hannah felt about him at all. She was doing her job, while also skillfully defending him to the old woman.

  This was exactly why he tried to avoid getting feelings for anyone. And now he had and there was nothing he could do about that—except act irrationally, apparently. He had even tried to kiss Misti, which was humiliating. All to prove to himself that he didn’t care about Hannah.

  Liam looked over at her, watching her beautiful face as she stared out the cab window. He had hurt her because he had thought that she had thrown him away. But he had only thought that she had thrown him away because he was so worried that he was going to lose her.

  The cab driver pulled up to his house, and Hannah got out of the car, rounding to his side to help him out. Liam took her hand, but he stepped out of the cab on his own. He paid the driver while Hannah stood there, waiting in awkward silence. He hadn’t yet responded to her heartfelt explanation because he had thrown up, and then the moment had passed, and neither of them had known what to say.

  They walked towards his front door together, and Liam pulled the spare key from under the rug. His own had been lost long before, probably in the Mississippi River. He let them into the house, closing the door behind them, and the scent of blood immediately plugged his nose. Liam grimaced, and Hannah glanced up at him.

  “Maybe you’d rather be in a hotel right now,” she said.

  Liam shook his head. “No. Just …give me a minute. Make yourself comfortable. I need to make myself somewhat presentable and …brush my teeth. I’ll be right back.”

  Hannah nodded, and Liam walked back to the bathroom. It had been cleaned, but only hurriedly. There were still blood smears everywhere, and the scent of iron was overwhelming. He stripped off his clothes and scrubbed off his body, brushing his teeth and running his hands through his hair before he walked back out into his bedroom. He pulled on his own clothes and felt better for it, the dark-wash jeans with faded patches on the thighs sitting just right on his hips, and the tight, black t-shirt stretching over his pecs. He felt more like himself. More in control.

  And when he walked back out to the living room and saw Hannah, he finally felt at home. Liam crossed to her and took her hands in his, surprising her, so that she jerked her head up and looked at him, warily.

  “I was an asshole,” Liam said. “I’m sorry. I panicked, and it was about you but it wasn’t about you. They were my issues. My things to deal with. I shouldn’t have ever doubted you, and I was an idiot. No excuses.”

  Hannah gaped at him for a long moment, as though she had never expected to hear him say those words. Then she closed her eyes and breathed out, releasing the tension that she had undoubtedly been carrying around inside her for the past hour. She leaned against him, her forehead resting against his chest, and he put his arms around her, resting his cheek against her hair.

  Neither of them said anything for a long time. Hannah eventually moved closer, slipping her arms around him and resting fully against his chest. Liam savored the moment, stroking her hair, and breathing in her scent, and coming to the very real conclusion that he was falling for her hard and fast.

  And if he wasn’t careful, he was going to lose her because he was too afraid of losing her.

  “You okay?” Liam murmured finally, nudging her chin up, so that he could look down at her. “Are we okay?”

  Hannah nodded, slowly, searching his eyes. “Yeah. I’m sorry, too.”

  “Don’t be,” he said, bending his head to kiss her. He wasn’t sure if that was allowed or not, but he just had to do it once. “You didn’t do anything but what you’ve always done—protect me.”

  Hannah eased back from him, touching his cheek lightly in acknowledgement of what he’d said. There was a great deal of emotion in her eyes, but she didn’t comment any further on it, and he didn’t press her. It had been an emotional enough morning for both of them, and they would have time. Later.

  “Speaking of protecting you,” Hannah said. “We need to meet back up with Agnew and Winnifred now—before something else goes wrong, and we lose Winnifred’s grudging alliance.”

  “Yeah, what’s going on with that?” Liam asked, rubbing a hand over his hair. “Is she even more convinced that I’m guilty now that I’ve run away so suspiciously?”

  “I don’t know,” Hannah said, sighing and stepping back. She reached for her phone. “I ran off after you and left her with Agnew. I need to call him now and see where he took her and what they’re doing. Hopefully she’s still on board. If she’s not …” Hannah scanned him. “Well, maybe you wouldn’t still be standing here. So, that’s a good sign, right?”

  Liam cracked a smile. “Dark humor. I like it.”

  Her smile was brief but sweet. Then she dialed, holding the phone up to her ear. Agnew must have answered almost immediately, because Hannah turned away, speaking into the phone. “Hey, I’ve got him. Yes—everything is fine. Are you still with Winnifred?” She paused. “Where?” Another long pause. “Okay, we’re on our way.”

  Hannah hung up and turned back towards Liam. “
Okay. We’re going to Winnifred’s house. Are you okay? Are you up to it?”

  He was still a little woozy and more than a little stiff, sore, and tired. But he wasn’t stopping now, and he wasn’t letting Hannah out of his sight again. “Yeah, let’s go. My car is here. Dammit. I don’t have a key to it anymore. That would have been on my key ring, which is probably …”

  “In the Gulf of Mexico,” Hannah said, nodding. “Yeah, probably. That’s okay. Let’s just take a cab again.”

  “I’m paying,” Liam said, walking into the kitchen and retrieving a stack of cash that he kept hidden in case he was to ever lose his wallet or have his cards stolen. “You’ve paid for more than your fair share. I hope you know that I’m compensating you for all of this travel, in addition to your fees. And I’m …”

  He stopped talking when he turned around, and she was standing there, looking up at him.

  “Liam, are you falling back on our professional relationship and making a big deal about it because you’re still not settled with where we are?” Hannah asked, quietly.

  Liam nodded. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

  “Please stop.”

  “Okay.”

  They looked at each other for a long moment, and then Liam handed her a few bills. “Still. Cab’s on me.”

  Hannah folded the bills and stuck them in her back pocket. “Come on, Romeo.” It was just like her to think of him when she was the one who had been bulldozed emotionally. “Let’s get going.”

  They were unlikely to catch a cab driving by in Liam’s neighborhood, so he called one, giving the company his address, as they walked outside to stand in the sun while they waited. When the cab pulled up, it was the driver who had just let them several minutes ago, and he looked confused. “You want to leave?”

  Hannah nodded, bending down to talk to him through the window. “Yeah, we need to go to another house.” She gave him the address. “Is it far?”