Liar

  Luanne looked me over. “Who dressed you this morning? You need to talk about this now?”

  “Sorry,” I said, I leaned in and plastered on a sympathetic smile. “Wasn’t expecting the interview. We rushed over. Henry paired me up with her, and then…” I tried to look confused. “I mean, she was saying about the money and I…”

  “He’s a guy,” she said loudly. She rolled her eyes. “He’s not a girl. Okay, okay, get inside. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “From runner to escort,” Future said, heading in after Luanne opened the door wider. “It’s like a job promotion.”

  I ground my teeth to keep the smile on my face and not laugh.

  What I couldn’t get over was that this was Mrs. Gunther. Putting the pieces together, it still wasn’t working for me.

  Mrs. Gunther was at a party when her daughter was missing.

  Mrs. Gunther was an escort.

  Mrs. Gunther was hanging out with the bail bondsman, the one that bonded for Fred Gunther.

  I didn’t care how outside I was at this point, I really didn’t like her, even if I didn’t have all the answers. Some people were clearly not good people. You could just feel it. I felt it the first moment I saw her and I felt it now. This whole thing was messed up.

  Mrs. Gunther pointed us to a posh living room. There was a set of settees facing each other. Future and I sat on one together, and Mrs. Gunther sprawled out on the other. She planted her fingers delicately over her eyes. “Okay,” she said. “What’s your name?”

  “This here’s Ka—” Future started.

  “Rachael,” I said over her. I squinted, trying to silently tell her not to give my real name.

  “Y… yeah,” she said. “Like I was saying. Kachael-Rachael.”

  “Just one of you talk,” Mrs. Gunther said. Future opened her mouth but she held up her hand. “Not you, the other one.”

  “What do you want to know?” I asked. I tilted my head, trying to figure out if her eyes were closed. Maybe she was hung over from the party. When I confirmed she wasn’t watching, I studied the room. No pictures except ones of herself were placed around the area. There weren’t any toys left out. The kitchen looked barely touched, no drawings taped to the fridge. No hint of a kid.

  “First off,” she said, “we don’t fuck guys. We’re not prostitutes. What you do on your own time, that’s up to you. You’re only paid to do what they tell you.”

  “What if it includes sex?” Future asked.

  “Shut up,” Luanne said. She pointed in my direction. “I need your ID, and I need you to go get…what’s it called?”

  “A nose ring?” Future asked.

  “No,” Luanne said.

  “A tit job?”

  “No!” Luanne screeched.

  “Mom?” The small voice forced me to jerk around, looking for the source. Future moved at the same time, clocking her head into mine.

  “Ouch!” We said at the same time, and Future added in a few more colorful words, expressing out loud exactly what I was thinking.

  Behind us was a hallway. At the very corner was a little girl who couldn’t have been older than four. Her curly hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a couple of days and there were a couple of food stains on the front of her pink night shirt.

  “Go away,” Luanne said, making a shooing motion with her hand.

  “It’s morning,” the girl said. “Can I get up?”

  “What did I tell you?” Luanne said through her teeth. She gazed up at the ceiling. “Stay in your room until I come to get you. Mommy can’t handle your noise this early in the morning.”

  I turned back to Future, who looked back at me. I mouthed Sara to her and she nodded.

  “It’s nine,” the girl said, in a much quieter voice.

  “You don’t know how to read time,” Luanne said. “Go back to bed.”

  “Mom,” Sara said, her voice smaller. “I’m hungry.”

  Luanne made a fist and punched at the side of the settee. She sat up and pointed a finger. “Girl, you better not talk back to me again. Get your little butt back in your room. Mommy has business.”

  I looked at Future, trying to figure out the plan. There was Sara. Where was Fred? Was he already in jail? Did they find him?

  “Here,” Future said. She hopped up and walked toward the girl with the biggest smile. “I’ll go play with her while you talk.”

  Luanne groaned. “Fine.”

  Sara looked up at Future, her mouth open, her eyes wide. “Are you Barbie?”

  I snorted.

  “Little baby,” Future said. “I’m the best Barbie. I’m the Barbie that likes to dress you up.” She went for the kitchen, found a box of Pop Tarts on the counter and then shimmied out, taking the girl’s hand. “Show me your room. I want to see what kind of princess you are today.”

  Sara was skipping down the hall after Future. “Can I wear what you’re wearing?”

  “Oh my god,” Luanne said, leaning back on her settee and pushing her fingers to her eyes again. “My daughter’s taking fashion ideas from the fag.”

  “She’s cute,” I said, trying to think of an opening.

  “She’s a little minion,” Luanne said. “Can’t keep her paws off of things.” She sighed and shook her head. “What was your name again?”

  “Rachael.”

  “Right, okay. I need to copy your license.”

  Crap. We were back to that already? “Oh, uh, sorry, I didn’t bring one.”

  Luanne sneered. “Who goes to a job interview without a license?”

  Who runs an interview in her living room while wearing just a robe? “So sorry,” I said, trying to force a smile. “Future said we should come over right away to talk to you about it. I didn’t think…”

  “That’s the problem with you girls,” she said. She stood, and started pacing around the room. “None of you girls think. You’re no better than those street walkers. I don’t pay you to be lazy shits. You’ve got to think.”

  I don’t care how desperate I’ve ever been for money in my life, I hope anyone with half a bean for a brain would know better than to work for her. “Oh.”

  Luanne paced for a moment. Her phone on a side table started to ring. She studied the screen, looking at the name. She reached for it, hitting the speaker button. “What Henry?”

  “Hey,” he said. “I’m on my way to pick up Fred.”

  My heart leapt to my throat.

  “About time,” Luanne said.

  “He’ll do anything to get out of that storage unit.”

  That little tidbit hit me square in the face. I suddenly pictured the whole ordeal.

  Luanne, the escort, wanted some money. Fred gave all he could, but it wasn’t enough for her. She talks to Henry, and they hook up. They create a scam to suck dry all of old Mrs. Gunther’s money.

  It’s why it looked like Fred and Sara were in a hurry when they left. They didn’t leave willingly. They were kidnapped.

  The new money gave Luanne a chance to move into a fancier apartment. The mom kept the girl at home. Fred got stashed. After enough days, after Henry gets paid, and Fred becomes willing, he goes to the jail looking guilty. Grandma is out her money, and the insurance has theirs back and everything looks normal.

  Fred is separated from his daughter, probably for a long, long time.

  If I could have, I’d have stabbed her in the eye with her own phone. “Ah,” I said, standing, “you sound busy.”

  Luanne rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Henry, I’ve got a girl here.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Shut up, pervert.” She hung up. She sucked in a breath. “Where was I?”

  “I needed…to get my ID. But it’s at home. I have to go get it.”

  “Whatever,” she said. She started heading toward the opposite hallway. “Look, go get your damn ID, but next time you come over, tell the fag to bring you at a reasonable time. Sometime after noon or later.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Well, let me go g
et Future.”

  She rolled her eyes again and waved me off. “Get him out of here. And shut the door when you leave.”

  After she disappeared, I dashed down the hall.

  Future was on a twin sized bed, her legs crossed at the knee while she watched Sara parade around in yellow leggings and a blue shirt with puffy sleeves that was tied off at the waist to look closer to what Future was wearing.

  “See?” Future said. “If you tie your shirts, it shows off your figure.”

  “What’s a figure?” Sara asked.

  “Future!” I seethed through my teeth.

  They both turned, blinking at the same time.

  I pointed to the door. “We have to run. Now.”

  Future talked back to me through her own teeth. “We can’t leave. There’s the girl.”

  “We have to go pick up… F. R. E. D. before Henry does.”

  “N. O.”

  I groaned. “He’s on the way to take him to the… P. O. L. I. C. E.”

  Future shook her head and wagged a finger. “Well I’m not leaving S. A. R. A. here with the B. I. T. C. H.”

  “Did you just use a bad word?” Sara asked.

  “Hey!” Future said, brightening. “She can spell.”

  I wanted to be happy that Fred taught his girl how to spell at four but I didn’t have time. “Will you just get out here?” I cried. “Please?”

  Future dashed forward, and I started running down the hallway, thinking she’d finally come to her senses.

  When I was near the end, she stopped, looked around and then dashed back.

  “What—?”

  “Shh,” she said.

  I started heading back but before I could get there, Future was back, Sara was tucked under her arm.

  “Come on, Sara-Bera,” she said. “You want to go see Grandma?”

  Sara gasped. “Nana?” she asked. “Did she make a pie?”

  I groaned. I was going to be arrested for kidnapping. Couldn’t blame Future, though. Leaving Sara with her mother was the last thing I wanted. I waited for them to catch up, and then nudged them both toward the door.

  With my heart in my throat, I dashed out, closing the door, they followed me down the stairs.

  Corey was still on the bench. I started waving at him as we got closer.

  Corey smiled at me, and opened his mouth but then spotted Future with Sara. He tilted his head, looking at the little girl’s face. “Is that?”

  “We found her,” I said.

  “I found her,” Future said. She hefted up Sara even higher. “I saw her first. And she can spell bitch. She’s so smart. And doesn’t she look fabulous? Aunt Future really knows how to dress girls. I need to start a boutique. Boutique F. U.”

  Sara’s head picked up. “F? U? What’s that spell? Fuh-u?”

  Corey’s mouth fell open. “Can’t believe it.”

  “We have to go,” I said. “Now.”

  “What happened?” Corey said, hurrying to where we left the SUV. He pulled his keys out.

  “Fred’s in trouble,” I said. “Henry stashed him in a storage unit somewhere. He’s heading there now to pick him up.”

  Corey slowed, for a moment, his head tilting as he stared, putting the pieces together. “They kidnapped him to get the money?”

  “Yeah, and lied about Sara being missing. Luanne is an escort who hooked up with Henry.” I did my best to give him the speedy version of what I had figured out. “But we have to go get Fred now before they get a chance to take him to the police.”

  Corey stopped, his eyes shifting, calculating.

  “What?” I asked. “He…”

  “We need to get there fast. We need to get there without Sara. We can’t take her with us.”

  “It’ll take longer if we don’t…”

  “We need to get there before they take off in the car,” Future said. “I know the storage unit. Henry owns a small one just outside town.” She relayed the address to Corey, giving a few directions.

  “If one of us can get there first,” he said, “we can take Fred and straighten this out. We don’t know what shape he is in and we might end up confronting Henry. We shouldn’t take Sara with us.”

  I looked at Future, at Sara, at Corey, wanting an answer. We didn’t have time to drop Sara off. Corey was right though. One look at those bright eyes of the little girl, and if she saw her daddy tied up in some place like that, what kind of thing would that do to her psyche? I didn’t want to bring her back to her mom to hold on to, either.

  And then I had an answer, I just didn’t want to do it.

  I yanked out my cell phone. I didn’t have a choice. Sara needed her dad.

  “Corey,” I said as I typed out a message. “Give the keys to Future. Let her take Sara to her grandmother.”

  “But…”

  “Please,” I said. I sent my message and then stepped forward and grasped his arm. I looked right at his face and pleaded. “Please, please. If you ever needed to trust me, do it now. And please don’t hate me.”

  Corey stared at me for a long minute, considering. His eyes drifted back and forth across my face, like he was trying to figure out what I was up to.

  Slowly, he relinquished his keys to Future, who took them. “You think I could hate you?” Corey asked.

  Future clapped her hands. “Yay! I get the SUV. Come on Sara.”

  Future hit the button to unlock the SUV doors and climbed in, after putting Sara in the front passenger seat like a good, illegally-seated little four year old should be. Future started the car, gunned it back and took off in a shot.

  “I can’t believe I just gave my keys to her,” Corey said.

  I was going to reply, when the black Mercedes rolled up.

  Corey turned to check it out, cocking his head in curiosity.

  I cringed. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

  The window rolled down and Blake poked his head out. “Someone need a ride?” he asked. He smiled brilliantly, examining me and then Corey. “Want to drop the baggage first?”

  “You!” Corey said, his voice loud now. He stepped forward, blocking me from Blake. Suddenly his shoulders rolled back and he appeared bigger, like I’d seen Raven do when he got defensive. He clenched his fists and stepped forward. “Get out of here.”

  “No, Corey,” I said, tugging at his elbow, and his angry face faltered. “I called him.”

  “What?” Corey asked. “Him? The drug guy? That guy sent his goons to beat up Marc and Raven on the boat.”

  “They were stowaways,” Blake said. “I should have tossed them overboard.”

  Corey snarled. “You shouldn’t have been—“

  “Not now!” I yelled at him. “We need to go. I’ll explain on the way.”

  “You’re taking him?” Blake asked. His head shook, and his blond locks fell across his forehead. “Nope. This car doesn’t go anywhere with—”

  “Boys!” I cried at them, using the older sister voice I employed when I had to put my foot down against Wil back in the day. “Stop it. We have to go. Fred’s about to go to jail and Sara’s going to be without her dad. We need to get there right this second. If anyone has a problem with this, get out of the damn car. I’ll drive there myself. You two can stay here and yell at each other, or brawl, or measure out your dicks for size, I don’t care. Just either help me or get out of the way.”

  Their heads turned toward me at the same time, mouths open, eyes wide.

  “Get out of my way,” I said, jumping toward the driver’s door.”

  “Hang on,” Blake said. “I’ll drive.”

  “Come on,” Corey said. His shoved me around the car, opening the passenger door. He pulled the seat to open the back up and I crawled in. Corey moved the seat into position and got in, closing the door.

  “Let’s go!” I said.

  Blake backed the Mercedes up and then took off. “Where am I going?”

  “Take a left,” Corey said. He pulled out his cell phone, typing something into it.


  “Oh no,” Blake said, “You’re not calling your buddies for reinforcement.”

  “I’m logging into the GPS,” he said. “I’m checking for traffic issues so we can avoid delays.”

  “Oh,” Blake said. “Well, you can do that.”

  “I don’t need your permission.”

  “Guys!” I planted a hand on both of their shoulders. “Please.”

  “What’s he doing here anyway?” Corey asked. “What—” He made noises, like he was trying to formulate too many questions at once.

  I swallowed, sharing a look with Blake. I wasn’t sure how much to reveal, or if I wanted to say anything at all. “Corey, I didn’t… I don’t…”

  “I found her,” Blake said. He turned into traffic. He put his aviator sunglasses on. “Ran into her at the party. Told her to walk away.”

  “What?” Corey said. “You mean that cop party?”

  “Your boys were about to get her arrested,” Blake said. “She was about to walk into the middle of them getting their asses kicked. She would have been in jail, and not here now. You’re lucky I showed up at all.”

  Corey pursed his lips, shaking his head. He glared out the window. He tapped his fingers against the door arm while twisting the phone in his hands.

  I’d never seen him angry. He got quiet. Steamed. It was the opposite of his brother, who yelled.

  I sat back, my arms crossing over my chest. “I asked him for help,” I said quietly. “I had him trying to follow Future after the party. He helped her find Luanne.”

  “You didn’t tell me,” Corey said in an even tone.

  “You wouldn’t have understood.”

  “I’m not stupid.”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  Corey shook his head, closing his eyes. “I don’t want to talk about this now.”

  That killed me. My heart cracked and a piece of it crumbled down into my stomach. The pain was overwhelming.

  Corey hated me. Lovable, beautiful Corey who did so much for me, and I’d betrayed him.

  I stiffened, glaring out another window and forced myself to try and not care that I was losing one of the most wonderful guys I’d ever met.