The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
Author:Julie Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-04-18T00:00:00+00:00
Kat
July
Iâm finishing up a paid copyediting job thatâs due this afternoon, my mind foggy with exhaustion. Iâd woken up at two in the morning with a night terrorâheart racing, drenched in sweatâand hadnât been able to fall back asleep again.
âYou okay?â Scott mumbled.
âBad dream.â
âItâs this story,â heâd said. âItâs putting you around all of the same people again, and your body is reacting. It remembers.â
âMaybe,â Iâd whispered. In my dream, Iâd been in a car with Ron and Meg, and theyâd taken turns trying to get me to drink from a flask. âGo back to sleep.â
But Iâd remained awake, catching up on paid work Iâd let slide, only taking a break to drink the cup of coffee Scott had poured for me before he left for work.
When Jenna, my best friend from journalism school, calls at ten, Iâm grateful for the break.
âHey,â I say.
âIs now a good time? Iâve got a window before I have an editorial meeting.â
Itâs been a year since Jenna moved to New York to take a staff position at the New York Times. After she left, I dropped away from our small circle of grad school friends whoâd settled out here. Itâs hard to be happy about someoneâs piece in the Atlantic, or their byline in the Times, when Iâm still struggling at the bottom. My mother is always on me about networking. Meeting people. You canât hide inside the cocoon of your relationship with Scott or rely on Jennaâs contacts forever.
âThat story you did on corruption inside the SDNY was great,â I tell her now.
âThanks. It almost didnât run. Long story. But tell me whatâs going on with you. What are you working on?â
âMegâs back,â I say.
I hear her sharp intake of breath. âReally? Tell me everything.â
I fill her in, telling her about the Google Alert and tracking Meg down at one of Ron Ashtonâs fundraisers, then posing as a potential buyer and befriending her. âSheâs hired me as an assistant,â I say.
âHowâs that going?â
âDepends on who you ask,â I tell her. Then I explain about the missing bank statements. âScott thinks itâs possible she knows who I am and that now she might be targeting me.â
âSeems pretty risky for her if she is,â Jenna says.
âThatâs what I think. Plus, in the two weeks since theyâve gone missing, nothingâs different. We spend at least four hours together every day, and I donât see any change in her behavior or attitude toward me. I donât care how good she is at what she does, no oneâs that good.â
âWhere do you think the statements went?â Jenna asks.
âMaybe they just got lost in the mail,â I offer. Though even as I say the words, they donât ring true. That itâs possible the woman who didnât think twice about encouraging a young female reporter to meet with Nate might easily be the kind of opportunist Scott thinks she is.
âSo, after all these years of wondering, whatâs she like?â
I think about how to answer. The careful dance weâre both doingâeach of us lying about who we are and what we want, always one careless comment away from the edge.
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