Her eyes were still shut tightly and her hair was stuck to the front of her forehead. A lump pulsed next to her temple. Jake picked her up and set her on the bed. Then he leaned toward Gary.
“What did you do to her? And how did you have mace?”
“I didn’t have a mace. Where would I put it?”
“Mace, Gary. You know what mace is, right?”
“I didn’t have that. I sprayed her, then I hit her with my cane.”
“You hit her with your cane?”
“It’s from Ethiopia.” He rapped it against the floor. “I’m sure the tribes use it as a spear, on occasion.”
“But what did you spray her with?”
“Yeah,” Kaylie said. She coughed. Then she licked around her lips. “Wait-is that…”
Gary handed a bottle to Jake and he read the label.
“Please tell me why you have a bottle of Dark Chocolate Body Spray.”
Kaylie slowly opened her eyes.
“I thought it was chocolate.”
“Yes. I visited Sheryl Goldfein before I came here. I wanted to apologize for misleading her.”
“With chocolate body spray?”
“No. Sheryl gave it to me. She said she wouldn’t be needing it. And she said I might want to use it with Meryl.”
“Oh.” Jake wished his eyes were taped shut again. “Will you, uh, use it?”
“I don’t understand it. Is it a new type of suntan lotion? Wouldn’t it attract flies?”
Jake unscrewed the top of the bottle.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
He poured the full bottle into his mouth and swished the liquid around. He’d earned it. Trapped twice and knocked out once, he’d burned enough calories for this. It was a rich, almost bitter flavor, and he felt it stick in the back of his cheeks. Thick and full. It was like breathing fresh air. Kaylie tilted her head.
“Don’t relapse.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. You have some explaining ahead of you. And you should enjoy the chocolate you got. I don’t know how much they’ll give you in prison, but it can’t be a lot.”
She frowned. Jake saw a trail of water trace a line through the dried chocolate on her cheek. He laughed.
“Like I believe you’re actually crying.”
“Jake, I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want any of this to happen. But they said I had to.”
“Who’s they?”
Gary pointed his cane at her.
“Exactly!”
“My employers.” She looked at Jake again. “Please believe me.”
“Gary, come with me.”
Jake pulled Gary into the bathroom and shut the door. He washed the chocolate from the corner of his lips and whispered into Gary’s ear.
“Listen. We’ll get the information out of her. But we have to do it quickly. We should play good cop, bad cop. Now, I’ll be the good cop. She likes me, I think. Gary, you be the bad cop. We’ll get the information out of her somehow.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear any of that.”
“You’re the bad cop, I’m the good cop.”
Gary nodded. They left the bathroom one at a time.
“Here,” Jake said and walked over to Kaylie. He dabbed her face with a washcloth and her skin softened to its normal tan.
“We need your help.”
“I can’t tell you anything.”
Jake looked over at Gary. Gary blinked and nodded.
“Miss, you look very nice today. You are not a bad person at all.”
“Gary. Really?”
“Oh no!” He hit his head with his hand. “I forgot which cop I was. I’m the good cop, right?”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now.”
“You don’t look nice today!” Gary shouted. “You are a bad person! Very bad!”
“Gary, it won’t work now.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jake sat beside her on the bed. She tried to lean into him, but he pushed her away. Then he noticed the note in the middle of the bed. He picked it up and read it out loud.
“The Saving Tomorrow Initiative was here. For millennia, nature has suffered. This is just the beginning of what we are willing to do.”
Kaylie pressed her head into her chest. He grabbed her chin and pushed it up.
“This doesn’t make sense. Why would you advertise that you were the ones who kidnapped me? Why would you leave this note?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know.”
“Tell me.”
“They don’t tell me why.” She jerked her head away. “I don’t know why they did it. Probably because they are crazy. I didn’t know when I started all this. When I started it was…different.”
“What was different?”
She looked away.
“A lot.”
“You aren’t part of their organization?”
Gary rapped his cane on the floor.
“Gary, it’s fine. She’ll answer.”
“I saw an advertisement in the paper. It said they needed an actress or a model. They wanted someone who was dedicated. So I went in for an interview. I’d just lost my job.”
She looked down at the duct tape binding together her ankles.
“They said they’d get me an apartment. I needed one. So I took it.”
“And what was your job?”
“You were. They said a reporter lived next door. They wanted me to get him to write a story about their group, any story. The rest of the time I could do what I wanted. It was a great job, great pay.”
“I pay well, I guess.”
“But then they said there was more. I had to start keeping tabs on you. Telling them when you were coming and going. When you left. Who you were hanging out with. Everything about you. I turned into a spy. But they gave me a raise. So it was something.”
“How could you do this with a straight face?”
“I had to. It was my job.”
“You didn’t have to do anything.”
“Jacob,” Gary interrupted. “Let her speak.”
They all waited until she started again.
“When you said you were going to meet someone on the beach, I told them. I didn’t think it would matter. I thought they’d just watch for you. I had no idea that they’d attack you. That they’d…”
“Just continue.”
She did.
“I had no idea that they would go that far. After that happened, after I saw you, I realized that they must have done it. I told them that I wanted to quit. I couldn’t do it any more.”
“You did enough.”
“I know.”
She leaned on him and he let her. Then she sat back up.
“Is he asleep?”
Gary was snoring, lightly.
“Gary, are you awake?”
He jerked up.
“I was working.”
“On what?”
“You’ve never heard of ‘good cop, asleep cop?’”
“No Gary, I haven’t.”
Kaylie tried to fold up her legs, but she couldn’t because of the tape.
“I told them I wanted to stop. But they said it was too late. Things had already gone too far. You’d already found out too much. So they decided to change their plan and become more…aggressive.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t do anything. But they had me call as soon as you left. Then he came over.”
“Who?”
“Roderick. You’ve seen him before, haven’t you?”
“Is he the bearded man?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve seen him in the commercials. He attacked me?”
“Yes. He saw the same posting in the paper. Apparently he’s had experience with this sort of thing.”
“And you just stood there?”
“I didn’t have a choice. You’ve seen how dangerous they are.”
“I’ve felt how dangerous they are.”
“I know.”
She turned to him and leaned into his body. She kicked out her legs, barefoot as always.
“Can you forgive me?”
He laughed out loud for the first time in a while.
“Oh no. You’ve told me what happened. Now you have to tell us what you know.”
CHAPTER 41
He got a glass of water from the kitchen. He was going to give it to Kaylie, but he ended up drinking it first to wash down the chocolate. It was still thick in his throat, coating it completely. He got ice and put half in the water glass and half in a bag to soothe his fresh wounds. He went back in the room.