Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

20

I was looking at Ben as we were walking back and something caught my eye. It was a tall Asian man with a ballcap walking toward the ER. He was right behind Ben. My eyes were wide with concern, scanning the man’s arms and any other exposed body part for any signs of a tattoo.

The man and I locked eyes for a split second but he didn’t seem to know who I was. He passed us, stopping at the nurse’s station, asking several questions. She directed him toward the curtain where David was treating Elsa and Inara. My heart skipped a beat. Please don’t go in there, please don’t go in there, I started chanting to myself. I exhaled, relieved to see the man found his wife and son, kissing both of them.

“You two look super tense,” observed Ben. “I gather you have some important information to share with me?”

“We’ll fill you in on everything as soon as I’m finished with this consult,” I answered, my voice low. “Ben, I think it would be a good idea if you came with me on this one. I think this will be more of an interview rather than a consult.”

Ben looked at me surprised, saying, “Sure, lead the way.” He turned to Belín, asking her to meet us in my office with my mother. He was in the middle of his sentence when he began to trail off, staring at a man that just walked past us toward David and Ginger. I looked in the direction of his gaze and my heart started racing. It was one of the Asian men that was at the courthouse with the defendant.

I looked down and turned my back to him, hoping he didn’t see either Belín or me.

“Isabel, I just saw a Triad tattoo on that man. Can you please tell me if you recognize him?”

“Yes, sir. That guy was with the defendant at the courthouse,” I answered, grabbing Belín’s arm, turning her away from the man.

“It’s too late for that, Isabel.” Ben’s eyes blaze with anger. “His eyes flashed to your cousin as soon as I saw him. He thinks she’s you.”

“Are you sure?” I was now scared for Belín. It was my fault we looked identical today. “Maybe you’re mistaken. Maybe it just seemed that way.”

“I wish I were.” He was trying to rein in his temper. “And there’s nothing I can do.” His hands were shaking. “He’s done nothing wrong except having and displaying that infamous tattoo and Chicago PD can’t do anything either.”

I turned my head slightly to watch him leave with Elsa, Inara and the other two suspects. Our eyes locked. He held my stare for a second and then his eyes flickered to Belín and then back to me. He walked out, looking confused. HOLY SHIT! He thinks there’s two of me! Or at least confused as to which one is me.

I turned to look at Belín. Her lips were curling up into somewhat of a grin at whatever was on her phone. Seriously? Did she not get what just happened? I leaned over to see what she was smiling about and it was a picture of the Asian man that just left.

“You know I have to think about my story, Isa,” she said, sounding proud of herself that she was able to get a snap shot.

Ben was texting and standing protectively next to Belín, practically on top of her, gently corralling her to a corner so her back was to a wall and he was in front of her, shielding her with his body. She was oblivious to Ben’s demeanor or behavior, engrossed in her own emailing or texting of what she just captured. That girl never stopped working. I shook my head in disbelief. She had mentioned in the past that she’d been in much worse situations. I supposed that if bullets weren’t flying or bombs exploding then this was a walk in the park for her.

“Ben, I have to get this consult done,” I said impatiently.

“Give me five minutes,” he demanded, his jaw clenching.

Two minutes later another agent showed up. Wow! That was freakin’ fast! Where did he come from? He explained everything in a low voice to the new agent, then whispered something in Belín’s ear and the two of them were off, going their way and us going ours.

I looked at the chart as we were walking and I stopped in my tracks, stunned. I had never bothered to look at the name on the chart before now. How stupid could I be! The name on it was Alexandra Copen and in parentheses was Alex. I grabbed Ben’s arm and let him read the name. We looked at each other, both of us floored. I asked him if he still had the papers I handed him earlier. He nodded and patted his suit jacket pocket.

We walked in the exam room. There were two plain clothes officers taking the report and a woman in the room with Alex. We waited until one of the officers was finished talking before I introduced ourselves. I started to get impatient. This cop was very long winded; he needed to wrap it up and leave. I walked to the counter and loudly dropped the charts down on it, hoping that would give him the hint. Ben rolled his eyes at me. The officer turned to see what the noise was and to my surprise, it was an old friend.

“Isabel!” he shouted.

“Jake!” I gave him a huge hug. “It’s been such a long time!”

“Too long, but you’re still as beautiful as ever!”

“Oh, go on… I bet you say that to all the child psychologists,” I winked at him. “Listen, come to my office later and we can catch up. I need to talk to this lovely girl first. Okay?”

“Absolutely,” he