Bishop's Run by B.D. Gates

Author:B.D. Gates [Gates, B.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-05-24T04:00:00+00:00

26

Penny leaned against me, quiet. We sat that way for a few minutes, then she resumed her interrogation.

"So, Lisa Baxter, tell me. What's really going on with you?"

"What?" I didn't understand the question.

"Who are you, really?"

"Who do you want me to be?"

She laughed and slapped me on the knee. "We don't know each other well enough for that. Yet."

I laughed.

"I'm asking, what's really going on with you?"

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I don't know exactly how to explain it, really. It's...a feeling, I suppose you could say...that I have about you, when I talk to you, ask you about yourself...that I'm not getting the whole story. That what you've told me is...well, Baxter, the main thing is, you're scripted."

"I'm what?"

"Until tonight, most of what you've told me about yourself is as dry and lifeless as an obituary. And it's too easy. You're looking for a 'fresh start,' but from what? Why did you choose Tenley, why here of all places? You spend your days hosing out kennels and what-not, but you're too smart for that. And, off-topic, but I'm curious, you are awfully chummy with a police detective, who seems to have more than a casual interest in you, why is that?"

The girl had seen right through me.

"Penny, I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean?"

Rule Number One when you get caught in a lie: act confused.

"I mean that, the first night we went out after practice, you recited a history about someone named 'Lisa Baxter' but you are not her. You are not Lisa Baxter, so who are you?"

Penny was smart, there was no doubt of that. And, I'm obviously a bad actor, no use denying that, either.

"Look, here's the thing," Penny began to spell it out. "There's something about you, something in your eyes. I can't explain it, I don't know what it is, but I feel like, well, I feel like you're leaving out a big chunk of the truth. You are not who you say you are, Baxter, and except for what you've told me tonight, you're not telling me anything more than I could get from, well, from your driver's license. Your body is covered with scars, including a gunshot wound in your thigh. Your life, your real life, is written all over you, and it's giving you away, so just tell me the truth."

Well. Damn.

"Penny, I don't know what you're talking about, I really don't! I have told you the truth. I don't know what more I have to do to convince you of that!"

"Well, Baxter, since I don't know what else to call you, you're not Lisa Baxter. You're...just...not."

Damn. Damn. How do I fix this?

"Penny, look, whatever it is that you think you see when you look at me, maybe it's you, not me. I mean, I can't explain why you feel like I'm lying to you, because really, I don't understand why you do, but I can only say that I am who I am. And that's all.

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