No, I gotta play it smart. Make her confess her lies without her seeing through mine.
And there’s only one way to go about that.
I have to pretend I’m one of his victims too.
What if he stole my panties? What if he came onto me and then pretended he didn’t care? That’ll surely hit the mark with her. It’ll remind her of the time he rejected her, and pissing her off is exactly what I need to do to get her to speak about it. All I have to do is capture it on my voice recorder, which every girl has on her phone nowadays. Oh, what a convenience.
I need to write this shit down before I forget. I need to know exactly what I’m going to say and do to trigger her response. However, the moment I grab my pen and paper, my phone rings.
“Hello?” I say.
“Are you doing it yet?” It’s TJ, and he sounds frantic.
“No, I’m still planning my attack.”
“Please don’t make a spectacle out of it.”
“I won’t, I promise. I got it covered.”
“You don’t know how she’s going to react. If she knows who you are, she could make it even worse by talking to the press about you … about us.”
“No, I won’t tell her we’re together. Or that I’m working for you.”
“What if she already knows?” he whispers. “Maybe she’s got someone on the inside.”
“What, like a spy?” I chuckle. “You’re overreacting, TJ. Just let me do my thing. It’ll be fine, I promise. Just stay calm and do your thing.”
“I’m not fucking calm,” he growls.
“Obviously.” I roll my eyes.
“I can’t help it. Everyone in the goddamn office is reading that goddamn newspaper. I’m watching them; I can see their reactions. And they’re all looking at me!”
“Then go home. Lay low for a while.”
“And then what? The longer I wait, the worse it gets. Before you know it, the press will be at my door, and then I’ll have no way out. They might even go through my trash,” he mumbles. “Fuck! I dumped some of those panties from my collection in there.”
“It’s still in there?”
“How should I know? I don’t keep track of when the trash guys come.”
I shake my head. “All right. We’ll figure this out. Just go home. Let me handle this.”
“Fine, but I’m not going to relax. I’m going to take my laptop and type out a response. I can’t just sit on this. I have to come out with my version of the story before the damage is irreparable.”
“Do what you have to, but I’m not stopping until I’ve got what I want, which is her lying ass on tape.”
He sighs. “Good luck. And be careful, okay?”
“I will,” I say. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Good.” He doesn’t even say bye before hanging up; that’s how nervous he is.
I sigh and put the phone down, thinking about my plan of attack.
I really have to do this quickly and efficiently. The longer I wait, the more paranoid TJ becomes, and I don’t want to lose him too on top of everything else. He’ll get out of this; I’ll make sure of it.
However, if I go today, it’ll be too suspicious. No, I have to wait until I, the victim, have read the newspaper and decided I wanted to share my story with the girl who brought out this news. I’ll tell her I found out her address from the newspaper she gave the story to and quickly gloss it over, so she won’t even think twice about it.
I’ve got it all covered. And I’m definitely going to nail this bitch.
* * *
The next day, when I take Pepper for a walk, I immediately go to the woman’s home and ring the doorbell. My heart is pounding because I know what I’m doing is dangerous and reckless, but I don’t care. I have to make this all go away. For TJ’s sake and for the sake of my own job.
I hold the newspaper and Pepper’s leash tight as I hear someone walk to the door. The moment she appears in view, I just want to smack her on the head with the newspaper … and then maybe drag her outside for another punching match.
But I can’t do that. It’ll only get me into trouble and won’t get TJ out of it. Besides, Pepper would probably run away if I just started punching chicks out of nowhere.
Stay professional, Lesley. You can do this.
“Hi,” I say.
Could that have come out any sillier? Probably not.
“Uh … hi,” she says tentatively, and she gazes down at Pepper, cringing like she hates dogs. I used to have that look too, but now I just feel embarrassed for her.
Still, gotta keep up the appearance that I actually want to talk to this woman.
“I’m sorry, I just … I saw this in the newspaper, and I …” I clear my throat to make my hesitance sound believable. “I just knew I had to talk to you.”