She Told a Lie

by P. D. Workman

  Rhys went to the hotel room door and opened it, looking down the hallway toward the elevator. Zachary could hear voices getting closer. Rhys stood with the door open and, in a few moments, he was stepping out of the way of the paramedics.

  “Let’s get some room here,” one of them ordered. “Can the rest of you go sit on the other bed, please?”

  Zachary slid off and caught Madison by the arm. “Come on.”

  She resisted, but eventually joined him, leaving Noah alone on the bed.

  She sat with her face in her hands, sobbing. Zachary took his phone back from her. The other two phones still lay on the desk beside him.

  “I gave him four doses,” Zachary said, when one of the paramedics picked up the inhaler and looked at it.

  “Okay. Good job. You kept him alive long enough for us to get here. That’s the most you can do.”

  Zachary shook his head. There had to be something more that he could do. It was ridiculous that all he could do was sit there and give Noah four doses of Narcan, and it wasn’t enough. He should be carrying the stuff himself, like Rhys. He should have it with him wherever he went, but especially when he was working on a case that involved young people and drug addicts. He should have known that and planned ahead.

  He watched the paramedics working over Noah, giving him carefully measured shots. Noah grew more and more lucid with each dose, eventually blinking himself awake and pushing the paramedics away from him, complaining and telling them to go away.

  “You need to go to the hospital, buddy,” one of them told him. “You have an overdose and someone needs to keep an eye on you for a while. Your body could still be processing the opiates and you could lose consciousness again. You need to be under supervision.”

  “Just leave me alone,” Noah growled. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine. Not with how many doses of Narcan you needed. Your condition is very serious.”

  Noah shook his head. “I’m fine. I’m not going to the hospital. You can’t force me.”

  The paramedics looked at each other, then over at Zachary. But he didn’t know how to convince Noah to go to the hospital. He was usually on the other end—trying to get out of the hospital when they didn’t want to release him.

  “Just give me the form to sign,” Noah said, waving his hand at the paramedics. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  It took a few minutes to get everything straightened out. The paramedics continued to monitor Noah’s vital signs for a few minutes but, eventually, they had to leave. Noah waited until the door was closed behind them, then looked at Zachary.

  “So, what’s your brilliant plan?”

  39

  Zachary’s thoughts kept going in circles, but every time he thought he had a solution, he found a way to talk himself out of it. He needed some time to think it through, maybe to talk it over with someone who was not so closely involved with the situation.

  At first, he had felt like they were moving too slowly, Noah and Madison sleeping and Zachary not able to get anywhere without their cooperation. But now that Noah was awake again, Zachary felt rushed, pressured to act without knowing for sure what to do. He needed to come up with a working solution.

  “I need to make a call. I need to figure this out.”

  “Who’s stopping you?” Noah asked. “Go ahead.”

  It would help if Zachary knew who he was supposed to call. He tapped his phone restlessly, trying to figure it out.

  Rhys touched Zachary’s arm. Zachary looked over at him. Rhys’s lips pursed, and he gave a soft kissing sound.

  “Kenzie? No dead bodies. Not really her area.” Zachary exhaled, frustrated.

  Noah was sitting on the bed. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. “We gonna be here all night? If we are, I’m gonna go to sleep.”

  “I don’t want you passing out again. I want to know you’re okay. Keep him awake, Madison.”

  Madison held Noah’s hand, looking into his face. With all that Noah had said and done, it was hard to believe that she was still so in love with him. It just went to show how well conditioning worked. It was going to take a long time to unwind all of the lies he had told her and to figure out what her true feelings were. Zachary was still trying to sort out his feelings for his parents, for Bridget, and for others who had harmed him under one guise or another.

  Zachary unlocked his phone and looked at the recent calls list. He’d missed a couple of calls from Kenzie. Rhys said to call Kenzie. Maybe it was a sign. Zachary tapped her name. It rang a few times before Kenzie answered it.

  “Zachary? Where are you? I thought you would be at home.”

  “Yeah, sorry. I thought I would be too, but I had to go out…”

  “What happened?”

  Zachary didn’t want to say too much in front of Madison and Noah. “It’s… the case I closed. Things… didn’t turn out quite the way I expected.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Everyone is fine. Rhys says hi.”

  “Rhys is with you? Are you sure everything is okay?”

  “Yeah. I want to get him back home, but I don’t want to lead anyone there. Would you let Vera know he’s fine and I’ll get him back to her as soon as possible?”

  “Sure. She’s going to be scared, though.”

  “He’s fine. So am I. I just need… I don’t know what to do. I need to talk it through with someone who can help.”

  “The police? Have you called them?”

  “No… there might be one of them involved on the wrong side, and I don’t want to tip him off.”

  “A dirty cop?”

  “Yeah. Maybe. No proof, just suspicions.”

  “Tell Campbell.”

  “I will. When I know more. Until then, I want to stay below the radar.”

  “You are not supposed to be doing stuff like this on your own.”

  “There’s no danger right now. We’re okay. I just have to figure out where to take them on a more permanent basis.”

  “Them?”

  “Yeah, we kind of got a two for one deal.”

  “Another girl? One of Madison’s friends.”

  “No.”

  “Not… oh. Not Noah…?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sheesh. You can’t trust him.”

  “No. I don’t. But I still need to figure out what to do.”

  “Anywhere is better than where they’ve been.”

  “But it’s like Joss said. The organization isn’t going to let them go as easily as that. We’ve lost them for now, but they’re going to be looking everywhere I can think of to take them.”

  “Where does Joss think they should go?”

  “I haven’t talked to her,” Zachary explained. “Just before, when we had coffee. She said we need to get—her—out of the city and give her a new name and live that way. But how do you do that? Where do you take her and how do you set her up so that she’s safe and independent?”

  “And doesn’t turn around and run back to them.”

  Zachary glanced over at Madison, still talking to Noah and holding his hand. Kenzie and Joss were right. If they weren’t able to get through to her, Madison was going to go right back to them again.

  “I imagine you have as many skills as anyone at getting her off the grid,” Kenzie said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, you know how to find people. So you do the reverse. Make her unfindable.”

  Zachary thought about that. Could he hide her well enough that no one would be able to find her? Kenzie had a point.

  “Why don’t you call Joss and find out what she recommends?”

  “She uh… may have told me to stay out of it. That was her recommendation.”

  Kenzie snorted. “Well, if she knew anything about you, she should have known that wouldn’t work.”

  “Yeah, I think she had a pretty good idea.”

  “She’s the one with the experience, so you might want to give her a call.”

&n
bsp; In the back of his mind, Zachary had known this, but he hadn’t wanted to call Jocelyn again. Disregarding her advice and then expecting her to bail him out… he had a feeling she wouldn’t appreciate that.

  “I suppose.”

  “Do it. And then hurry up and get back to me. I don’t want to be worrying about you all night.”

  “Okay. And you’ll let Vera know?”

  “I suppose.”

  Zachary said his goodbyes, and then hung up. Rhys looked at him, probably understanding a lot more of what was going on than he was meant to. He pointed at the phone and rolled his eyes about them having to call Vera.

  “Well, you can’t just disappear and not tell her anything,” Zachary pointed out.

  Rhys shook his head at Zachary’s naivete. Zachary wondered what he had told Vera or how he had managed to sneak off without Vera knowing what was going on in the first place.

  40

  “Hi, Joss.”

  There was a huff of frustration from Jocelyn before Zachary could even tell her what was going on. “What did you do now?”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he protested, feeling again the like ten-year-old who was always in trouble for something. If all of the kids got in trouble, he could count on Jocelyn to blame him for it. She was the one who was in charge and supposed to keep them all in line, so he supposed she probably got the most severe punishment when she failed to do so. But he ended up getting it from her and from their parents, so he got punished twice when she only got punished once. And it wasn’t always even his fault. Most of the time, maybe, but not all of the time, and it always stung the most when he was blamed when he hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “You’re not just calling me for coffee again.”

  “Well, no.”

  “You got yourself into some kind of trouble. I told you that you were going to get into hot water, and you went ahead and did it anyway.”

  “I didn’t. I let the case go.” Zachary kept his voice low and turned away from the kids. They were talking to each other and had turned on the TV, so he had a measure of privacy.

  “You let it go.”

  “Yes!”

  “So you’re calling me about something completely unrelated.”

  “Well, no.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “She asked for help.”

  “She asked you for help.”

  “No, she asked her friend for help, and he’s the one who came to me. So I had to—”

  “You didn’t have to. You’re allowed to say no. And you should say no when it’s something like this. I told you that you shouldn’t have anything to do with it, and now you got yourself into some kind of trouble.”

  “I’m not in any trouble.”

  She was silent, waiting for him to explain why he was calling her if he wasn’t in trouble.

  “I’m not in trouble, but… I need to help them to find somewhere safe…”

  “Them?”

  “Well, yes.” Zachary kept his voice low. He was turned away from them, but really didn’t want them overhearing. He should probably have gone outside to talk. But he would have attracted attention pacing outside while talking on the phone. They were trying to keep a low profile and not give people any reason to notice them. “Madison and Noah.”

  “Who is Noah?” Joss groaned. “Oh, no! Tell me you didn’t take her Romeo too!”

  “Uh…”

  “I warned you! I told you they’re just going to get her back again. And especially if you’re going to take one of them with you! You have to dump him.” She swore angrily. “I’d tell you to slit his throat and leave him under a bridge somewhere, but you wouldn’t do it, would you? How could you, Zachary!”

  Zachary cupped his hand around his mouth and the phone receiver to try to keep his words from carrying. “It turned out that he was the one who sent the plea for help, not her. He was the one who wanted out. She does too, of course, but he wanted to get Madison out of there. And I need somewhere safe to take them. I can’t take them back to my place.”

  “Obviously not. This guy’s got you wrapped around his finger, Zachary. He’s telling you stories. I know how it is. They get really, good at it. They could talk the socks off a kitten. But it’s all lies. None of it is true. None of it.”

  “I know that he’s probably telling me a bunch of stories. But I can tell how he feels. And I know that when he starts feeling better, he’s going to panic and want to call back and turn them both in. I know. But right now, he needs somewhere to go, and I’m the only one who can help.”

  “You can tell how he feels?”

  “I… yes. I can tell. He’s depressed and suicidal, and I can’t leave someone like that to his own devices.”

  “He’s just reading you and reflecting your own feelings back. That’s the best way to get someone on your side.”

  “He’s already OD’d. I need to get him somewhere safe.”

  “He OD’d?”

  “Yes. An intentional overdose. So I know… he’s not just reflecting my mood. He got Madison out of there, and now he can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. He doesn’t know where to go or what to do. He knows he’s burned his bridges. They won’t take him back now, after what he’s done, and he doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

  “You’re some piece of work, Zachary.”

  “Is there any way you can help me? We’re stuck here in a hotel and we can’t stay here forever. I don’t know how long it will take them to track us down. It’s not exactly the big city. There are only so many places to look.”

  “Yeah,” Jocelyn’s voice was soft, as if she were suddenly afraid of being overheard.

  Zachary looked at his watch. It was late, so she shouldn’t be at work. She couldn’t be worried about being overheard on the phone by a boss or coworker. But he hadn’t asked her if it was a good time or if she were alone. He had no idea whether she had a boyfriend or was the type to seek out company when she was feeling down.

  “Is someone else there?”

  “What? No. Who else would be there?”

  “Oh. Sorry. It just sounded like you were trying to avoid being heard. My mistake.”

  “I told you before, Zach, you gotta get her far away from there. She needs a new name and to stay away from anyone from her old life. Everyone she associated with before Romeo and everyone she’s associated with since. She can’t talk to any of them, even if she doesn’t think they have any connection to the syndicate. They can get to anyone.”

  Zachary opened his mouth to disagree and say that they couldn’t get to him, that he would never put Madison at risk, but then he closed his mouth. He had called Jocelyn to ask her for her experienced opinion. How was arguing with that opinion going to get him anywhere?

  “Okay. So… how far away to I need to get her?” He ran through different possibilities in his mind. “New Hampshire? That would be away from their territory, right?”

  “It’s not like they have to follow state borders.”

  “Noah said that he thought that Gordo was the head man over Vermont. So I assume that means that if we can get them out of Vermont…”

  “Gordo?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can’t believe you’re dragging me into this.” Joss’s voice was suddenly angry and biting.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know who else to talk to. You’re the one who has experience with this stuff. Kenzie said I should go to the police, but…”

  “You already saw how the police handle this. They ask her if she needs help, and she says no, so they stay out of it. And you don’t know how many people inside the police department might… be easily bought.”

  “Yeah. Actually, I might. Do you know this guy? This Gordo?”

  “I know him.” Joss was quiet for a minute. Zachary thought it best not to disturb her thoughts. She would have plenty to think through. “Would he know me? No. Maybe he would know my street name, but he doesn’t know me as Jocelyn Goldman. I left that name be
hind years and years ago. I don’t think he would know my face. I don’t exactly look like I did when I was working for him.”

  “How… were you that high up in the organization? Do you mean you worked for him personally?”

  “I’ve… I know him. He doesn’t know me. I’m just another girl. He wouldn’t take a second look at me. Not now.”

  Zachary shifted uncomfortably. He took a quick look at Madison and Noah, but they were still distracted, staring at the TV and talking to each other. Zachary hadn’t expected Jocelyn to know Gordo’s name. He supposed Vermont was still a pretty small place. Jocelyn had been in the business for a lot of years and she would know a lot of the players.

  “If I find someone in New Hampshire, do you think that would work? I might be able to make some connections there.”

  “You’d be better off sending her to Canada.”

  The Canadian border wasn’t that far away but, in order to get Madison into Canada, they would have to smuggle her across. She wouldn’t have the passport she needed to get over the border. Even if she did, she would be traceable. She needed to get somewhere without documents.

  “We can start for the Canadian border,” he suggested to Jocelyn. “And then circle around. Backtrack and go for New Hampshire. They would think we were going one way, when we were really going the other.”

  “Which would work especially well if you could dump Noah at the border. Especially if he’s got more drugs on him. Throw him out and let the drug dogs get him.”

  She had a nasty imagination.

  “I’m going to do it. Make a run toward the border, that is, not leaving Noah to the dogs. With any luck, they’ll waste their time searching for data on who has crossed the border and not search in other directions until they’ve exhausted the possibilities.”

  “Okay. Whatever.”

  Zachary looked again at Noah. Noah saw the look and raised his brows. His lifted his hands palms-up. “What is it, bro? You got somewhere for us to go yet?”

  “Maybe,” Zachary told him.

  Noah rolled his eyes and looked back at Madison, dramatizing his impatience. “This guy rolls in acting like he knows everything and is the big man, and he doesn’t have a clue. I should never have called him.”