Truth or Lies?

by A. Gomez

  “Charles Andrew, I hate it when you make sense. Tell me again why you don’t have a girlfriend?”

  “Because there are so many girls to choose from, I can’t pick just one.” He winked and gave me a wicked grin. I stopped chewing and scowled at him. Was he kidding? I hoped he was kidding. My mother interrupted us, saying time for cake. I glanced over at Ben and Belín. She had her hair to one side, sitting sideways on her chair with her knee touching his thigh. Yup, she was so obviously flirting and she didn’t care who saw it. Loved her Spanish non-inhibition. Ben seemed to like it too. Good gracious! Another female developing a relationship with yet another FBI agent. It had to be the water. Although, Ben did deserve to meet someone as smart and gorgeous as Belín. He’d wanted to meet someone for a while now.

  My mother brought over this delectable round cake with white whipped frosting and so many cute little colorful flowers on top. I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into that. Belín got up to open another bottle of wine. I waved at her and asked her to bring Ben and me water. Charlie picked up the dirty dishes and replaced them with small dessert plates. I could smell coffee—my mother must have brewed a pot for the dessert. Ben rose from the table to help Belín. I watched them as they interacted. She handed him things to hold and made it a point to touch him every time, whether it was a touch on the hand when she handed him the bottle or she held his arm for support while she was trying to balance herself on her tiptoes, reaching for the coffee cups. I wished I were that good at flirting. She made it look so natural. My mother placed dessert forks, cream and sugar on the table. She sat next to me and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Mom, I forgot to mention, David wants to come for brunch tomorrow morning. He patched me up and took care of me. From what the nurse told me, he had other doctors fill in for him at the ER so he could take care of me. I wanted to thank him somehow and he said he’d like to say hi to you and Charles Andrew, so I said okay to brunch.”

  “Honey, you want to thank David but you didn’t go thank Josh for what he did for you? The boy was shot trying to keep you safe. Angel, I’m happy to cook for David and thank him for taking good care of you, but we are going to that hospital tomorrow and I am thanking that boy for taking care of my baby as well. I hope you understand.” She was beginning to get upset. I wasn’t about to argue with her.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I acquiesced. We hugged and she whispered “I love you” in my ear.

  We finished having cake. Everyone was still chatting and talking about their day. They all started to get out of their seats slowly, picking up the dishes. I got up to get my antibiotic from my room while everyone cleaned up. Ben didn’t stay to help but rather followed me to my room.

  “Isabel, there are a few things we need to go over,” he said, keeping his voice low so no one else could hear.

  “Yes, Ben, I’m sure there is.” I hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic. I was just tired. I suspected I was missing my filter since being on the pain medication.

  He lightly snickered, “I overheard you and your mother talking about going to see Josh tomorrow and…”

  I cut him off with, “You heard us? How on earth did you hear what we were talking about? I saw you and Belín at dinner; if she were any closer to you she would’ve been in your lap. Plus, you were talking just as much as she was, so how did you manage to hear us?”

  “Let’s just say it’s my job and this is what I’m trained to do.”

  “Great! Another one that uses his work as an excuse! I’m starting not to like FBI agents, Ben.” I fell backwards onto my bed and exhaled loudly. “I’m sorry, Ben, I don’t mean to be so rude. I didn’t mean what I said. You’re just doing your job. Please excuse my behavior.”

  “There’s nothing to excuse, Isabel, I can understand your frustration. Your world has been turned upside down and you have people shooting at you now.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled warmly at him. “You were saying?” I sat up to listen; he turned the lights on in my room so he could see me.

  “I understand you and your mother want to go visit Josh tomorrow and was thinking that may not be such a good idea if you go. Your mother should be fine to visit but perhaps you could wait a little while before you see him.”

  “Well, I wasn’t expecting you to say that. Why shouldn’t I go?” I was puzzled. “Before we left the hospital you said we could go see him, what’s changed? Is there something the matter?”

  “No, nothing is really wrong. It’s just a matter of Josh recovering and healing. He’s on the mend and we need him to get on his feet sooner rather than later,” he said. “We think by you seeing him, it might cause him to come unglued again.” He was rubbing his five o’clock shadow, looking pensive.

  “I thought he was supposed to do computer work or rather internet work? And why would seeing me cause him to come unglued?” I asked with bitterness in my voice.

  “We need him to be focused and recover quickly without any distractions so he is able to sit in front of a computer and work on this particular case. As I said before, Josh has a degree in computer science and is very knowledgeable with all things technology, computers and phones,” he said, giving me a fleeting glance.

  “And the unglued part?” I asked.

  “Um, Yes, well, you’ve gotten under his skin, it seems like, and he’s asking to see you so he can explain things.”

  “I see, and, so y’all are afraid I will call him a liar, tell him I don’t believe him or say something to upset him and he’d not be able to do his job after that.” I felt a pang of hurt. “Did I get it right, Ben?” I peeked up at him.

  “More or less. I’m sorry, Isabel.” His face was impassive.

  “Don’t be. I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to see him to begin with but there’s no arguing with my mother. I trust you’ll explain the situation to her?” I managed a weak smile and reached for my medicine.

  “Yes, I’ll let her know and I can have an agent take her, if you’d like,” he offered. I eyed him speculatively.

  “Ben, is he in pain? Is he okay?”

  “Not too much. His doctor is making sure to keep him comfortable, and he should recover.” He gave a reassuring smile before leaving.

  Why did I miss Josh? I hardly knew him. And why was I bothered that he might be in some pain or discomfort? Again, we had only just met and I hardly knew him. We hadn’t had any time together to develop any real or strong feelings for one another… so why was he saying those things? What was it about this man? Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? He may have gotten under my skin too but I was not ready to admit that to myself. It was just too soon… wasn’t it?

  13

  I took my medicines, including the pain pill. It was a little over four hours since the last one so I didn’t think twice. I wanted to feel numb. I was getting ready for bed when Belín came bouncing in, happy as happy can be and humming to herself. She let herself fall on my bed and laid there staring at the ceiling.

  “Well, someone had a good night.” I sat next to her on the bed, buttoning my p.j. top.

  “Oh, Isabel, he is sooo wonderful,” Belín gushed. “He is very well read, has been to Spain several times and is familiar with my favorite restaurants in Madrid. He is very interested in the story I am investigating and he said I have beautiful green eyes and he thinks I have a charming accent.”

  “So does every other man you meet,” I said with sarcasm in my voice.

  “Yes, yes,” she agreed, waving off my comment. “But those were stupid boys. I actually like this one.” She let out big sigh.

  “Does he like you? He looks like he likes you.” I got up to brush my teeth.

  She jumped up, saying, “I think so…I hope so…” and sat down on the chair, thinking about my question, no doubt, and started digging through her suitcase. “Isabel, do you have any cute nightgowns I can borrow? Everything I have is very ugly and I do not want Ben to see me in that.”

  I laughed out loud. “You are so good at this. I get i
t, you’re going to be sleeping with me since my mom has the other room and you know Ben will be closer to me so you want to make sure he sees sleeping beauty. Love it!” I chimed. “I should have something. Help yourself, they are all in my armoire.” She picked a shirt nightgown that fell to middle of her thigh. It was white satin, long sleeved with buttons running down the front and a V-neck showing just enough cleavage where anyone’s eye would automatically go. It was the perfect combination of sexy and classy. She went into the bathroom to shower. I told her to use the lavender bath gel and the lavender lotion after. I climbed into bed with my book. The pain meds still hadn’t kicked in so I had time to read for a bit. I loved reading in bed. It relaxed me and cleared my mind. It always soothed me and put me to sleep. Belín walked out looking like a new person. The nightgown was a little long on her since she wasn’t as tall as me, but she looked lovely just the same.

  I whistled at her. “Are you wearing lip-gloss?”

  “Just a little. A girl has to be prepared, you know.” She fished her laptop out of her backpack and climbed into bed with me. “I’m going to work on my story for a few minutes while my hair dries.”

  “No problem,” I said and turned off my lamp. I got under the covers to go to sleep. I could feel the medication working and fell into a blissful slumber.

  Something startled me but my eyes would not open. I could hear some noise but couldn’t make out what it was. I didn’t care, I just wanted to sleep some more. I tried rolling over but realized I couldn’t move. I tried rolling the other direction and still couldn’t move. This did not feel right. I started to make out voices now and people talking in rapid succession.

  People were yelling in English and Spanish… it sounded echoey. I couldn’t make sense of this dream… I couldn’t see anything either. I wanted to open my eyes but couldn’t. I heard my mother’s voice yelling for Ben. Belín and Charlie were talking extremely fast in Spanish but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Ben and another man came in. I tried opening my eyes so I could see who it was, but still couldn’t. My head was starting to hurt. I tried to raise my hand to my head but I couldn’t do that either. What was happening?

  “You were the only doctor treating her!” Ben was yelling at someone unusually loud, so out of character for him. He sounded infuriated. “This is phenobarbital and hydrocodone! You potentially put her in a coma! By the grace of God, she’s still alive! Barely!”

  I’m in a coma? Surely, I was not dead since I could hear everyone. I didn’t feel any pain either, just my head starting to hurt. My body felt heavy and limp but I could hear everyone clearly.

  “These are not the meds I prescribed!” That was David’s voice. David was already here? “Isabel, can you hear me? Isabel, baby, can you squeeze my hand?” He was opening my eyelids but I still couldn’t see. I felt him take my hand and check my pulse. I wanted to answer, I wanted to say “Yes, I can hear you,” but I couldn’t seem to talk.

  “Fucking moron! You filled her prescriptions for her, don’t you check what you prescribe?”

  “Ben, David, please just get her to the hospital! You can argue there.” My mother was crying. Oh no. This must be bad.

  “Of course, Dr. Langley.” Ben’s voice sounded more civil now. “The other agents already have an ambulance here. The paramedics are coming in as we speak.” Someone grabbed me by my wounded arm and I let out a groan.

  “Isabel! Honey! Mama’s here, talk to me, sweetheart.” She was still crying.

  “Mama?” My voice was a feeble whisper. I heard the paramedics come in with a gurney.

  “Take her to Chicago Memorial,” Ben said to one of the paramedics. “You’ll have a police and FBI escort. Two other agents will be in the ambulance with you.” Ben’s voice was very brusque and direct. I had never thought that man could lose his temper.

  “Why so far? Cook County is closer and I can help her there.” David sounded aggravated and panicked.

  “This is possibly your doing, so she will not be going anywhere near the hospital you practice at,” Ben said with authority. “David Summers, you’re staying here and answering a few questions.”

  “This is ridiculous! I would never do this to Isabel!” David’s voice was booming. Ouch! It felt like needles were being jabbed in my head when he yelled.

  They whisked me away. I could hear my mother beside me the entire way to the ambulance. I didn’t know where she went off to after a few minutes. I wanted to look around for her to see where she went but I still couldn’t open my eyes.

  The ambulance ride was very bumpy and loud. The paramedics in there with me kept talking to me and it was making my head hurt more. I wanted to tell them to be quiet or talk softly but I couldn’t get the words out. My eyes wouldn’t open, my voice didn’t work and I couldn’t lift my arms or hands. The best I could do was, “Shhhh.” They went wild and started praising me as if I were a toddler who uttered her first declarative sentence. They were saying things such as, “good job,” or “I knew you could do it,” and “do it again.” They stopped talking and I could feel someone take my arm out of my sleeve and poke me hard with a needle. I groaned and pulled my eyebrows together.

  “You’re doing great, Isabel. You’re responding nicely. We’re almost to the hospital,” said the faceless, male voice. I could still feel the needle. It must have been an IV he started and it was hurting bad. I wanted to tell him to take it out but I couldn’t find my voice. Every bump the damn ambulance took made my head hurt more and now the poorly positioned IV as well. I started groaning again and was trying with all my might, to no avail, to lift my other arm so I could pull it out myself. I groaned louder so perhaps that way he could see I was in pain. All I got was, “You’re doing so great.” The ambulance hit another bump and pain resonated through my head and arm.

  “Take this damn thing out of my arm,” I told him in the loudest voice I could muster, which I think, was just above a whisper. I started blinking my eyes, trying to focus, also to no avail.

  He looked at me, pleased with my state of consciousness. “Welcome back, Isabel. We’re just pulling in. I’m surprised you’re responding so quickly after what you took.” Was this guy ignoring me? My irritation increased. I forced myself to lift my arm and yank out the IV. I dropped it on the floor and let my arm fall on the gurney. That felt so much better. I felt the ambulance come to a stop and the doors immediately flew open. The paramedic saw what I did, a little too late, and yelled, “Isabel, why would you do that?” He was putting pressure on my arm and trying to place a bandage where the IV once was. They hurried me out of the vehicle and took me to the ER. There was a doctor waiting to see me,

  My mother was already inside but she was alone. Belín and Charlie must have stayed back. I didn’t see Ben either. I was once again hooked up to several machines and a nurse was starting an IV on my other arm. She did a much better job. My head was still pounding—the bright lights and a cacophony of different sounds made it worse. I tried to talk again but finding my voice was more strenuous than I thought.

  “Doctor,” I said in a scratchy voice, “can you please make my headache go away?”

  “Well, now,” he answered, sounding delighted. “You can talk. So, you have a headache? On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, how bad is it?”

  “Ten,” I whispered.

  “That’s probably from what’s in your system right now. Don’t worry, I can fix that.” He gave instructions to the nurse who had just finished my IV. She nodded and quickly injected a clear liquid into my IV. The pain started to calm down.

  I closed my eyes for what I thought was just a minute and when I opened them again, I was in a private room with my mother next to me in a chair reading. I looked around the room and heard a beeping noise that started to beep faster. Ben stood up and came closer to the bed. He heard the same beep and knew I was awake. His expression was that of relief.

  “Isabel, you’re one strong lady. The paramedic told us how alert you were in the ambulance. That
’s very unusual given the medications you ingested. I’d say you have the constitution of a super human.” Ben was still wearing the sweats I saw him in last night.

  “What happened?” I asked. My mother took my hand and stood up to kiss my forehead. I squeezed her hand so she would know I was fine.

  Ben exhaled heavily as if inflating a balloon. “Long story short, we think someone switched the medications David prescribed for you.”

  “I heard y’all arguing. I know David didn’t do this. He would never do anything remotely like this.” Talking felt a little easier now.

  “Wait, you heard us? That’s incredible! Did you hear everything? Ben wondered.

  “I don’t know. But I did hear you yelling and cursing at David. I never knew you could lose your temper like that, Ben. I’m impressed.” I grinned. His eyes were wide. He was at a loss for words.

  “Honey, how do you feel?” My mother sounded and looked relieved. I hoped she wouldn’t tell me to come home.

  “Actually, Mom, I’m feeling fine,” I said, raising the head of my bed a bit so I could see them better. “My headache is gone and strangely enough, I feel rested. My body still feels heavy but not like before. Where are Belín and Charles Andrew?”

  “Oh, honey, they went to do an errand for me. I told them not to come since you were complaining of a severe headache. However the doctor that saw you did a good job of taking care of that pain for you.” She was stroking my hair and still holding my hand, “Honey, how do you know David wouldn’t hurt you like that?”

  “I just know, Mom. David is selfish, loves himself, and only hurts women emotionally, not physically and certainly not to kill. The Triads are the ones that want me out of the way or gone. My guess is there’s one of them working at Cook County and knew David was filling a couple of scripts for me.”

  “Uh, about that, Isabel, we feel you should take a break from work for a while, just until the trial at least. We don’t want any more of these incidences. We already have our hands full trying to keep you out of harm’s way and locating the Triads.” Ben was eyeing my mother. “We were thinking that perhaps you should go home with your parents while you convalesce. I or another agent would be accompanying you, of course.”