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

was going to be so angry with Agents Cristina and Todd. I was so glad I wouldn’t be around to see that volcano erupt.

“Whoa!” I yelled, laughing louder. “Ginger, you take your best shot,” I mumbled through giggles. “Because I think I’m done with trying to evade crazies like you.” I was laughing so hard I was bending over, holding my side. “I mean you are one fucked-up, stupid bitch!” I spat out, laughing harder. “Most girls would just break up with an asshole like David Summers, but not you!” I was trying to catch my breath. “You stayed, got mind fucked and emotionally abused and now you want revenge on me, when by all accounts it should be him,” I said, pointing to David. “You must be a glutton for punishment.”

Someone was banging on the door and yelling my name. The agents must have finally figured out that Ginger wasn’t the nurse that was supposed to be here. Ginger looked pissed, her eyes blazing with anger. She fired two shots at me and missed, hitting the machines instead. Did she mean to do that? Was she that bad of a shot? I quickly stopped laughing.

“Here, let me help you.” I stood up, moving to the wall away from David, holding my hands up in defeat. She frowned, eyeing me up and down, confused why I was dressed like a rodeo clown. “Maybe you’re getting nervous and you’re afraid you’ll hit David. After all, you did imply you want him to suffer.” I reached the wall, knowing I wasn’t going to be behind the cover of the curtain anymore. The two agents and Josh now had me in their sights.

I smirked at Ginger, twisting that painful, proverbial knife even more, and then Josh fired two shots through the glass door and the curtain, shattering the glass and hitting Ginger dead center in her back. She collapsed, hitting the floor with a thud. The same thud I heard when I shot Chang’s henchmen. Blood was pouring out of her body like an open faucet. My mouth went dry.

“Isabel!” Josh stormed in, stepping over Ginger. He took me in his arms. I nearly collapsed, exhaling. I could feel my heart racing. Odd how I hadn’t felt it before. Must have been my adrenaline shooting through me. I buried my face in his chest, not wanting to see anymore dead bodies.

He held me tight. “Jesus.” His voice was tense. “I can’t take you anywhere without someone trying to shoot at you.”

“Ha, ha,” I chuckled. “Please tell me it’s over, Josh. Please tell me there’s no one else out there that wants to kill me.”

“Yes, baby, it’s over.” He led me out of David’s room. Nurses, agents and doctors were rushing in.

He sat me down on a chair just outside the ICU. I noticed he quickly scanned me from top to bottom, looking for any injuries. He squatted in front of me, gazing intently at me.

“I knew you wouldn’t listen to me and stay put. I’m just glad I wasn’t too late. I got here as fast as we figured things out.” He was clenching his jaw and his mouth was set in a thin line.

“What do you mean? She knew I was here?”

“Not exactly. We had been watching the texts on the other therapists’ phones, including yours, but for some reason, Dr. Pamela Hobbson was working late and decided to text through her computer tonight, hence my needing to be here. It would’ve taken too long for me to connect remotely to the hospital’s network.” He continued. “Pam was keeping Ginger updated on Summers and…”

“Pam?” I interrupted, incredulous. Shock hit me like a Mack truck. “Pam’s the one that’s been helping Ginger and the Triads?”

“Yes, baby, Pam. She informed Ginger that Summers was brought in to this ER and wasn’t being watched or guarded. We did that on purpose hoping we could trap her. Well, we did… I just didn’t think ICU would let you in, but I suspect they only let you in because of Cortez and Hawkins. I’m going to have a chat with those two,” he muttered.

“But she changed the way she looks. I wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a line up if you asked me to. Did Cristina and Todd not know that?”

“We suspected that too, given their conversations. We just didn’t know what we were looking for yet. Everyone knew, but like I mentioned, we didn’t know what we were looking for and she did a good job changing her look.”

“How did you not know it was Pam before tonight? Did Pam know Ginger wanted me dead?”

He sighed, letting his head drop. “We found out it was Pam just this evening. She’d been very careful about texting or communicating with anyone. Possibly because of her affair with Conny. That’s how Chang’s men knew where to find you. Ginger thought you were flying commercial but Pam told her it was your father’s company jet.” He squeezed my hands. “And, yes, Pam knew Chang and Ginger wanted you… gone,” he said wryly. “I wish I would’ve listened to you and taken you home with me. All of this would have never happened.”

I stood up and began to pace the hallway, rubbing my forehead. “I don’t understand. Why? Pam is so good at what she does. She’s one of the smartest and most accomplished psychologists out there,” I declared. I felt like I was in shock. This couldn’t possibly be real. My office was just down the hall from Pam’s. She had so many chances to kill me. I stared unseeingly straight ahead.

“It was all about money and her husband, baby.” Josh was in front of me, clasping me by the shoulders. “Pam’s husband had gotten into some gambling trouble during one of his drinking binges and lost everything. The bank accounts were emptied; he lost the house