Listen for the Lie(73)

Lucy likely didn’t mean to kill Savvy, and my theory is that the shock of what she’d done caused a mental breakdown that completely erased the memory.

I look up to see Ben standing over me, holding the glass of whiskey out to me.

“You think I did it.” It’s not a question.

His eyes skip from me to the paper. I can’t tell whether he meant for me to see it. He’s usually so good about cleaning up the evidence when I’m around.

“It’s just one of a few possible endings,” he says.

I take the glass from him. It’s heavy. It wouldn’t kill him if I smashed it against his head, but it’d hurt like hell.

I slide the paper to the side, so I can see the ones behind it. He was telling the truth—it is just one possible ending. He’s written notes for Matt having killed her, and an ending where there’s no clear resolution.

But only mine is detailed. The others have two to three lines written out. Mine is an entire page.

“You think I did it,” I say again.

I don’t know why I’m disappointed. I never thought he was on my side.

Or maybe that’s a lie.

He sits down in the chair across the table and leans forward, putting his glass down. “I haven’t come to any firm conclusions.”

“Ben—”

“I’m still working on it.” He pauses. “That was my original ending, before you got here and agreed to talk to me.”

I take a long swig of my drink. It burns as it goes down. I put the glass on the table, too hard, and some of it sloshes onto my podcast future, smearing his perfect letters.

“And you’ve changed your mind now?” I ask.

He hesitates. “My mind wasn’t made up before. It’s less made up now.”

I guess that’s really all I can hope for at this point.

“You aren’t telling me the truth about everything, though,” he says, cocking an eyebrow. “We both know that.”

I just stare at him, because he’s not wrong. Maybe I don’t blame him for doubting me.

“And not just about your marriage to Matt,” he says. “There are other things. Your interview airs tomorrow. I don’t want to believe you did it, Lucy, but I still have questions you seem either unwilling or unable to answer.”

I cock my head, watching as he takes a sip of his drink. The silence stretches between us, proving his point about my unwillingness to answer his questions. A less guilty person would rush to clarify things for him.

“If you think there’s a chance I did it, aren’t you’re worried I’ll kill you too?”

Something sparks in his eyes. “Not really, no.”

“Not really?” I drain my drink, which is a terrible idea. No one needs to be drunk right now. Certainly not me. “This isn’t, like, part of the podcast, is it? You’re going to end it by telling everyone how we slept together?”

“God, no, that makes me look awful.”

“Oh, it makes you look awful.” I laugh, without humor.

“And I wouldn’t do that to you,” he adds with sincerity. I’m still not sure I believe him.

There’s a knife on the counter, where he was cutting limes. I imagine grabbing it and sticking it in his chest. In and out, in and out.

“Fucking Exorcist style!” Savvy shouts gleefully.

The lamp in the corner is heavy enough to do some damage against his head. The pen near my fingers could probably go in his throat, if I put some muscle behind it.

Or I could just put a pillow over his head while he’s sleeping tonight.

“Bo-ring,” Savvy sings.

“Lucy.” Ben leans forward, peering at me. “What are you thinking about, when you do that?”

I snap.

“I’m thinking about killing you,” I say.





Listen for the Lie Podcast with Ben Owens EPISODE 7—“THE TRUTH ABOUT LUCY”

The first time I met Lucy Chase was at the Plumpton diner. I was waiting for her. She was clearly surprised to see me.

Her grandmother had set this up. I’d offered to go over to her house, let Lucy meet us there, but she said the diner would be better.

Beverly:?????????Let’s not ambush her at my house. The diner is public; she’ll have the option to just flip you off and get back in her car, if she wants.

She didn’t do that. In fact, she came right over and sat down and was … well, I wouldn’t say she was friendly, exactly. But she wasn’t hostile, which was what I’d been expecting.

I was nervous the first time we met, and I think she could tell. I didn’t think I was going to be, but when she walked into the diner, she just wasn’t what I was expecting.

She looked mostly the same as she did in the pictures. Her features are a little sharper now, and she smiles more than all the photos that circulated online would suggest, but I easily recognized her the moment she walked in.

It was her presence that I think I wasn’t expecting. She’s tall, and she walks into a room like she knows everyone is looking at her. That’s how she walked into the diner. Like she knew people were going to stare, and she didn’t care.

I have no idea if she actually cares that people always stare at her. I imagine they always have, given how she looks, but it certainly must be different now.