Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 280(@200wpm)___ 224(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
I nod. We’re not going to talk about what happened on the porch. When I followed her into the house, I was going to tell her she’d gotten it wrong. I wasn’t pissed. I was obsessed. I was starving for her to want the same future as I do, but there’s no use telling her that now. If her mom dies, she won’t ever be able to look at me again, let alone spend a life with me.
Dammit, we’re back at step one.
The phone only rings a couple of times. Then Jack picks up, his voice hoarse, crackly, as it would probably be these days if he were alive. Strangely, I feel Imaginary Jack watching me, the man before the switch, the man who never existed to begin with. The man who gave me so much happiness as a kid, before I learned who he was, who he wanted to become.
“Hello, kid,” he says.
I clench my fists, leaning over the table. Lena has her hand on my arm. I didn’t know it would be so hard to hear his voice, even if it is a fake. Like Lena said, it’s possible. We’re clearly dealing with an effective operator.
“We need to know that Simone is okay,” I growl.
“I’m hurt, kid. I thought you’d want to talk some.”
I almost slam my hand against the table. Imaginary Jack is in my mind, hands wrapped around me, whispering. “It’s not your fault, kid. It’s not your fault…”
“Your man did good work. He managed to follow me. That’s difficult to do, and he got his captive without making any noise. There’s nothing else to discuss except how we get her back.”
“My man did good work,” Jack says, laughing in that throaty way of his. It sounds like it’s gotten as bad as it could have in this timeframe. “You don’t think I’ve still got it. You think I’m a weak old man? You think you’re better than me?”
“Jack, you’d be eighty-nine now.” I just called him Jack. I’m making an ass of myself. “Whoever you are.”
“You don’t think I’m really Jack?” He sounds amused.
“There are other possibilities.”
“Oh, kid. You always did think you were more clever than you are. You’re such a disappointment.”
I almost hit the table again. Dammit, this is dragging so much stuff up. “Let us hear Simone.”
If this is a fake voice, Simone’s could be, too, but I doubt it. Creating a fake voice requires hours of audio from the subject. That’s why so many podcasters are prime targets. It’s easy to fake them. Jack could’ve arranged that before he died if he cared enough to, but would he? Why? To prove he’s better than me? Maybe I don’t want to believe that Jack would go this far.
“H-hello?” Simone says.
“Mom,” Lena almost yells, tears in her eyes, her voice choked. “I can’t believe it’s happening again. Mom, I’m so sorry.”
“Ask her only something she would know,” I say quietly.
“Uh, Mom, do you remember when we went to the zoo, and I fell over, crying, because I was laughing so hard?”
“Y-yes.”
“What animal was it, Mom?”
“A giraffe.”
Lena looks at me, nodding, a question in her eyes.
“Let’s get down to business,” Jack grunts.
“I could do the same with you, Jack,” I snarl.
“What? Ask me about zoos?”
“I could ask you about the fishing trip where I lost my shoe. Remember that? Remember what you said?”
“I’m an old man,” he grumbles. “I can’t remember much these days.”
“Yeah, sure you are,” I snap. “Whatever this is, it has nothing to do with Simone. You’ve made your point. Name a time and a place.”
“You don’t want to believe it’s me,” Jack says with a throaty laugh. “You want to believe the old Jack exists. The one who held you and told you it would all be okay. The one who played daddy for you because you were so damn pathetic and clingy. I did my part. I sacrificed for you, kid.”
This type of pain is new to me. It hits me square in the chest. I’ve spent so long locking this crap away, this part of him, anyway. “You pretended to be a good man for a little while.”
“I did a damn good job, too,” Jack grunts. “Look at you. I’ve seen The Answer, Jamie. I’ve seen all of it. I am the fucking answer. Did you really think something like that could exist to help people?”
He laughs cruelly. I hate thinking about it, but it reminds me of how he sometimes laughed when making an off-color joke. Just his sense of humor, Mom used to say. It’s just how he is—his comments about a woman’s skirt on a warm summer’s day.
“You wouldn’t understand, Jack,” I say. “You killed two women. You murdered them in their own home.”
Across from me, Lena flinches. I take her hand. She doesn’t fight me this time. She holds on tightly, looking at me desperately. I want to say I won’t let him hurt your mom, but I said that before, and I let this happen.