Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (book club recommendations txt) 📗

He eyed me, surprised. Was he surprised at my comment? Was I being too forward? Perhaps he was surprised that he never thought of it that way? Either way, I hoped I didn’t overstep make him lose his temper.

“Dr. Langley, I would like you to have lunch with me today,” he said flatly. What? I blinked at him, completely stunned. Shit! Why? Just me? I turned my head slightly, gazing down at Betty out of the corner of my eye.

“Do not be concerned for Betty Lou, Dr. Langley. She will be safe. You have my word.”

“What about my… er… our chores and whatever else Debbie needs us to do today?” I asked, thoroughly confused by his invitation.

“Lunch is at noon. You have all morning to finish and if you don’t finish then you can finish after lunch.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say. My stomach was all of a sudden in knots. I didn’t want to leave Betty alone and I couldn’t say no thank you. He could get offended, blow up, and Betty could end up getting hurt or worse, placed on their website.

“Where shall I meet you for lunch?”

“I’ll have Debbie come for you and bring you to me.” he said. He strolled to the door and held it open for us. It looked like I was getting dismissed. I nodded, taking Betty’s hand as we both stalked out.

We found our way back to the laundry room and got busy with our chores. Since I didn’t pay attention to Debbie’s instructions I didn’t know what to do. Betty Lou had to explain everything to me, down to where the laundry detergent was. She quickly began to separate the clothes and towels and load the washer. She couldn’t reach or see where to put the detergent so I helped with that. We quietly began to fold what was already dry and sort the clothes into different piles. Girls began to come in and out, leaving clothes, towels and even shoes to be washed. And each time one came in she would thank me for what I did to Frank or act in awe of me. They all called him Gator Leg as well. So, I guessed Lilly wasn’t the only one that was grateful he was gone. Lilly had told them all what happened, how I stood up to Chang and how I put a spin on the situation. One girl went as far as calling me a spin-doctor. I laughed. As for me... I wasn’t sure how to feel. This was the second man I’d killed and I didn’t think twice about it. I was glad he was gone and would never come back. I just wished it wasn’t like this. Needless to say, I didn’t feel good about what happened or myself no matter how grateful these girls were.

“Isabel,” Betty chimed, “thank you for taking care of me. I’m only a little scared now. It’s not as bad as last night. When I get back home I’m going to tell my mom that I want to go to church because praying really works.” She sounded so optimistic. I smiled, watching her as she folded clothes and sorted them. I wished I had her optimism.

“Isabel Grace… Isabel Grace.” It was Caroline saying my name in an urgent, hushed voice.

“Caroline!” I squeaked in a low voice, hugging her tight, not wanting to let her go. “So, this is where you’ve been the last year? We were all suspecting you ran away with your boyfriend. No offense, but you do have a reputation for being a wily one.”

“He was no real boyfriend, Isabel Grace. He was only pretending so I would go away with him and he could bring me here. I can’t believe I actually thought he loved me. Never mind about me, why and how are you here?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, rolling my eyes, “but the short version is I figured out Chang is a Triad member and he had me kidnapped.”

Caroline was pretending to unload and load her basket with clothes. “I heard what you did last night. Gator Leg sounds like something you’d come up with.” She smirked. “Everyone is talking how you’re going to help us get out of here. Is that true?”

“Whoa! I hope y’all aren’t saying that out loud to where you know who can hear.”

“No, of course not.”

“I never really said I’m going to get all of us out of here. I just asked how I could get a phone charger and about the cell phone and Wi-Fi jammers,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t know how I can communicate with anyone outside of here if I can’t charge my phone or even get a signal once I do.”

We worked in silence for a few minutes, Caroline helping us fold a few of the clothes and placing them in her basket. I took a fleeting glance around the room and toward the entrance of the laundry room. “Caroline, I need you to do something for me.” I continued, “I need you to take care of Betty Lou while I’m at lunch with Chang.”

She stopped what she was doing and gaped at me. Giving me a full-on deer-in-the-head-lights stare. “What?”

“I know, I don’t get it either and I can’t even speculate what’s going through his head. All I can assume is he likes talking art with me.” I placed my hand on her forearm. “Please, just tell me you’ll look after her while I’m with him. I have to know she’ll be safe.”

“Yeah, sure…of course!”

“Thank you.” I exhaled.

32

Caroline left with a basket full of clothes, towels and bed sheets. Betty and I worked the rest of the morning in silence, trying to get as much done as possible. We were unsure what would happen to us if we didn’t finish everything, so we