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

the phone, looking surprised. “Isabel?” was all she could ask while looking at our hands.

“Yes, ma’am, this is Special Agent Joshua Rockwall and he’s been assigned to me.” I was trying to sound as professional as possible. “I thought it best he act as my pseudo-boyfriend so none of the parents get alarmed at the thought of my needing protection from an unknown killer that may or may not want to murder me and/or Jill.”

Pam sat quiet for a moment taking all this in. I let go of Josh’s hand and folded my hands in front of me. Josh placed his in his pockets. She was looking at our body language, I assumed. Please just say something, I yelled in my head.

She inhaled deeply and said, “All right, it sounds like you’ve thought this through, so I agree.” She stood up to shake Josh’s hand. “Very nice to meet you, Agent Rockwall. I just got off the phone with your supervisor.” She paused, sitting back down. “He was updating me on the case and when the next court date is. The trial is now set for the second week of December, so you two will have just a couple weeks of your pseudo relationship.” Pam laughed at her own joke and Josh did a weird cough-chuckle.

Pam was an older woman, probably in her mid-fifties. She was a tall, striking brunette. Her husband was an alcoholic so she was always at work and never really wanted to go home for that reason. Why she didn’t leave him, I didn’t know. Pam was the sort of boss you didn’t want to let down. She was very good at her job and enjoyed doing it. I wanted to show her I was equal to the task and I could handle any case she gave me.

“Pam, I’m going to show Agent Rockwall around so he can familiarize himself with our floor and other parts of the hospital. Is there anywhere in particular you want me to make sure he sees?” I asked.

“Has Agent Rockwall met Dr. Summers?” She half smiled.

“Not yet. I don’t think that section of the hospital is as important as our floor right now, or the therapy areas. I’ll save that for last,” I said, giving her a pointed look.

“Yes, of course, you would know best.” She had a slightly bigger grin. “I would start with all the exits and entrances we have,” she added.

I nodded as we made our way to the door. Josh closed her door behind him and then grabbed my arm to stop me from walking ahead of him.

“Hey, what was that about?” he wondered. “You know, the looks you two gave each other.”

“Oh, it was nothing important. Just Pam being Pam.” I smiled nervously. “Let’s start with the main entrance to our floor and then I’ll show you three different entrances and exits that are not so obvious.” I quickly changed the subject but I could tell he wasn’t sold on my answer.

We walked the entire floor, even going into the ladies’ room and men’s room together. However, I think the highlight of my tour was the play therapy room since it was full of boy and girl toys and lots of jars of all sorts of candy. We also had a small sitting area for teenagers to play video games or board games. It was a very bright and colorful room so it’s hard for anyone not to enjoy it. The other two rooms were geared more toward teenagers.

“This is it!” I exclaimed. “I think you’ve seen everything and all of the restrooms too.”

“Not quite,” he responded. “What about meeting Dr. Summers?

“Well…um…he’s in the ER, he’s an ER doctor and that’s on the first floor…and we really don’t interact with him or them a whole lot because he’s an MD and we’re PhDs…we only go down there if they call us for a consult or if they have a child abuse case.” I was rambling and wringing my hands.

Josh was motionless, eyeing me with his hands in his pockets. “Isabel,” Josh said calmly, “You don’t have to take me now. We can go whenever you’re ready.”

I exhaled and gave him a thankful smile. “We’ll go, just let me get my day started and I can take you down there later this afternoon.” Later, when I’m not a nervous wreck, I thought.

“Sounds like a plan,” he answered, satisfied.

 

6

We walked back to my office without talking. It felt like Josh was lost in his own thoughts. I really wanted to resolve this nagging feeling I had that something was odd about the case. I sat at my desk looking for all my notes and files I had on my victim and Tori. I had completely forgotten Josh was in the room with me until I heard his stomach growl again. I peeked up at him. He was gazing out onto our floor, scanning it and inputting something in his phone. He seemed very pensive.

“Are you hungry?” I inquired. “Because I am. You said you would grab us something once we got settled.”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” He put his phone away and turned to look at me. “Why don’t I go get us breakfast? You stay here and work while I do that, since I also have to get a few things to take to your house.” I noticed the emphasis he had put on “stay here” and it kind of irked me. Honestly, all this fuss was really not necessary.

“Yes, yes,” I replied, feeling irritated. “I won’t go anywhere, I promise!” And I rolled my eyes at him. He wasn’t amused. He gave me a long hard stare and walked out my door, calling someone, probably to get a fill-in babysitter while he was otherwise occupied. I didn’t care. I was busy trying to piece together this puzzle from