Page 51 of The Girl and the Lies

As she’s deleting the video, I hear the nurse gasp and look up to see the crowd outside erupting into chaos. I run to the door in time to see Ander tackling one of the protestors to the ground. I watch as the man on the ground bucks up to force the security guard off him and plants a punch directly into Ander’s face. Ander comes down on him with a return punch, and the man forces him off, shoving him onto his back on the ground.

The rest of the group scatters back as the men grapple on the ground, forcefully shoving each other into the concrete and delivering blows to wherever they can plant their fists.

“Stop it!” I shout.

I push past one of the protestors and reach down to grab the man who has gotten the upper hand again. Getting a handful of the back of his shirt, I wrench him away from Ander and force him to the side. He looks up at me like he’s going to lash out at whoever ended the fight, but he stops when he meets my eyes. Ander gets to his feet as the sound of sirens fills the air and two police cars zoom into the parking lot.

Several of the protestors scurry away, but I point directly at the man who was just fighting with Ander.

“Neither of you move,” I say.

I stare at Ander, who has the back of one hand pressed to his swelling cheekbone. That fight was completely unnecessary. I don’t know what triggered the first blow, but nothing I saw happening when I was outside was enough to cause that kind of reaction.

The same two officers who were here with Carla before Tracy arrived get out of their cars and jog over to us.

“What’s going on here?” Massengill asks loudly. He catches my eye. “Agent Griffin. What is this?”

“These people came to protest Tracy Ellis,” I tell the officers. “She showed up here not long after you left and apparently had done a live segment on her social media speculating on the attack on Marshall Powell.”

“She has to be stopped,” one of the protestors says. “She’s costing lives.”

The officer holds up his hand. “What she says is protected by free speech. She has the right to have whatever opinions and thoughts she wants to have and express them within reason.”

“Within reason,” the protestor emphasizes.

“If she isn’t violating the rules and standards of whatever platform she chooses, then it is within reason,” he points out. “Just like you expect to be able to speak out against her, she has the right to speak about whatever she wants to.”

“And we have the right to protest it.”

“You don’t have the right to block the public entrance to a hospital and engage in a physical altercation,” he points out.

“I didn’t even do anything,” the man who fought with Ander insists. “I was just standing there, and all I said was that the murders and attacks are Tracy Ellis’s fault. It’s her hate and backward thinking that are causing all this. Then all of a sudden, he came at me. I barely even knew what was happening. All I did was defend myself.”

I expect Ander to argue, to say something to warrant the apparently unprovoked fight. But he stays silent, brooding as she glares at the officers.

“Ander is Tracy’s bodyguard,” I explain to the officers.

Massengill gestures at the group. “You all need to leave. Break this up right now. I want you gone.”

There are grumbles and mutters of the officers abusing their power and pushing them around, but the group disbands without further incident, and soon it’s just Ander and the man he fought standing with the officers giving their statements. I go back into the hospital and walk up to Tracy forcefully.

“You need to leave,” I tell her. “You need to go home and keep quiet. Ander is out there talking to the police because he just tried to beat the hell out of one of the protestors. Fortunately, the guy was able to hold his own, but Ander is going to be really lucky if he doesn’t get arrested and face charges for it. Carla clearly does not want you here, and you have only made a very difficult situation worse. It’s time for you to go.”

Tracy looks almost stunned by my words, but she takes a step backward away from Carla.

“I was only trying to help,” she says.

Turning on her heel, she walks out of the hospital. I see her pause briefly with the officers and Ander before disappearing into the parking lot.

I sigh and run my fingers back through my hair as I turn back to Carla.

“I’m sorry you’re having to deal with all this while you’re already facing such a hard situation,” I tell her.

“I appreciate you standing up for me,” she says. “I’m not exactly in a position right now to do it for myself.”

The doors open, and Officer Massengill comes inside.

“Agent Griffin, I wanted to let you know we decided to release both men on their own recognizance. It sounds like this was a mutual combat situation. Ander admits to being the aggressor, but he says he felt provoked, and Mr. Pauley admits to fighting back. They’ve both agreed to leave the premises without further incident,” he says.

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