Familiar Lies

by Brian J. Jarrett

  When he finished, Gabe responded. “I hire camera guys, but none of them get involved. It’s strictly hands off. Only the actors get on camera with each other. I background check all the guys we hire. It might make you feel better to know that we pay the chicks three times what we pay the guys.”

  Liz rolled her eyes.

  “You don’t do any BDSM videos like that one with Amanda?” Max asked. “That’s what you’re telling me?”

  Gabe shook his head. “We’re more of a Daddy’s little slut kind of shop. Teen fantasy. We don’t hurt the girls and we sure as shit don’t put spiked dog collars on them.”

  “Then how do you explain the blood I saw down here? The sheet on one of the mattresses was covered in it.”

  “Girls have their periods here sometimes. Like I said, some of them are junkies and they don’t always know what planet they’re on. They plug it up all day and forget to change the tampon. When they pull it out it’s like you stuck a pig. It happens. Not everything you see in porn is glamorous.”

  Max had never considered porn glamorous, but he didn’t mention that to Gabe. “What was in the boxes? These bedrooms were full of boxes the other day and now they’re empty.”

  “Videos,” Gabe said. “They got sent to the distribution center yesterday.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I’m the one who makes it happen. Like I said, I coordinate things.”

  “And run the club?”

  “People can have more than one job, you know. It’s called moonlighting.”

  Max knew what it was called. “I’m going to ask again; who do you work for?”

  “Come on, man. I answered your questions. Let me go.”

  Max took a step forward.

  “Caldwell!” Gabe exclaimed, favoring his broken leg. “Vince Caldwell.”

  There it was, one of the names mentioned in Josh’s letter. Now at least he had a first and last name to go on. “You came here the other night and you left with some kind of handbag or suitcase or something. What was in it?”

  “How do you know that?”

  Max didn’t reply.

  “Paperwork,” Gabe said. “Like I already told you, I handle all the paperwork. It’s all legit.”

  “Why would you come here in the middle of the night to get paperwork?”

  “We don’t keep regular hours in this business. I work around my shifts at the club.”

  “Does the name Julie ring any bells with you?”

  Gabe’s face went sour. “What’s she got to do with any of this?”

  “So you do know her.”

  “Did she put you up to this? Are you and her a thing or something? Don’t believe everything she says about me.”

  “We’re not a thing. You used to date though.”

  “So?”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “What’s to tell? She started fucking some other guy. Some kid just out of high school. When I found out about it I broke it off, but by then she was already pregnant.”

  Max couldn’t hide the surprise on his face.

  Gabe picked up on it. “You didn’t know she was pregnant?”

  Max didn’t answer.

  “Did she tell you whose it was?”

  “No.”

  Gabe nodded.

  “Who was this kid she was dating?” Max asked. He already knew the answer, but wanted to hear it said.

  “His name was Josh.”

  Hearing the name still shocked Max. It must have showed because Gabe said, “You know exactly who he is, don’t you? You’re his old man.”

  Max didn’t answer, but it made no difference. Gabe’s instinct proved keener than Max would have thought.

  “He sicced you on me, didn’t he? He took my girl, probably got her pregnant and now you got me tied to a chair with my leg broken. What else are you planning on doing?”

  Maybe Gabe didn’t know Josh was dead. Or he wasn’t letting on that he did. Gabe Harris didn’t necessarily fit the description of trustworthy, after all. “What do you mean, might have gotten her pregnant?”

  “You don’t know how biology works? We were both banging Julie at the same time. One of us must have knocked her up, unless she was spreading her legs for a third guy. She wouldn’t get DNA tested. I asked her to, but she was a real pain in the ass about it. I got a right to know if it’s mine, you know? I got legal rights. I got a legacy to think about. I don’t even care if her and your boy are together now or not, I just want to know if the baby’s mine.”

  “So you don’t know where Julie is?”

  Gabe looked at Max skeptically. “You don’t either, do you? She must have disappeared. Went underground or something. Sounds like her.”

  “Where would she have gone?”

  “How would I know? If I did I would have found her and made her get the test.”

  “What do you know about a cabin?”

  “What cabin?”

  “Josh told me you knew about some cabin. He also said you knew about some girls and about some money. And he said you lied to your boss about him.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “I think you’re lying to me. I think you knew my son and I think you were setting him up for something.”

  Gabe glared at Max. “I don’t know shit about your boy, other than he fucked my girl and caused a shit storm of problems for me.” He shook his head. “You knew about all this? What kind of father are you?”

  Max ignored the comment. “Josh wouldn’t have just made that stuff up. You know something you’re not telling me.”

  “I told you what I know, all right? I don’t know about any cabins or girls or any money your boy had.”

  Max took a step forward. Gabe flinched. Max hesitated for a moment, staring at the man in the chair, a man who might be responsible for his son’s death. Anger welling, Max slammed a solid right hook into Gabe’s jaw two times, back to back.

  Gabe shrieked and Max kicked him in his broken leg. Gabe leaned over and vomited the contents of his stomach onto the filthy linoleum as Max stepped back and watched.

  “You’re fucking lying to me,” Max said, breathing heavy. “You know about the girls, you know about Amanda, you know about the cabin and the money. You know what happened to my son. You’re going to tell me about these things or I’m going to break your other leg.” He felt his anger bubble up, ready to explode like a volcano.

  Gabe’s head swayed from side to side. He looked as if he might pass out at any time. The pain appeared excruciating and Max found that he took a frightening amount of satisfaction from that. But he quickly reminded himself that Gabe Harris had socked him in the face and the asshole deserved something for that.

  “No more,” Gabe croaked. His face had turned an unappealing shade of green. “It hurts so fucking bad.”

  Max glanced at Liz, expecting to see the same disgust he felt about himself reflected on her face. Instead, he saw only grim determination and a hot glare that could have shot lasers through Gabe Harris. She felt anything but compassion for this man who exploited young girls for a quick buck.

  “Talk,” Max said. “I have plenty more of this in me. I can go all night. Can you?”

  Gabe didn’t reply. Max took a step forward and Gabe winced, recoiling visibly. “No, no, no. Please.”

  Max folded his arms. “Then talk.”

  Gabe began to talk.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Gabe gave the address for the cabin, or at least the closest thing that could constitute an address. Apparently the place was less than twenty miles away and built well into the woods with no electricity or mailing address. Gabe insisted that he didn’t know who owned it, but his suspicion was that whoever owned the land it sat on was either dead or disinterested, allowing the structure to remain undetected.

  “I found out about Julie and Josh from their text messages,” Gabe continued. “I was suspicious, so I looked at her phone. Sue me. Turned out I was right. They talked a
bout hiding out there if they got caught.”

  “There’s nothing else you know?” Max asked. “Nothing else you’d like to tell us now?”

  “That’s all I know. Now let me out of here so I can go to the goddamn hospital and get my fucking leg reset.”

  “No,” Liz said.

  Max looked at her, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “No. You don’t get to leave.”

  “You can’t kill him.”

  “I’m not going to kill him, but I am going to leave him here in this chair.”

  “You can’t do that!” Gabe yelled.

  “I can and will.” Liz looked at Max. “Gag him.”

  “We can’t do this,” Max told her. “We have to let him go.”

  “Somebody will be around here to look for him. When he doesn’t show up at work then somebody will turn up here and find him.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “Then we’ll call the cops when we’re ready and let them know he’s here.”

  Gabe began yelling. “Help! Somebody help me!”

  Max sprang into action, grabbing the gag and attempting to shove it into Gabe’s mouth. But Gabe had different plans; he shut his mouth and locked his jaw tightly.

  “Open your mouth!” Max yelled, gripping Gabe by the head.

  Gabe refused, so Max sent a fist into his jaw. Gabe opened on the second punch. Max looped the gag into Gabe’s mouth and tied it around the back of his head as Gabe continued to struggle. He tried again to scream, but eventually gave up once he discovered it did little good.

  Liz glared at Gabe, meeting his eyes and fixing them tightly. “You deserve a lot worse than this, you piece of shit.”

  Gabe glared back, mumbling some sort of expletive.

  “You had something to do with whatever happened to Amanda,” Liz continued. “I’m going to find out what and then I’m going to come back and nail your ass to the wall with it.” She headed toward the door.

  Max looked at Gabe, bound and tied to the chair, and wondered again if maybe he had been the person who killed Josh. He had no proof, but the gut feeling was there. At a minimum, Gabe was culpable for what happened to Liz Potter’s only daughter. The thought of it all ate at him, eroding his better judgment and peeling back the skin to reveal the monster beneath.

  Max drew his foot back and delivered a field goal-worthy kick to Gabe’s broken leg. Gabe screamed—loud in spite of the gag—before his eyes fluttered and he passed out.

  Liz stopped and looked back. She nodded at Max before disappearing through the door. Max followed.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  They picked up Liz’s car from the Waffle House parking lot. Despite the restaurant’s twenty-four by seven hours, it would draw attention to have a car sitting abandoned in the parking lot for too long. And Max had no idea how long it would be before this whole thing came to a close.

  After picking up her car, Liz followed Max back to the parking lot of his hotel. She parked and got out. With purse in hand, she walked directly to Max’s car and slipped into the passenger seat.

  “What are you doing?” Max asked.

  Liz closed the passenger door. “We’re going to that cabin.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yes, tonight. We can’t afford to waste any time. They might be wiping it of evidence as we speak.”

  “We’ll never find the place in the dark.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. But we’ll be in the vicinity. If we can’t find it tonight, we’ll sleep in the car and start looking right at daybreak. Either way, it’s a head start.”

  Max considered their options and found that he couldn’t justify a counter argument. He also liked Liz’s determination. He harbored no doubts about her intentions, unlike Ruby.

  He started the car. “Let’s go then.”

  * * *

  Max filled the tank at the first gas station he could find before entering the Interstate and following the directions Gabe had given them. The dashboard digital clock told them it was nearly ten o’clock. He felt the fatigue of a long day pressing on him and wished he’d bought a coffee back at the gas station. Instead, he forced his eyes open as he pushed on into the night.

  It didn’t take long to find the Interstate exit, but off the exit, a labyrinth of side roads began. They doubled back then tripled back, driving along narrow, two-lane paved roads as they searched for an obscure dirt road mentioned only in cryptic directions taken from text conversations between Max’s son and an unknown woman named Julie.

  “I’ll bet that son of a bitch lied to us,” Liz said, staring into the dark forest that framed the road. “He sent us on a wild goose chase.”

  “Could be we’re just missing the turnoff in the dark.”

  “Wait,” Liz said, pointing. “Turn around.”

  Max turned the car around using a three-point turn. No other cars traveled this far out at this late an hour, so they had the road to themselves. He doubled back for a couple dozen yards before Liz pointed out an almost hidden dirt road he hadn’t noticed before. He exited the two-lane paved road, piloting the car onto a dirt road laden with deep potholes. The Volkswagen’s suspension took a beating as Max forced the car onto terrain it simply hadn’t been designed to handle. He wished now for an SUV, preferably one with four-wheel drive. Wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which one fills up first.

  “This is the right one,” Liz said.

  “How do you know?”

  “I feel it.”

  Max didn’t argue. He kept the car on the dilapidated road. Forest crept up and around the edges, the tree branches leaning in and scraping alongside the car window like fingers trying to get a grip on them. A large dip in the road forced the suspension to its limits and the car bottomed out with a loud thud. Max shoved the gas pedal down and forced the car up and out of the depression, keeping them on track as the car’s headlights carved out a path in the darkness.

  “Nobody’s been on this road for some time,” Liz said. “That’s why I feel good about it.”

  “I don’t.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  The pitted road seemed to go on forever. They hit a few more serious potholes, most of which Max was able to steer around for the most part. The VW did a decent job, given its design did not lend itself to off-roading. German engineering, Max thought wryly.

  “There it is,” Liz said, pointing again.

  Max looked through the windshield and saw it too. A clearing opened up in front of them, stretching out for as far as the headlights would shine. The cabin sat off the dirt road and to the right, the headlights illuminating a rotting front porch attached to an equally derelict building.

  Max drove the car past the cabin and turned around easily in the open area, doubling back toward the cabin. He positioned the headlights on the front of the cabin and brought the car to a stop, lighting up the front of the structure like a stage performer under a spotlight.

  The cabin looked like something out of a horror movie. It was the size of a studio apartment with dirty but intact glass windows that reflected light back into their eyes. Rotting wooden shingles lined a roof that appeared otherwise intact and possibly watertight. Its graying exterior showed its age; Max put the place at fifty years old if it was a day.

  They stared at the cabin for a long time before speaking.

  “We should go in,” Liz said.

  Max nodded. While he agreed, he didn’t really want to go in. He didn’t want to see whatever might be in that desolate and forgotten building. There could be truth inside, information that he might not want to know about his only son. He suddenly had the mad urge to dash off, to shove the transmission into drive and floor it, speeding away from this awful place while he still could.

  Liz opened the passenger door and got out, shutting it behind her. She crossed in front of the car’s headlights as she headed toward the cabin’s front door. That mad urge to flee called to Max again, begging him to run as fast as he could, even if it
meant leaving Liz Potter behind. Let her follow this quest to its end. Let her discover the truth about her own daughter. Max had learned enough.

  But there would be no going back. No unlearning of what he’d learned. No pretending that he could resume his normal life. Anything resembling a normal life had died along with Josh. His life since Josh’s death had become a repetitious and meaningless existence. He’d just been too sick to see it.

  He killed the engine and the headlights. Darkness fell upon them like a choking blanket. With only the partial moon illuminating the area around them, he grabbed his cell phone and got out of the car, trailing behind Liz toward a strange house for the second time that night.

  The cabin door had been secured with a padlock, but Max returned to the car and retrieved the tire iron from the trunk. With it, he made short work of the lock. The metal bar slid neatly behind the clasp, allowing Max to pry the screws securing the hasp out of the rotting wood. It also provided Max with the closest thing he had to a weapon.

  With the door locked from the outside, he doubted anyone was home. Or at least he hoped not. He retrieved his phone from his front pocket and pressed the home button. He had no cell service. Not a surprise, given how far out they were. He also noticed his battery was at fifty percent. The light would suck the juice quickly, so he had to be judicious with its use.

  Max looked at Liz in the moonlight. “Ready?”

  Liz nodded.

  Max pushed the door to the cabin open slowly, turning on the cell phone’s flashlight and shining the light inside. He stepped carefully through the door. Liz followed closely behind, purse slung over her shoulder.

  As he swept the interior of the structure with the phone’s light the beam fell upon a figure standing in the room.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The figure hadn’t been standing in the room after all; it had been hanging. It only appeared to be standing in the darkness of the cabin. Max couldn’t tell how long the body had been there, but it looked horrific. He shined the light on the hanging corpse, following from its feet to the rope around its neck, then up to the ceiling joists where the rope had been tied off.