“I'm sorry, I actually have to go,” I say all of a sudden.
I know this just makes all of it worse, but I feel so put on the spot that I can't answer any of his questions, even with lies.
I hang up before he gets a chance to reply.
For a second, I think that he’s going to call me back, but he doesn't. Still, he has my phone number now.
Shit! Why did I have to call him? Why can’t I just leave it alone?
I pace around the deck looking out at the darkness of the lake. I should go back inside, but I can't bring myself to do it quite yet. The air is crisp and cool.
It frosts my cheeks just a little bit, enough to wake me up. I slide my phone into my pocket and head down to the shore. Maybe this walk will clear my head.
As I walk along the pebbly beach, I resist the temptation to scoop up some water into my hand.
It was freezing at noon and I can only imagine how cold it is now that the temperature has dropped close to freezing.
I don't know why I called Mallory. Maybe I should have listened to Tyler. I mean, it's not like I actually got any information out of him.
He seems to be quite an open book.
Me, on the other hand?
He probably figured it out that Courtney isn’t my real name and that I'm a lot more than just a fan of his show.
I wanted to tell him about Tessa being Tyler's alibi and him covering for her, but that would just lead to about a hundred other questions that I couldn’t honestly answer.
I walk about half a mile out, past all of the 4,000 and 5,000 square ft. houses that line the beach. The lights are on in maybe two out of the ten of them. The others stand alone, forgotten, waiting for their owners to show up once every few months, if that.
I came here to be alone with my thoughts, but if I wanted that, I should have just turned off my phone. Unfortunately, I didn't and my boss, Trisha, texts me and asks again when I'm coming back. She's not at all happy that I have signed up to do these online sessions with my students and she has other clients for me to take on.
A few weeks ago, I would have been perfectly happy to do it and bury my life in my work.
Now, something is different.
I feel like I have another reason to be here. I still want to do my work and I love teaching those kids how to talk, but I also want to start a life with Tyler.
Suddenly, my phone rings, echoing over the lake. I answer without looking at the number.
It's not Trisha.
14
Isabelle
At first, I don't recognize her voice. It's drenched in desperation. I can hear her sobbing and talking through her tears.
“Isabelle, please, please you have to help me,” she pleads.
I've never heard my mom sound like this. She was always confident, nonchalant. Nothing ever bothered her.
Even when she was in the depths of her addiction, she could always figure it out. I can't remember the last time I heard her voice. Has it really been two years?
“Mom, slow down. I don't understand what you're saying.”
I have no idea how she got this number. This is a disposable phone from Walmart.
“You have to help me,” she says, crying. “Please. Please pay them whatever they want. You have no idea what I have been through.”
“Where are you? I can help you.”
“They are here, listening. I can’t tell you where I am.”
Then she screams. It's something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Listen here, I told you that we are done fucking around. Tomorrow night. Five o'clock. In Running Springs, behind the Jensen's Foods grocery store. You get there and you toss the money into the dumpster.”
“I don't have any money.”
“Quit lying.”
“I don't know what to tell you,” I plead. “I don't have any money.”
“You have approximately $95,000. I’ve been tracking your burner phone ever since you got it at Walmart. We’ve been following you and we saw you take up that money in the desert. If you don't give it to us, then we’re going to kill your mother. It's as simple as that.”
His voice is so flat and without effect that it makes my blood run cold.
“If you force us to kill your mother, then we're going to call the cops and tell them exactly where Tyler McDermott is.”
Suddenly, I can't breathe.
“If you plan to run, don't bother. We followed you here, all across the country, we can follow you wherever you go.”
I try to think quickly, but my thoughts all get jumbled.
“Doesn't she owe you a hundred thousand dollars?” I ask.
“She does, but if you give us your ninety-five grand, we will give you another month to come up with the other five. My employer can be very accommodating. He knows that you're not the one that owes us the money, you're just a cosigner.”
“I'm hardly a cosigner,” I say. “I don't even know what this is for.”
“The less that you know the better. Your mother owes us $100,000; unless you want her dead body on your hands and your boyfriend back in the federal penitentiary, then you'll do as I say.”
He hangs up the phone. I stare at the screen for a long time even though the light goes off.
I don't know what to do.
I bend down to the ground and pick up a pebble. I want to toss it into the water, but I don't have any strength in my hands to lift it up, let alone throw it.
What can I do?
What choice do I have?
Finally, I know how they got my number. They trailed me to the Walmart and probably recorded the phone numbers that were available in the packaging. When I bought one, they called all the numbers until he finally got me.
I want to kick myself for being so stupid, but at the same time, it was kind of an ingenious thing for them to do. They sat and waited until I got to where I was going and they knew that I had the money to pay them.
What do I do now?
My mother sounded desperate. Scared.
We've had our differences, but she’s still my mother.
Besides, she doesn't deserve to die for this.
It's just some money. Yes, it's a lot, but what is a human life worth?
At the same time, that money is Tyler's way out. I got it for him, for us. It's enough to start a new life.
Can he do it for less?
Yes, of course he can. The question is whether it will be safe to do it for less.
The problem that I have is that they want all of it.
I only got $92,000 and we have already spent some of that on rent and food. If I take all of it, then I leave Tyler and me with nothing.
I don't know what will happen if I only take $50,000 though. It's half of the money and they might just confiscate it, kill her anyway, and report him to the cops.
“That's the other thing,” I say, rubbing the smooth part of the stone nervously in my hand. “They know where we are and they might report us to the police anyway. That way they'll collect another hundred thousand from the government.”
I finally begin the slow walk back to the cabin. I have no idea what to do.
I want to protect everyone in my life, but now I know that it's not possible.
If I don't show up tomorrow, then my mom is going to get hurt and the police will know exactly where we are, making it that much easier to find us.
If I take our money to them, then Tyler is totally screwed. He doesn't stand a chance and they might still call the cops.
When I come back inside, I climb into bed with Tyler, no more certain about what I should do. He looks peaceful, relaxed, and calm.
Right now, everything is all right in this world. I decide not to wake him. There's no point in talking about it right now.
He should get some rest. I close my eyes and try to do the same, but it's impossible.
With something this unbearable, it’s not until daybreak that I finally get some sleep.
15<
br />
Isabelle
Something is off with Isabelle the following morning. She seems nervous, jumpy, and not at all like her old self. Not exactly sure what's going on.
When I ask her what's wrong, she doesn't reply. When I ask her again, she just brushes me off.
I bury myself in my book, but occasionally keep looking over at her. She's pretending to read as well but seems distracted.
She keeps looking out the window with that faraway look in her eye.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
I hate to be a nag, but I want to know if there's something that I can do.
“Yes, I'm fine. I'm just tired.”
She turns on the television and we watch something on Netflix. Neither of us seems to be paying attention.
I walk over to the window and look out at the lake. I want to go on a run, but my body is still not in full working order.
Far from it.
Still, exercise is good for the soul.
I grab my baseball hat and head toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I've been cooped up in here for days and I need some fresh air.”
“Are you sure that is a good idea?”
I shrug and say, “Probably not.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say. “Do you want to?”
She nods and gets dressed.
We both know that this isn't the right thing to do. I should just stay put, but sometimes you have to take a risk for your own sanity.
It's nice to be out in the fresh air with the woman that I love. I reach for her hand and she intertwines her fingers around mine.
We don't head straight down to the lake out of fear of running into Mrs. Bowden whose house is right on the edge.
Instead, she leads me past the mansions to the right where we zigzag over to the shore.
It's midday and we are just two people in love taking a romantic walk along the water. Big birds fly overhead and a duck floats on the crystal blue water, occasionally dipping his head underneath.
The sky is blissfully blue without a single cloud and the sun is directly overhead. I kneel down and scoop up a bit of water. When she sits down next to me, I throw it in her face.
She laughs and squirms away from me.
“That's really cold!”
“What are you talking about? It's just refreshing.”
She laughs again and I laugh along with her.
When I grab her hand and pull her close to me, our eyes meet and suddenly we connect. We stay here in this moment for a while, not wanting to pull away.
I'm a little bit closer to her and can feel the softness of her breath on my lips.
“I love you,” I whisper. “Do you know that?”
“I love you, too,” she whispers and her voice cracks in the middle. Whatever is bothering her is still there, but I can’t get at it.
Perhaps, for now that's okay. I press my lips to hers and our mouths collide.
I find her tongue with mine and it fills me with love. There's a warmth that radiates from there, the kind that I had long forgotten existed.
I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love Isabelle.
I feel like she understands me on every level that I need to be understood on. That’s the only reason why I want her to start a new life with me. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't even bother.
She is someone that I’ve loved since I was a child. She invaded my body, took it, and colonized it. But in a good way.
For many years, I wondered where she was, but I didn't dare reach out to try to find her.
I was married and I wanted to be honest and honorable. I devoted myself to my wife, maybe not to the best of my ability, but I tried.
That was why I buried myself in my work. I wonder what would've happened if Isabelle and I had met again earlier.
I wonder how much of my life's disappointments I could have avoided.
I bury my hands in Isabelle’s hair and cradle her head slightly. When she kisses me back, there's a forcefulness to it.
Almost like she's angry or has something to prove. I don't know where it's coming from, but it builds a fire between us. I want to pull away and take her back to the bedroom, but I don't dare in case it extinguishes this flame.
“I love you,” I say over and over again in my kisses.
“I love you, too,” she whispers back.
At first, our kisses are gentle and then they get sloppy, but then they go back to polite.
After a few minutes, I pull away.
I look into her eyes and see my reflection in them. It feels like I can almost see how she sees me, someone who is unbreakable. I don't know how much truth there is in that.
Everyone is breakable and everyone has their limits.
What I want these days is to be the man that she sees me to be. I want to be someone who she won't regret starting a new life with.
I tug at her blouse and pull it over her shoulder.
“Do you want to go back to the cabin?” I ask, kissing her neck.
“No,” she says slowly, averting her eyes. “I'm not feeling so good.”
“Okay, I understand. Do you want to just go back and take a nap?”
“Yes, I think that's a good idea.”
I shake my head, even though I don't really know what to make of this.
“Since I'm out here, I think I'm going to walk some more,” I say. “If you don't mind.”
“No, not at all,” she says and kisses me one last time. “I'll see you back home.”
She smiles and I wave goodbye. I watch her walk away, noticing the way that her hair bounces with each step.
I'm tempted to follow her, but this is the first time that I have been out in the fresh air and I want to take it all in.
I turn around, push the baseball hat closer over my eyes, and pop up my collar.
I'm going to jog for as long as my legs let me and then I'm going to go home, pull her into my arms, and make love to her.
16
Isabelle
When he kisses me on the beach, I feel incredibly guilty. I love him so much and I hate what I'm about to do.
When our mouths touch, our kiss becomes a dangerous combination of desire, guilt, and anger.
I'm not angry with him.
I'm angry at them.
I'm angry at my mom, her debt, and the men trying to collect it. I'm also angry at the fact that I don't really have a choice.
If I don't pay them this debt, they're going to kill my mother and tell the police where to find Tyler.
Without this money, Tyler's life will still be intact. Yes, it's going to be much harder getting a new identity and everything that goes along with it, but at least he'll be alive.
That's not what's going to happen to my mother.
All day long, I can feel that he senses something is wrong. I try to hide it as best as I can, but there's only so much I can do.
When I agree to go on a walk with him, I think that I will finally tell him the truth and I will ask him to borrow the money to save my mother's life.
Then I get scared. I can't bring myself to ask.
What if he says no?
What if he says that they might kill her anyway, but we need this money?
That's true, of course.
I'm in an impossible situation but I have to do something to save her.
I kiss him one last time and I tell him that I'll meet him back at the cabin, but that's a lie.
I'm going to take the money in the car and drive to Running Springs. I have forty-five minutes, which is more than enough and yet hardly any time at all.
I'm crying by the time I take the money out of the cabinet.
Tears are streaming down my face and my whole body is shaking from the cold.
How can I do this to him?
What if this doesn't work anyway?
What happens then?
I don't know what to do. They have
made a lot of threats and they have her hostage. She's my mother and she doesn't deserve to die. I'm in the position to save her. If I don't do it, who will?
I get a piece of paper and leave him a note on the coffee table.
I'm going to get some more groceries. Be back in a little bit.
When I start the car and pull out of the driveway, I force myself to calm down.
I take one deep breath after another, inhaling slowly and exhaling even slower.
“You're in control,” I say to myself as I drive down the hill. “You have the money. You're in control of the situation.”
I repeat this as if it were my mantra even though it's far from it. The truth is that I have very little control. I'm in an impossible situation where someone is going to get hurt one way or the other.
The only reason I'm doing this is because I know for sure that they’re going to kill my mom and turn in Tyler if I don't.
If they get the money, at least there's a chance that I will have them both with me… alive.
Running Springs is a small town of less than a thousand people halfway up the mountain to Big Bear. This must be the main drag because there are a few souvenir shops and the grocery store where I'm supposed to dump the money. I get there fifteen minutes early and I park in the back, right across from the dumpster.
The guy on the other end of the call told me to throw the money there and leave, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to get my mom. They hung up before I could ask.
I wait by my phone and look up kidnapping and ransom exchanges. Apparently, this is a common approach, but it involves a lot of trust.
One party drops the money off in one place and then the person that has been kidnapped is returned or let go somewhere else.
Doing the exchange in the same location presents a lot of challenges, but this presents even more.
The main thing is that I don't have trust. I have no idea if they're actually going to let my mom go or if I'm just throwing away all the money that we have in the world and Tyler's only chance to start a new life.
Minutes continue to tick away.
The Perfect Lie (The Perfect Stranger) Page 7
