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. No.Am Isupposed to?Harpsten answered,  His name isCharles Hays, and you spoke with him afew moments before you wereabducted& I looked at the photo a moment longer.I didn t want them to put this one away. Oh yeah, he umm he asked me for thetime. You never saw him again after yourabduction?I closed my eyes, rubbed my brow. Idon t think so. After you were assaulted in thehouse, do you remember?The sigh came from deep within me.Iclosed my eyes again and tried to breathe.This was the part I had practiced in myhead while Reid drove me.When it camedown to it, I implored his help because Iknew he wouldn t hesitate to be rid of me.Elise might try to convince me to stay, andone of the guys might try to force me tostay. Everything is kind of hazy. I didn tlie but I didn t tell the truth, either.I saidthat I remembered being in a small room,lots of cigarette smoke, different voicestalking about card playing&Everyone made notes on their pads ofpaper.I marveled at the autocracy of it. How did you get in contact with yourfather?I also marveled at Reid s creativity.When I reached for a suggestion he hadbeen surprisingly helpful.This Norton was like a puppy with anew bone.And while I needed an easyout, it wasn t as though I was lying when Ibecame overwhelmed.I felt the tearswelling up but tried to keep them back. Someone dropped a phone and I took it.Ithought it was to prove I was alive aransom thing.But when they caught mewith it&  I pointed to my face andgestured to the bruises there.My handinadvertently wiped away the tears.Imarveled at the wet on my fingertips.Because while I had planned to makemyself cry, I had never intended to do itfor real. Listen, I don t want to talkanymore. That s quite all right, Addie, Dr.Dayton attempted to comfort me with lamesmiles and pats on the back, yet it did melittle good.I wanted needed Charliethere. You don t have to if you don twant to.But Norton ignored us both. Do youknow how you got from New York toCalifornia? N-not really, I lied.I switched theice pack to the other side of my face,hoping it would cover up anyinconsistencies in my expression. I slepta lot.Another part of the lie I had preparedfor. I m a terrible liar, I warned Reid. Yeah, I got that. Well, then, I m open for suggestions  Here. He violently yanked my wristand forced my palm open, shoving twosmall blue pills inside. Take these.Whenthey ask, just say someone spoon fed youthem all day long.I laughed in his face. I m not takingthese. Don t trust me? he mocked.I fastened my seatbelt and scowledback,  About as far as I can throw you. Look! Those people areprofessionals, they won t believe you ifyou just outright lie.They see somesleeping pills in your blood and maybemaybe they ll believe you don t knowanything, that you just slept all week.I squeezed the tablets in my hand. And if they don t? Then I know where you live.Norton opened up his file and beganreading off a sheet of paper. Yes, yourtox screen is positive fordiphenhydramine, but the head neurologistsays your head CT is clear.You don tremember how you got three-thousandmiles from home?If only this one knew how far fromhome I had really been. At some point I ate the food theyoffered me, I sniffed. I know it wasstupid, but I didn t want to starve to death,either.After that, a man named Wallacewould give me blue pills every few hours.He said they wouldn t hurt me, but he d doa lot worse to me if I refused.I then described Wallace with everypossible detail I could, right down to theangle of his hairline.I could tell Harpstenwas impressed by how intricate some ofmy answers were.But before Nortoncould ask anything else, Harpsten shookhis head at him and took the remainder ofthe files.Agent Harpsten and Norton werelooking at each other as they put away thephotographs.They didn t quite have theanswers they wanted but they were stillsomewhat satisfied. Thank you, Addie, said AgentHarpsten,  you ve been really helpful.By the time we got back to NewJersey, thirteen different newspapers hadthirteen theories about what had happenedto me and what had occurred betweenNew York and California [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]