Page 9 of The Girl and the Lies

“That’s always a good division,” I say.

“Yeah, no problems could come out of that,” he says, swiping through screens on the tablet until he settles on one. “She did a talk recently that I thought you would be interested in hearing. It’s pretty long, so I’m not going to play the entire thing, but here’s a particularly interesting section.”

He presses Play, and the image of a woman with dark hair tightly curled to her shoulders and thick glasses standing on a stage appears on the screen. It’s obvious she is already well into her speech; she looks riled up as she paces back and forth across the stage.

“The death of Terrence Brooks is a sign,” she intones. “Mark my words, it’s a sign. Society is degrading rapidly, and it’s trying to drag all of us down with it. There are forces in power now that will bring an end to this world if we don’t stand up and fight. Terrence, a man of the Word, a committed walker of faith, was brought down by evil. He was destroyed by the very forces we must battle against in order to save ourselves and all the souls of this world!”

I’m stunned by the intensity in the woman’s voice as she continues to rant about Terrence Brooks’s death, drawing parallels that don’t exist and crafting ways to make the death seem even more heinous than it already is.

“What the hell is this?” I ask. “She’s trying to say that he was murdered in some sort of religious hate crime.”

“She’s not trying to say it,” Eric points out. “She is saying it. She wants people to believe that the religious community is under siege and is turning Terrence Brooks into a poster child for it.”

“This investigation has already been compromised enough with the media latching on to it the way it has and publicizing the messages they got from the Game Master.” My lips involuntarily curl up at the feeling of the words coming through them. “I hate even saying that. It feels like I’m playing right into what he wants.”

“You are,” Eric says. “But you don’t have much of a choice. There’s nothing else to call him. Besides, it’s important to remember how messed up this person actually is. He’s playing a game that might have started with Terrence Brooks, but it isn’t over.”

The message is ominous. Terrence was the first to fall victim to the one who calls himself the Game Master, but he made himself clear. There are other players being selected. I don’t know what he has planned for them, and I don’t want to give him the chance to show me.

The summer heat is intense enough to lure Sam and me to the Sherwood Community Center’s pool that weekend. The newly reopened pool has drawn much of the town to get a respite from the searing temperatures, and I am happy to grab two loungers beneath a large umbrella that keeps us both out of the glaring sunlight. I drop my tote bag onto the deck and slip out of my cover-up, rolling up a towel to put under my head on the chair. Despite me telling him that he should do it before we leave the house the way I do, Sam stands off to the side slathering himself in sunscreen.

“You know that’s not going to be effective for a while, right?” I ask, tilting my sunglasses down to get a better look at him.

“It’ll be fine,” he says.

Famous last words. I have a strong feeling I’m going to be following up this slathering with my own version featuring aloe gel and lidocaine. I kick off my flip-flops and feel the heat of the cement deck sizzle into the bottom of my feet. The familiar, nostalgic feeling makes me think of my father and the long afternoons spent at the waterpark in Florida before my mother’s death. I immediately crave salty French fries.

Sitting down, I swing my legs up on the chaise lounge and lean back, taking a breath as I close my eyes. The reclined position doesn’t last long. It’s just too hot for me to sit here like this. Leaving my cover-up draped across the lounger to stake my claim on it, I go to the pool and walk down the cement steps into the shallow end. The chill of the water instantly cools me, and I brace myself before dipping all the way down into it. A few laps bring my temperature down, and I’m floating around enjoying the relief when I hear Sam calling me.

“Emma, Eric’s on the phone,” he says.

There’s a note in his voice that says this isn’t a social call. I climb out of the water and dry off with a towel from my bag before taking the phone from Sam’s hand. I smooth my towel across the chair and sit down as I answer.

“Hey, Eric,” I say.

“You’re at the pool?” he asks.

“Yeah, it’s so hot Sam and I decided it would be nice to take a dip. The community center looks amazing since it was rebuilt,” I tell him.

“Yeah, Sam was telling me,” he says. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have a new case for you.”

“A new case?” I ask, continuing to dry off my legs then pulling my sunglasses out of my bag so I can put them on.

“Yeah. Remember when I showed you the video of Tracy Ellis?” he asks.

“Of course,” I tell him. “Did something happen to her?”

“Not her, but a man who worked for her was murdered last night. There’s a lot more. I need you to get here as soon as you can,” he says.

“All right,” I say. “I’ll be there soon.”

Sam looks over at me with a disappointed expression on his face, but he nods and starts packing up our stuff. I stuff my phone back in my bag and shrug into my cover-up.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him.

“It’s all right,” he says. “I’m guessing there’s something serious happening.”

“I don’t know any details yet,” I tell him, “but he said that there’s been a murder and there’s a lot more to it, so he needs me there as soon as I can get there.”

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