Sometimes, You Get Exactly What You Want

SOMETIMES, YOU GET EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT

In a darkened apartment, barren of anything but an old, dusty couch, a cobweb across a cracked window, and a state-of-the-art laptop computer, a phone rang.

When answered, a voice said, “It’s done. She’s been arrested.”

“Has she been charged?”

“I don’t know. But she’s been in there for five hours now. They caught her red-handed trying to toss the murder weapon. She doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting out of this. She’s not that good a liar. And they know exactly who she is. I left nothing to the imagination.”

“Good. Make sure she’s charged, then come home.” A pause. “I miss you.”

“I know you do. I’ll see you soon enough.”

“Have you enjoyed yourself?”

A throaty, satisfied laugh. “You have no idea.”

Everyone

EVERYONE

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”

—Ernest Hemingway

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

Hey. It’s me. Miss me? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Have you figured it out yet?

They’re lying.

But I know the real truth.

Which means you’re going to have to listen to me.

Ha ha. Joke’s on you.

You realize they get paid to lie, don’t you? It’s what they do for a living, so of course they lie to each other, and of course they’ve lied to you. I mean, come on, they can’t even agree on where they met, or how the evening went down. It was Chicago, if you’re wondering. Not London or New York. They were at a conference in Chicago, and the only thing they both agree on is they got bone drunk and screwed all night. Have they told you about their significant others at the time? The ones they dumped? No?

Well, let me tell you. When Sutton and Ethan met? Sutton was practically engaged to a man named Tobias Winters. Good guy, Toby. A little older than her, gray hair, gray goatee, plenty of cash to keep her feet warm by the fire. Madly in love with her, too. He’d do anything she asked.