Clean Criminal // l.s.

xxviii.

[This story is almost to 20k! Thank you all for reading and enjoying the story! I do have a question though: would you be interested in reading a book filled with everything I have ever written? It would have things from when I was in like second grade to now. Just tell me what you think about the idea, please and thank you! Enjoy the crazy chapter! -M]

"You cover my back, okay? I have that recording device if we need it. We're going to take this bastard back for questioning," Harry stated as he climbed the stairs of Liam's apartment building.

"Yes, sir," Cris replied, "you can count on me."

As they turned the corner and walked down the hallway, Harry pulled out his gun, not sure what to expect. Cris gave him a nod and he knocked three times on the door, "this is detective Styles with NYPD. We need you to open up." All Harry could hear was shuffling as he waited.

On the other side of the door Liam glared at Louis, "you called them? Why would you want them to take me away from you?"

Louis frantically shook his head, backing up against the wall as Liam took several steps forward, "I swear I didn't call them. I didn't call anyone. I don't even have my phone," Louis replied in a whisper.

Liam pushed him into the wall and Harry spoke from behind the door, "we need you to open up, Mr. Payne."

"How could you do this?" Liam asked through gritted teeth, pushing on Louis with more force, "after all we've been through, you do this?"

"Mr. Payne," Harry said again, getting irritated by the second. When there was no reply, he spoke up again, "Mr. Payne, if you do not answer this door I swear to God I will knock down this door."

Liam's eyes narrowed into a glare, "and you called him to defend you?"

"I didn't call anyone," Louis said weakly, "I didn't call him, promise."

Liam pushed Louis to the side, "don't say a word and go hide in the bedroom," and answered the door, only showing his face, "yes, detective?"

"Mind if we come in?" Harry had asked, not waiting for a reply, "oh that's great," he pushed Liam out of the way and went into the apartment. He pointed his gun in front of him checking the living room and kitchen, yelling 'clear' when he saw no sign of Louis. Liam stood at the door as Cris went to the bathroom and then the guest bedroom. He gave Harry a look who stepped into the master bedroom first.

The floor creaked beneath Harry's feet as he looked into the room, catching sight of a pair of Vans beneath the bed, "Lou?" he whispered, "please come out."

There was a hesitation, but Louis slowly peeked his head out from beneath the bed, "he's it. He's the killer," were the first words the smaller man had spoken.

Harry looked at him in disbelief, "you sure?" he asked quitely. Louis nodded. "Stay here," Harry spoke, "be quiet." He gave Cris a nod who then shouted clear. The two of them stepped out of the room and put their guns in their holsters.

"So then you're done here?" Liam questioned.

Harry shook his head, "not quite, Mr. Payne. Please, take a seat." Liam gave the men a look, but listened well and sat on the couch as Cris sat in one of the chairs and Harry paced around the room, sneakily clicking the recording device on. "You see Mr. Payne, we had speculations that you had kidnapped Louis, for what reasons we don't know. However, we also think you're the killer. Do you care to confess to anything? Maybe there's something you haven't told us before? Something you had forgotten?"

"Well, I forgot that you're a son of a bitch, but that's nothing new," Liam retorted.

Harry disregarded the comment, "anything useful to this case?" Liam didn't reply so Harry took this opportunity to ask another question, "how long have you been living here, Mr. Payne?"

"Three, four years, somewhere in there," Liam replied.

Harry nodded, "how long have you known Louis?"

"A bit longer than the time I've been here, so five or six years," Liam answered, not entirely sure where this conversation was going. 

"Why are you still living here? You told me that you were staying in a hotel," Harry stated.

Liam laughed, "I never even left."

"Why's that?"

"Because I wanted to be close to him," Liam answered.

"Louis?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. He was the love of my life and I let him go for some...some manipulator that only wanted to touch him in inappropriate ways! I should have gotten Louis help when I found out," Liam had rambled.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, "what did you find out?"

Liam slumped back onto the couch and folded his arms across his chest, "the bastard had been touching Louis for years, right under my nose too. When I found out, I wanted to beat the shit out of him, but I took my anger else where."

"And where did you take it?"

"To the cages, where else?"

"The what?"

"The batting cages. I play ball, you know, baseball," Liam explained.

"Uh huh," Harry said, "why didn't you get Louis help if you knew what was going on."

Liam looked away from Harry, looking as though he was trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. He stood up and started pacing around, his hands rubbing over his face, "whatever I did, whatever I offered to do, Louis turned me down. He said Zayn was his best friend. He claimed that they were always there for each other. He didn't want me to take him away from Zayn."

"So you left?"

"Of course I left!" Liam yelled, flailing his arms in the air, "it was him or me. There was no in between. Louis couldn't have the both of us, not when we wanted to strangle each other. So I made the decision easy on him. I gave him what he wanted more."

"And you were angry," Harry stated, making the conversation go faster.

"Wouldn't you be?" 

"And you left the man you loved." 

"Yes, I did!" 

"So you killed his best friend?" Harry asked quickly.

"Of course not," Liam said.

Harry nodded, looking straight at Liam, "you can come out now, Louis."

There was a quietness throughout the apartment as Louis made his way out from underneath the bed. He quickly ran towards Liam, placing small punches all over his chest, "you said you killed him! You told me you did it! It's you, it's you, it's you!" Louis exclaimed as Harry tried to pull him away from Liam. "Why would you tell me something like that if it isn't true?" Louis yelled in question.

"Because I love you, Louis. If that's what would have made you happy, I would have gone through with it," Liam stated.

Harry knew then that Liam had some serious problems and was quite possibly a pathological liar maybe even crazy, who knew? Harry intervened with the conversation at hand, taking Louis out of the apartment. Liam had chased the three of them out of his home, yelling after them, "come back, please, baby, come back!" All Louis did was cry and thank Harry for always being there.

Even after everything that happened, they still had no idea who the killer was: it was back to square one for the thousandth time.