Page 10 of Confessions of the Dead

Earn.

Get it over with.

Before she could change her mind, she slipped her headset on, scanned the text on her screen, and clicked the Connect button. “Is this Gordon Woolley?”

Landford’s system auto dialed, and when a live person picked up, it placed them in the queue with a recording asking them to hold. If they hung up on the recording, it dialed them back from a different number. Once the system had you, it didn’t let go. Gordon Woolley had hung up twice in the past minute, according to the time-stamped log.

“Who the hell is this?” The voice was gruff, full of gravel.

“My name is Tamera,” she lied. “Am I speaking to Gordon Woolley?”

“What do you want?”

Lynn forced her eyes shut again. “I’m calling on behalf of First Encore Auto Loans. Are you aware that you are three months behind on your car payments and facing repossession on your 2016 Toyota Tundra?”

“Yeah? How is that any of your goddamn business?”

Lynn swallowed. “I’ve been authorized to make you a one-time offer. If you make two payments with me today, not only can I stop the repossession, but I can cut your third payment in half to get you caught up. How would you prefer to make those payments? I can either take a credit card or your checking account information.”

The man on the other end of the line said nothing. He hadn’t hung up, though. Lynn could hear him breathing. She added, “Of course, if I cut the third payment in half today, the balance will be due at the end of your loan period.”

“If I had the money, don’t you think I would have paid it by now?”

Lynn’s heart thumped. “If you don’t have the funds immediately available, I do have the ability to offer you a low-interest loan against your next paycheck. To do that, I need you to take a photo of your last pay stub and send it to me. Would you prefer to do that in order to bring your account current today, or will a credit card be easier?”

“Fuck you, you ignorant cunt. Don’t ever call me again!”

The call disconnected with a hard click. The hang-up didn’t sting as much as that particular word did. She hated that word.

Shut it out.

Ignore it.

Don’t let it get to you.

A new box filled her screen:

Congratulations! You earned $1.37! And we’ve got better news—For the next 30 minutes, you could earn 20% of whatever you collect! Yay, bonus Sunday! 34 calls in queue. Don’t miss out!

The pills made her numb. The pills made it all doable, kept these people from creeping under her skin. So why weren’t they working? She looked down at the drawer in her desk. Take another? No. She couldn’t take three.

A crash came from down the hall, behind the various closed doors. This wasn’t the toy box; this was something bigger. Lynn started to rise from her chair, then dropped back down.

No.

She wouldn’t do it.

Whatever mess they made, that was on Josh. He could deal with it. He could clean it up.

A thick rubber band sat on the corner of her desk. Lynn scooped it up, wrapped it around her wrist, and snapped it. Allowed the sting against her skin to work up her arm before sherolled her mouse over the Connect button on her monitor again and clicked the next call. “Is this Klara … Pacheco?”

“Yes.”

Lynn snapped the rubber band again. “I’m calling on behalf of Springton Medical Group in regard to your outstanding invoice of …” Although she’d read the details only a few seconds ago, she couldn’t remember the exact amount and had to look at the screen again. “$23,681.43.”

“My husband passed away last week. Do you think this can wait?”

Lynn went quiet and studied her screen. Lanford’s system used sophisticated voice recognition software to analyze what was said and provide several approved responses. Scripts vetted by legal. Because it was fairly repetitive, Lynn had most of those responses memorized. Her mind went blank, though, and she waited for the computer to update. When it did, she scanned the text, then read, “I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs. Pacheco. This particular invoice is nearly a year old. Because it’s a medical debt, I can bring it current with a payment as little as one percent. Would you prefer to make that payment with a credit card or from your checking account?”

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