Truth or Lies?

by A. Gomez

  “Got it.”

  “Yeah, whatever. I’ll believe it when I see it,” I muttered under my breath.

  Ben stopped and turned to look at me, “What was that, Isabel?” he called loudly.

  “I said I’ll see you when you get back,” I replied loudly, feeling irritated. I stalked toward Adam, who was on Belín’s laptop, no doubt still doing research. I motioned to him that I was going in and he just nodded. I quietly opened the door so as to not startle anyone. I found my mother on the phone talking to Josh. Belín was in front of a mirror fixing her hair and face. Why the hell couldn’t he just call me?! Why did he have to go through my mother first? Did he still need therapy? What could possibly be bothering him or on his mind now? He was the one that told me he wouldn’t take me home with him. What was his problem?

  “Oh, son, here she is.” My mother passed me the phone. What? What was with calling him “son?”

  I took the phone, frowning at her for the “son” remark and sat down. She got up to leave. “Hey,” I said, brusquely, “why couldn’t you call my cell?”

  “I have been calling your cell for the past twenty minutes, baby, but you never picked up.” His voice sounded even more sultry and throaty over the phone. My heart skipped a beat just hearing him speak.

  “You have?” I paused, feeling guilty for thinking the worst. “I’m sorry, Josh. Maybe I inadvertently put it on vibrate after ignoring David’s call. I should’ve known you’re very resourceful and will find a way to talk to me.”

  “Fucking cocksucker! I wish you didn’t have to deal with him.”

  “I won’t too much longer since I’m leaving this evening.” I sighed, stretching my legs out on the sofa. “I’m glad about that at least.”

  “I’m glad about that too,” he added. “Baby, I want to let you know I’m home and am missing you, wishing you were here with me.”

  “Me too. And the Cowboys are playing tonight,” I said, sounding morose. “We won’t be able to watch it together, but watch it anyway, and think of me. I’ll be watching from my parents’ house.”

  “Why don’t you watch the game away from everyone, especially Conny, and video chat me so we can watch it together via cell phone?”

  “No, no. It’s the Cowboys. One does not stay on the phone or otherwise while the Cowboys are on,” I said matter-of-factly. “Besides, a few of my brother’s friends still come over to my parents’ house and watch the game with my Dad. It’s going to be fun.”

  He was quiet for just a minute. I could sense he was thinking about what I just said. Did I hurt his feelings? “Which brother? Shouldn’t those boys be away in college?”

  Oh, that was it… he was jealous. Hmm, I wondered if I could push his buttons, especially after his incomprehensible admission to end his life. “It’s both of my brother’s friends and it’s just a few, and yes, they are all in college but they go to the university my mother teaches at. Don’t worry, babe, they’re just a couple of good-ole-boys, immature and all that, but they’re so much fun to be around, I can’t wait to see them and catch up.”

  “Baby, you’re going to pick a football game with your brother’s friends over me? Are you kidding me?”

  I stayed quiet, smirking, letting him squirm just for a bit.

  “I can hear you smirking, Isabel,” he said, sounding irate.

  “Okay, how about I call you during half time?” I declared, grinning broadly.

  “Isabel Grace!” he scolded.

  I started to giggle. “Okay, okay, okay, I was just joking! Of course, I’ll video chat you. Jeez! You’re way too easy, babe.”

  “Isabel Grace,” he breathed, “you are definitely a handful. If you were next to me right now, I’d show you who was boss.”

  “Yes, well, think twice next time you want to do something stupid like not live, and just remember I can dish it out just as good as you can.”

  He let out a loud sigh. “That will never happen again, I promise. I love you, baby.” He was quiet again. “So, your brother’s friends aren’t going to your parents’?”

  I laughed out loud, “Yes, they are but I will be in my bedroom alone with you.”

  I could sense he was grinning. “Call me when you land, baby. I’m going to call my mother now and I’ll update you on that when you call.”

  “Sounds like a plan!”

  “Love you,” he answered in his throaty, bedroom voice. We hung up and I noticed everyone had left me alone.

  It was now six-ten. I hurried out to get ready for the mass of kids that were due this evening. Patti and Vanessa were finished laying out all the snacks and drinks and it looked like Vanessa has gone home for the day. A few kids and their parents started trickling in. I waved and told them to help themselves to the food while we waited for everyone. I saw Conny and Pam were back from wherever they disappeared to. Ben was in my office with Samson and my family and Adam were close to the therapy room I was just in, still on the laptop. More kids started to arrive. I headed to Pam’s office first.

  I knocked before entering her office. “Excuse me, Pam, are you going to be joining us this evening? Also, just wanted to let you know that I’m letting Agent Davis sit in on the therapy. He has a background in medicine and although he’s not a psychologist, he is an MD and has been working on this case with me.”

  “Thank you, Isabel, yes that’s fine,” she answered. “I think I will sit in this time. From what Conny has been telling me, this is certainly bigger than I ever suspected. And I just saw how many kids you have coming this evening. I think that’s a record for us,” she exclaimed. “Usually, we have to beg or fight with the parents to bring their kids in. Not to mention the teens that think they don’t need help.”

  “Fantastic, Pam! It’s been ages since you’ve sat in on group therapy. We could really use input from someone as seasoned as you.” I smiled, delighted she’d be with us. Having Pam present would be such a benefit for the kids. She was extremely good at connecting with kids, especially teens, and the parents always loved her. I had a feeling it was going to be a great therapy session with her there.

  I made my way to my office, waving and smiling at the kids and parents that were mingling and chatting around the snacks as I passed them. Patti was chatting with a mother. The mother seemed very animated in her conversation with Patti. I hoped we didn’t need to put out fires tonight with mothers who felt the judicial system was re-victimizing their children. By all accounts, I agreed with those mothers, especially when it was a young patient and we’d managed to help the child recover from the abuse. In many cases, it took us several years to help the kids recover. They were doing better in school and socially, the young child was learning how to put all the horror behind them, how to deal with life and how to trust people. Then, all of a sudden, they’d get a call or a subpoena from the DA’s office letting them know they would have to relive the abuse in detail, in front of the perpetrator, the abuser, the pedophile, and they would have to relive it in the court house. They would have to relive it not only in a courtroom but in a courtroom full of jurors, a judge, a bailiff, and several other strangers. If it were my child, I would feel just as those mothers did… but then again, we didn’t want the perp getting away with what they’d done. We needed and wanted retribution and restitution. It seemed as though these poor victims just couldn’t get a break.

  I got to my office and put Samson on his leash. I looked up at Ben, feeling a little nervous, yet anxious, for answers. He mirrored my expression and nodded reassuringly.

  “It’s show time,” I murmured. My mother and Belín stayed in my office, along with Adam. Ben and I made our way to the receptionist area with Samson in tow.

  As soon as I walked in with my dog, I heard squeals and squeaks of delight from the kids. Everyone was smiling broadly and clamoring to pet Samson. I positioned myself in between Samson and the kids and told them to get in groups of four and I would then call each group to come pet my dog. I also announced they had to finish their snack before t
hey could pet him or else Samson would snatch it out of their hands. They obeyed and started getting into groups. I saw a few of them shove their entire snack into their mouth until their cheeks puffed out. I giggled at the sight but couldn’t have anyone choking, so I made another announcement stating they could throw away their snack if they were finished with it or if they were just too anxious to pet Samson. I called the first group of kids who all rushed over to where I was standing. A line began to form behind them.

  “Dr. Isabel, what made you bring your dog today?” one of the girls asked.

  “Well, a few reasons actually,” I began. “I haven’t had a chance to be with him this past week because of work so he was starting to get lonely. Also, I thought it might be a nice treat for everyone tonight. Do you like him?” She nodded emphatically. “Do you think this was a good idea?” Everyone that could hear me yelled “Yeah!”

  Kids were still arriving, all older teenagers, it looked like. I didn’t see any parents with a lot of them. I glanced at Ben and he was standing to the side, trying not to get in the kids’ way of petting the dog. I clapped my hands in a rhythmic-like manner and the kiddos that came every week knew to mirror my clapping. It was my way of getting everyone’s attention. They all looked up at me, giving me their attention.

  “Can everyone please find a seat? Even if it’s on the floor,” I said in a raised voice. “We need to make some introductions before we go into a room and begin.”

  Patti surfaced from her conversation with the mother and stood next to me. I whispered in her ear, asking her if everything was okay. She nodded.

  Everyone’s eyes were on me. “Hi everyone! For those of you that are new, my name is Dr. Isabel Langley and to my left is Dr. Patti Peaches,” Patti waved at the kids. “But I want everyone to call us Dr. Isabel or Dr. Patti, that way it’s not so formal and we can feel a little more relaxed.” Samson was walking through the crowd of girls, loving the attention. We heard lots of giggling. I was starting to lose their attention so I called Samson to me and sent him to my office. My mother helped and came out to get him. I looked over at Ben and inclined my head toward my direction, indicating he should come here. He strode over to us and I smiled broadly at him with my eyebrows raised, trying to let him know he need not look so intimidating. “And this is Dr. Ben Davis. Dr. Davis also happens to be an FBI agent. He’s going to be with us tonight.”

  “Wow!” a small voice from the back exclaimed. “That sounds like a lot of school.”

  I could hear Ben laughing. I scanned the back to see who said that. “Andrea? Is that you, Angel?”

  “Yes, Dr. Isabel.”

  “I thought so. Still a little spitfire, I see, sweet girl—never change,” I said with a giggle. “I’m sure Dr. Davis or Special Agent Davis will be happy to answer any questions later tonight.” Ben nodded, smiling broadly and waved hello. “We also have our boss with us tonight. Some of you may know her since she’s always here, hard at work and very dedicated to her career. I know she’s talked with a few of you and/or your parents.”

  “Hey Dr. Pam!” yelled another high, angelic voice from the back. Pam just waved in her direction, smiling, blowing her a kiss.

  “So, before we get started, we need to do a quick head count to see how many are here tonight so we know which therapy room will hold us.” And as I said that, I saw at least seven more teenage girls walk in, three of them with their parents; one of them was Alex with her mother and Agent Stems. My eyes got wide and I smiled, waving at all of them. Something major was definitely up. “Welcome, I’m so glad to see all of you,” I hollered. “Come in, grab some water and a snack. You made it just in time,” I said. “We’re just doing a quick head count to see how many kids are here tonight.” I turned to Patti and asked her to start counting. My eyes flickered to Ben and his expression was unreadable. He was doing his own counting. Pam looked stunned and retreated back to her office to talk to Conny.

  I began to count kids right behind Patti. Once done we compared notes to see if we both counted the same number but this time, we had a third set of eyes with Ben. That would be a plus with so many kids and parents. Patti finished counting first, then Ben, then me.

  “I counted forty-seven,” said Patti.

  “I got forty-seven too,” Ben offered.

  “Same here, and that’s not counting the parents that came tonight,” I said.

  “Isabel, this is the most we’ve ever had…ever!” Patti exclaimed. “What’s going on? Counting us it’ll be fifty people in one room. We can’t squeeze fifty people in our largest therapy room. The most we can do is thirty and that’s including us.”

  “How about we flip it this time,” I declared. “How about we hold our session out here and we send the parents in one of the therapy rooms to wait. This reception area is perfect, with its circular layout. We can see everyone and they can actually be a little closer to us. Everyone else on this floor has gone home so it’s basically deserted. The elevators are so far down the hall that if anyone were to come up, one of us could excuse ourselves and go redirect them.” I eyed Patti and Ben speculatively. “What do y’all think?”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” said Patti. “I’ll go tell the parents.”

  “Ben,” I began, “do you see any security problems with this idea?”

  He shook his head. “I think we’ll be fine, Isabel. There are several agents around inside the building and outside so it should be secure.”

  “Whew! Glad to hear it. I don’t know what I would have told you or done if you had said no, because come hell or high water this group therapy is happening now.” I smirked at him, my twang super prominent since I was beginning to feel tired again.

  He raised his eyebrows at me, not really sure if I was joking or if I was serious. I quickly told him to bring out some chairs for us so we could begin, not really giving him a chance to think. I strode back to Pam’s office to let her know we were ready to start.

  The kids that knew each other were all chattering while the new kids were getting up for more snacks and water. Agent Stems and Alex were sitting on the floor together at the very back. I waved at both of them. Surprisingly, they both waved back and were both grinning. I was actually just expecting Alex to be the only one waving back but Stems seemed to be more down to earth than Ben. I guessed it wasn’t the FBI that made him so serious. That seemed to be his personality.

  25

  We took our seats. I casually leaned over to Ben and reminded him to not look so scary and smile. We greeted everyone and began with introducing ourselves again. Patti took the lead and reminded everyone that this was a safe place and no matter what, what was said here stayed here. She added that this was all on the honor system, however, if anyone betrayed or hurt the group in any way, they would no longer be invited back.

  “I’ll never do that, Dr. Patti!” one of the regular patients chimed in. “You guys have awesome snacks!”

  “Yes, there is that.” Patti giggled. She asked the new attendees to introduce themselves by their first name only and to tell us something about themselves. They all just looked around at one another, no one wanting to go first.

  “I’ll go first,” Alex stood up, rubbing her hands on her thighs. “My name is Alexandra but I go by Alex.” She paused, thinking about what to say next. “And I’m scared that I’m going to get killed by some Asian bad guys.”

  We heard a few whispers and saw a few stunned faces. Alex was looking at the rest of the group trying to assess the atmosphere of the room. Then from somewhere in the middle of the group a small voice said, “Me too.”

  “Whoever said that, would you mind standing up?” I asked. “We’re all friends here.”

  A very small girl rose from the middle of the floor. She looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old. She had black hair pulled back into a ponytail, big brown eyes and was skinny as skinny can be. “I’m afraid very scary men are going to kill me, too.”

  And then another girl stood up, saying “
me too” and then another and then another and so on until almost all the kids in attendance were on their feet echoing Alex’s and this little girl’s words. Patti, Ben, Pam and I all stared at each other in stunned silence.

  “My dear girls,” Pam began, “can you tell us why you think this?”

  “Because Miss Debbie told us if we ran away, her boss would kill us,” answered the girl with the ponytail.

  “Sweet girl, what’s your name?” I asked.

  “It’s Rose, Dr. Isabel.”

  “Thank you, Rose. I’m so glad you’re here. In fact, I’m so glad y’all are all here,” I declared.

  Pam stood up to get a water. “Ladies, help me understand, what makes you think that this boss will actually be able to find you and kill any of you?”

  “Because,” all the girls chimed in at once now, “he was able to kill Tori!”

  The words hit me like a ton of bricks. These girls knew Tori. Ben slowly rose from his seat and stood behind us, scanning the halls and looking toward the elevators. No doubt, hearing these girls had put him on high alert. He glanced in Adam’s direction, nodded and then I saw Adam head for the rear exits.

  Another girl, who sat back down, raised her voice to be heard above the other girls. “Tori was killed because she knew what Debbie’s boss looked like and was going to tell you, Dr. Isabel. Well, so do we. He’s afraid we’re going to tell the police who he is and that’s why he said he would kill us if we ran away. Tori told us to find you and so did Mr. Hong,” she offered. “Tori and Mr. Hong said you would help us.”

  My suspicions were right, Tori was going to come here and tell us everything she knew. “Will you tell me who Debbie’s boss is?” I asked the girl. She didn’t reply. Her eyes flickered to Pam, Patti and Ben. “Are any of you willing to tell me who Debbie’s boss is?” No one spoke up, reaffirming their fear.

  One after the other they told us how they were photographed and solicited through some obscure app. How they were rented out for sex with older men. They told us how they were raped, given drugs and some of them were addicted to drugs now as a result. How they were beaten and psychologically abused to keep them scared and from acting out or running away. A few of them said they were bought and sold by other sex traffickers before they ended up here. Some of them also explained they thought their online boyfriend loved them and wanted to be with them, but in fact, he was just the bait so they would run away with him only to find out he was part of a sex trafficking operation. The Romeo Belín described, I thought. They also explained how none of them, not a single one, had gone to the police or seen a doctor since they got away. They said Mr. Hong told them not to go to any ER or trust anyone, but to only trust me. But why me? And why was he saying every ER was not to be trusted? Was it possible the Triads had members at every hospital’s ER in the Chicago area?