Chapter 40: You’re Lying
- RAYA -
"Dad, you’re lying." My voice drops with the absolute conviction of that fact. He is lying. It’s obvious. "Why would you lie to me?"
"What makes you think I’m lying? Why would I lie about your apartment not being safe?" He screws up his face defensively, but he’s also looking at the wall instead of at me. It’s almost funny. I want to laugh, except he hasn’t told me the truth yet.
"You’re lying about someone breaking into my apartment. That’s never happened before, and if you fed Moira okay, then I doubt the door was all busted in. She probably would have run away."
His mouth opens, but all that comes out is a small sound... there is literally nothing else he can say.
"Seriously, you’re going to make me mad if you don’t just tell me the truth."
"Raya, I’m not ly..."
"Don’t say you’re not lying. Your head did the thing... the nonverbal body language thing that investigators use to catch liars."
"What?" He chuckles. "What body language thing? What did my head do?"
"You said yes with your words, but your head was shaking ’no.’ That’s like... textbook. I saw it on a show once."
He groans. "This isn’t a show, honey. This is real life. And I am very sure that you cannot go back to that apartment."
Dex walks in carrying a few bags and something under his arm, and it doesn’t even matter that he looks like the sexiest man alive at the moment with his hair falling over his eyes and that ridiculous holey sweater draped so perfectly over his broad shoulders and hugging his biceps... Instead of dwelling on that, I immediately pounce on the chance to prove my suspicion right.
"Dex! Can you tell me what happened at my apartment?" I ask, squinting at him with what I imagine are narrowed intimidating eyes.
It must sound like an accusation, because he freezes like a deer caught in headlights. And then like a truly guilty person, he looks at my father first before answering.
"What do you mean?" He says carefully, glancing back my way. "Didn’t your dad tell you?"
"Tell me what?" I tilt my head curiously.
"About what happened. The um... the..."
"The break-in," Dad finishes for him.
"Right, the break-in."
"Oh my god, you’re both lying to me. I can’t trust anyone." I cross my arms over my chest and then wince when it rubs against my side. I keep forgetting that I’m bandaged there. The painkillers are making it easy to forget until I move the wrong way.
Dex shares a long look with my father before walking the rest of the way in and depositing the bags on the sofa. Then he pulls out my rolled-up quilt from under his arm.
"This looked important," he says and spreads it over top of the thin blanket I’m already covered in. He glances up when he’s done, those honey brown eyes offering me something honest and true and simultaneously capturing something inside of me that I’m not sure I’ll ever get back.
"You were in my room," I say quietly, holding his gaze before he drops it with a small furrow of his eyebrows.
"Yeah, I’m sorry. We just wanted to get a few things you might need. The book and I also have your... your bear."
"Huggie?" I ask, too stunned to continue with my inquisition. And now with the reminder of the book, I fumble for it and slide it under the blanket to hide it from further scrutiny. God, was he the one to grab it?
Dex returns to the bags he brought in and retrieves my teddy bear with the worn, matted plush. If I wasn’t embarrassed before, I sure am now.
"Huggie?" He repeats with a small smile. "That’s a good name. Not quite as clever as Moira Rose."
"Well, I named him when I was three. Moira was more recent."
He chuckles and brings me the bear, which I take and clutch in my hands while trying to prevent the emotions that are starting to well up.
"Thank you. So... there really was a break in? Is Moria okay?" When it seemed like Dad was lying, I wasn’t afraid. But now I am. Now a slow, creeping fear starts to make its way up my spine.
Who would have broken in? Was it the creep who lives next door?
Dex glances at my father again, and I can’t help but wonder what all they have shared in tonight. It seems like a lot if they are able to communicate wordlessly like this.
"The truth is..." Dex starts, looking up at me from where he has now settled down on the sofa. "We discovered something that is actually really disturbing, and we both thought that it might be best not to tell you right away in case it was too upsetting."
"Something more disturbing and upsetting than my apartment being broken into?" I frown.
Dex doesn’t say anything more but rubs his chin and nods, looking once again at my father.
"Dad?" I ask. "What is it? What happened."
"Well it’s... it’s hard to explain," he grimaces. "You’ve seen the movie Psycho, right?"
"Yeah," I reply slowly, tracing my way back through the storyline. "That was the first movie to ever have a toilet in it."
Dex chuckles, the dimples behind his beard showing and causing a wild fluttering to erupt in my chest. I’ve decided that I love when he smiles.
"Okay, true," Dad chuckles, too. "But there is also a part where he spies on her while she’s in her motel room. Do you remember that?"
"What?" My voice drops again, and with it a cascade of something inside crashes into the pit of my stomach. "Please don’t tell me that’s what you’re saying."
"There is a hole above your refrigerator," Dex says, rubbing his hands together. "When I came out of the bathroom, I saw a flicker of light up there. And sure enough, there was someone behind it."
Above my refrigerator... that would be... "the creepy guy next door," I gulp. "He’s..." I grimace, recalling how I’ve caught him watching me out his window. He’s bumped into me in the basement when I was doing laundry. "He was watching me?" And there is a direct line of sight from the refrigerator right into my bedroom.
Neither my dad or Dex can look at me, and suddenly I feel cold all over. Who knows what he saw. Who knows how long...
"Can we call the police? Can we have him arrested for... for voyeurism?"
"I’m not sure how serious the police will take it, Raya. And when I went to pound on that guy’s door, he answered it with a sawed-off shotgun," Dex says.
"We will call the police, but we are going to get you a new place, honey. Don’t worry. You’re not going back there," Dad adds.
"But all of my things are there..." I pull the quilt up to my chin, my hands beginning to tremble and my teeth chattering. "I’m so sorry, Dex. What if you had been killed? And all because you offered to help my dad and I."
"I wasn’t killed, okay? Everything is fine. And your dad very bravely pulled me to safety," he assures me, and then both of them share a small laugh. "The important thing is..." he reaches behind himself and grabs the other bag, "we brought snacks."
