Page 116 of The Lie Maker

“Fuck!” Gwen shouted, recoiling, pressing her back against the chair, but at the same time, instantly, instinctively, slapping Lana across the face hard enough to leave a bright red mark on her cheek. “What’s wrong with you?”

Lana hunched her shoulders, reminding Gwen that her hands were bound behind her back.

“Fuck,” Gwen said, getting up and going to the kitchen sink to splash some water on her face. “The last thing I need is COVID,” she said, grabbing a dish towel to dry off.

“It’s allergies,” Lana said.

That did nothing to make Gwen look happier as she tossed the towel into the sink. She came back and sat down across from Lana, but not before moving her chair back a foot. To Cayden, she said, “Get her phone.”

Lana’s purse was sitting on the kitchen table. Cayden rooted through it, found Lana’s cell, and said, “It’s locked.”

Gwen looked at Lana. “Code.”

Lana said nothing. There had been no call from Jack. Once they got into the phone, they would know she’d lied. Gwen sighed and said to Cayden, “I bet her thumbprint will do it.”

Cayden came around behind Lana, knelt down, took Lana’s right hand firmly into his and placed her thumb over the phone’s home button. The screen came to life. “Here we go.”

He scanned the phone’s call history. “There’s no recent call here from Jack, but... there’s another call here, but not from him.”

“Who?” Gwen asked. “Who is it?”

Cayden scowled. “Earl.” He shook his head. “At least he’s not going to be a problem anymore.”

Gwen turned her attention back to Lana. “So Jack didn’t call you. So it wasn’t a dead end.”

“I honestly don’t know,” Lana said, sniffing again. “Why does it matter? Why do you care so much about him looking for his father?” Lana’s eyes narrowed. “It’s all about Abel Gartner, isn’t it?”

Gwen said, “What?”

“You’re working for his son. For Kyle. For what Jack’s dad did. Killing his father.”

Gwen leaned back in her chair, folded her arms, and shook her head. “The misery that man wrought. The suffering he caused. The families he destroyed.”

“You can blame Jack’s father, but you know he was coerced into doing it by a man who was every bit as bad as him, if not a whole lot worse.”

Gwen said, “Now you’re getting personal.”

“Personal?”

Gwen said nothing while she waited for the tumblers to fall into place for Lana, who finally said, “This has nothing to do with Abel Gartner.”

“Good.”

“You’re... are you... was Galen Frohm...”

“My father? Yes. Galen Frohm was my father. I am Gwen Frohm.” Gwen looked as though she was running out of patience. “Where. Did. Jack. Go?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying. A trailer park was mentioned. Where is it?”

Lana wanted to stall, but to what end? Was anyone going to find her? Was anyone even looking for her? Did Jack have any idea she was missing? She believed the moment she told Gwen where Jack had gone, she and Cayden would hop in that van and head straight to New Hampshire.

And they wouldn’t have any further need for Lana.

Lana could surmise what Gwen’s motives were. She wanted to kill Jack’s father for betraying her own. If she found him, and if Jack was with him, she’d kill Jack, too.

“It was all bullshit, wasn’t it?” Lana asked. “This whole witness protection thing. Hiring Jack to write backstories.”