Clean Criminal // l.s.

v.

Louis sat in the waiting room for the second time that week and he was proud to see that Harry had actually cleaned up the chairs as he had promised. Louis wondered for a moment if Harry always kept his promises, if he were the honest type that never seemed to lie.

Louis shook the thoughts out of his mind when he felt a hand gently touch on his shoulder. He looked over to find Harry with a friendly smile, "hey, I'm sorry that our whole thing got interrupted. I could make it up to you, maybe dinner tonight? And you'll be able to remember this time."

Louis laughed along with Harry, "yeah, that should be fine." Louis made a mental note to record his television shows for the evening because he didn't want to miss anything (even if it was a rerun).

"Well, I better get back to work. I'll pick you up at seven?" Harry questioned, wanting to make sure everything was okay.

"Seven is good, but I think I'll stick around just in case you need me," Louis sad, settling down in the chair yet again.

Harry smiled, "alright, whatever you want to do." Harry stood and Louis reached out his hand to grab Harry's wrist before he could walk too far.

"Could I maybe see him? I just...I haven't seen him in a long time because Zayn insisted I didn't. But I think I just need to see him one more time. Maybe I could help you out. I can watch his posture and body language as you ask him questions. I know him better than a lot of people."

Louis was very convincing and Harry let him stand behind the glass of the interrogation room to watch his past lover as he was asked questions.

"Please, state your full name for me," Harry had said, pulling out his notepad and pen.

The man let out a sigh as he leaned back into the chair, "Liam James Payne."

.

"We need to find more evidence as to how he can be related to this case. See if you can check out his hotel room or wherever he was staying," Harry told one of the officers, "if we can, we need to check things out asap. There's no time to waste."

The officer nodded and Harry turned to see Louis standing right behind him, "hey, what did you think of it?"

"I'm not sure what to think. He's different around you. With everyone else he's softer. But with you, he's as hard as stone."

"Do you think he might be hiding something?"

"I...I'm not sure. He's changed since I've last seen him. He cut his hair. He hasn't shaved. He's more manly."

"Louis," Harry said in a soft tone with a hint of curiosity, "when was the last time you saw him?"

Louis really didn't want to think about it. But since Harry had asked, his mind was taking him back four years to when Liam had walked away from him, never to return again.

It was a good day, it really was, and if Liam hadn't left Louis there all on his own, he might have said it was one of the happiest days of his life. Liam and Louis had spent the whole day with each other. They went to the park, they saw a movie, they ate out, they did a lot of hand holding and Liam even kissed him (which was something Louis was just getting used to. He always thought it was weird pressing your quite clean lips up against someone's possibly dirty ones.). But Liam kissed him and when he was about to leave he stood in front of Louis with such a sorry look that made Louis instantly panic.

"What? Did I do something wrong? I don't know how to kiss, do I? I suck at kissing. I'm sorry. It's just this is my first time getting close to someone. I haven't ever kissed someone else. I'm sorry it was lame. I didn't mean for it to be, you know. I'm just...I'm sorry," Louis rambled. His face was a bright red and he felt like curling up into a ball in his bed and crying himself to sleep from such embarrassment.

"You're fine, Lou. It's just that, I got accepted into that really nice school I was telling you about and I need to fly out there tonight and I just don't want to put you through the pain of a long distance relationship so I...well, I'm going to have to break up with you."

"You're lying to me," Louis had stated. He was not going to believe such things. There was no way that the love of his life was leaving him, "you're clearly lying. Your leg is shaking and you're playing with your fingers and you only ever do that when you lie. Why are you lying to me?"

Liam turned his head, focusing his eyes on something else because looking Louis in the eyes hurt more than what he was about to say, "I just can't compete with him."

Louis looked at Liam confused, "what do you mean?"

"Zayn; I can't compete with him. You give him so much attention. You constantly talk about him. It feels like you're in a relationship with him and not me. I can't continue dating you if you're just going to compare him to me. I'm not Zayn nor will I ever be and you just don't get that," Liam said. And he was going to regret his next words later on, but it didn't even matter, "if you love him so much, why don't you date him instead?"

Louis didn't want to see Liam cry, but he was and he was trying so hard not to run off and grab a tissue to clean up his tears. He raised his shaking hand to wipe away Liam's tears and then pulled away quickly, feeling as though he might have done something wrong.

"I...I don't have to be friends with him. I can stop being friends with him and, and, and focus on you. And I don't have to constantly talk about him. I, I, I can stop that if you want. I'll do anything to keep you here. Just, please, please, please don't leave me tonight. I don't know what I'd do without you. You, you, you understand me," Louis choked out, "you get me. You can't just leave me. You...you promised. Don't you remember?"

"Do you even hear the words that are coming out of your mouth?" Liam yelled, "are you even aware of what you just said? There's no way in hell that you'd give him up for me. He's the one who babies you. He's the one that's constantly there whenever you fall down and scrap your knee. He's the one who you talk to. He's the one that you trust! Fuck everything you just said because it isn't true and you know that. You love him more, plain and simple. So why don't you just admit that to yourself? I don't think I can stay with someone who will look into the mirror and lie to themselves."

Thinking back now, Louis shouldn't have even let Liam walk away after his final words. He should have ran after him. He should have stopped him. He should have done something. Something was better than standing there, crying like a baby and calling out Liam's name in a pathetic wail.

"It was a while ago," Louis answered, "haven't seen him since he went off to college to study."

Harry nodded, quickly writing down Louis' response and made sure Louis was alright before he went off to talk to a few other important people. Louis stared at Liam as the brown eyed bloke was lead around the building, handcuffed by two officers. He knew that he had to have been the killer. Now it was just a matter of getting the evidence to support that.