Page 103 of The Five Year Lie

This works fine for about fifteen minutes, until Larri breezes through the door. “Look who’s early!” she shrieks. “Great to see you, even if you look like hell. Did someone or something keep you up last night? Or are we just going for the strung-out look today?”

“That second thing,” I mutter.

“You ready for a punty?”

I squint at the piece on the end of my pipe. “Sure. Thanks.”

She puts the tool into the warmer and changes my playlist without asking.

But it’s fine. I don’t care.

I don’t care. I don’t care.It’s my goddamn mantra.

“You want to talk about it?” she asks, fitting the punty onto the bottom of my piece.

“Nope. It won’t change a thing.”

She quirks an eyebrow at me. “It’s been three weeks of hell over this guy, hasn’t it? What would it take to get you to let him go?”

“I’ve already let him go.”

Larri lets the lie pass. We fall into our usual rhythm. It’s comfortable, and I imagine myself off the hook.

Until the damn door opens once again, and the person who steps through it is Zain. “There you are!” he says in a voice that assumes I’m not still mad at him. “You aren’t answering my texts, and I have news.”

“Kinda busy here,” I grumble.

“No you’re not,” Larri argues. “That piece is ready to come off, and you’ve been hogging the glory hole anyway.”

Zain squints at the glowing flames visible in the circular cutout. “Do you seriously call that thing a glory hole? Because, I gotta tell you—”

“We know!” Larri says cheerfully. “But feel free to make your jokes—you’ll only owe a dollar to the dick joke jar.” She points to the jar on the ledge. “What’s your name? I love meeting Ariel’s friends.”

“I’m Zain,” he says. “Ariel and I have been working on a little project...”

“Chasing down Drew?” Larri demands. “Or whatever the fuck his real name was? I’m gonna need you to work a little faster. The girl is a mess.”

Zain blinks. “Uh, okay. Ariel? Can we talk?”

“Take her,” Larri insists, waving a hand at me. “She’s no good to me like this—all broody and dramatic.”

I remove my goggles and grudgingly join Zain near the door. He opens it, as if to usher me outside, but I shake my head. “Here’sfine. Larri is my best friend. She can’t hear us anyway over that music.”

“Can’t hear a thing,” Larri says unhelpfully. Then she cackles.

Zain gives her a nervous glance, then he turns back to me and drops his voice. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to admit it. But it was me on the video.”

“Wait,what?” Shocked, I meet his sad eyes, and he looks away. “You’rethe one who set up Judge Kerry in the system?”

He nods, a contrite look on his face. “Obviously I had no idea.”

Did you, though?I take a deep breath, wondering if Zain is playing me for a fool. But why tell me now? Unless he just assumes I’ll never stop asking for that damned video. “So...” My mind spins. “If there was ever an investigation, they’d come after you?”

“Maybe.” He shifts his weight. “But think about it. If you wanted to set up a dirty judge in the system, you’d let some rando do it for you, right? That’s what I plan to say in court.”

“Jesus.” I rub my temples. “Do you remember who asked you to take that shift?”

He shakes his head. “I sat on the warrant desk maybe three times ever, and I don’t even remember which time that was. So I can’t say for sure who asked me to do it. Maybe Evan. Maybe someone else.”