Chapter 5 – Tell the Truth
Sunday – September 24, 2023
Ash
Chastity pulled up a chair, spun it backwards, hiked her black pencil skirt up way too high, and straddled it. She leaned forward until she was a few inches from Tanner’s face. “Here’s how this is going to go. Ash is going to ask you a series of questions. And you’re going to tell her the truth. If you lie…well, don’t lie.” She clicked a pair of tweezers in his face.
What’s she going to do with those? If she poked his eyes out I was definitely gonna puke.
“Wait, are you guys for real right now?” asked Tanner. “You really think I had something to do with Rosalie’s disappearance?”
Chastity plucked one of his arm hairs out.
“Stop it, that tickles,” said Tanner.
Tickles? Plucking freaking hurts, psychopath!
He laughed and tried to pull his arm away. But he couldn’t move an inch. His wrist was duct taped to the armrest of the chair, and his hand was duct taped to Chastity’s phone with his finger pressed against the screen. The app had turned her phone into a virtual polygraph machine, complete with a needle that moved around to chart every little change in his heartbeat.
“Ask him a simple question,” said Chastity. “We need a baseline for the lie detector. ”
Umm… “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Tanner Rhodes. Wait…my current real name? Or my Society name? Because that’s Ryder Storm. I’m also known as Alexander Odegaard. Or are you asking for my birth name?”
What the fuck? Who are you?
The needle was jumping all over the place.
Chastity shook her head. “Try something simpler. Give him a yes or no question.”
“Do I have red hair?”
“Yes. Actually, it’s more orange. I’ve never understood why people call it…”
Chastity cut him off by plucking another of his arm hairs.
Tanner giggled.
She plucked another.
He giggled some more. “It tickles,” he managed to get out between his fits of laughter. He tried to hop away in the chair. “Stop it.”
“That’s up to you. Give us a straight answer, and your arm hairs will stay in your arm. Now, let’s try one more baseline question. Does Ash have great tits?”
“Absolutely,” said Tanner.
Chastity looked down at the app. The needle was hardly moving. “Good boy. Was that so hard? Okay, Ash. Now that we’ve got our baseline, you can ask him anything you want.”
I took a deep breath. This was it. I was finally going to get the answers I’d been searching for. “Did you kill my sister?” I asked.
“No,” replied Tanner as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
I glanced at Chastity.
She nodded. “He’s telling the truth.”
My heart leapt. She’s alive?! “Did you kidnap Rosalie?”
“No.”
Another nod from Chastity. “Just keep going. I’ll tell you if he lies.”
“Did you have anything to do with Rosalie’s disappearance?”
“No.”
“Are you a serial killer?”
Tanner laughed like it was the most ridiculous question in the world.
And he laughed even more when Chastity plucked one of his eyebrow hairs.
“Hey now,” said Tanner. “Hands off the eyebrows. You’re gonna make me look like a freak.”
“That’s up to you,” said Chastity. “I’ll stop as soon as you answer the question.”
“Of course I’m not a serial killer. You know me, Ash.”
“Then how do you explain this picture?” I thrust the computer in front of him.
“I already told you. Someone must have photoshopped it.”
“Then why are you in all the photos from that night?” I clicked to the next one. And the next.
“I seriously have no idea. I never went to the Emerald Oasis with your sister. Hell, I never even met your sister.”
Chastity plucked another eyebrow hair.
“Hey!” said Tanner. “What was that for? ”
“You’re hiding something,” she said.
“I’m not. Ask me anything. I swear I’ll tell the truth.”
“Are you in love with Ash?”
Tanner paused and stared at me. But my eyes were completely focused on the polygraph.
“Yes,” he said after a moment.
The polygraph didn’t jump at all. If the app was accurate, then he was telling the truth. He loves me? I guess that made sense. He was sick in the head. He’d love me right up until the moment he finished stuffing my dismembered body into a freezer. I pressed my lips together. Why couldn’t he just love me like a normal person? The way I loved him? Stop it. I don’t love serial killers.
“If you love her so much,” said Chastity, “then why don’t you tell us the truth about what you did to Rosalie?”
“I already did. I swear, I’ve never met Rosalie.”
Chastity shook her head. “Tanner, Tanner, Tanner. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to resort to plan B, but clearly plucking your hair isn’t doing the trick.”
“What’s plan B?” he asked. “Beating me with a phonebook?”
“No,” said Chastity, getting up and pacing across the room dramatically. “No, physical pain doesn’t seem to bother you. But emotional pain might. So here’s what we’re going to do. You have thirty seconds to tell us exactly what happened to Rosalie. And if I’m not satisfied with your answer, then Dr. Lyons is going to push Ash to her knees and fuck her face like he did during the traffic stop last night. ”
Dr. Lyons shifted uncomfortably.
Oh my God! Why would she tell him that? And more importantly… WHAT?! Was he really going to do that? How had they planned this without telling me?!
“Traffic stop?” asked Tanner. “Face fucking? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, you didn’t hear?” asked Chastity. “After you ran away from the spit roast to plan a murder or something, Cole came and took Ash to Kat’s swinger party. Ash distracted Kat’s husband while Cole stole the pictures. And then during their getaway, Dr. Lyons pulled them over. He didn’t give them a ticket though. Instead he bent Ash over the hood of the car and gave her a very stiff warning.”
Tanner looked pissed. “Is all of that true?”
“Sure is.”
“So you’re telling me these photos came from Cole? You know he probably photoshopped them to make me look like a bad guy, right?”
Is that possible? “Yeah, they’re from Cole,” I said.
“And guess what she had to do to get them?” asked Chastity. “Here’s a hint. Single Girl Rule #25: Don’t be ashamed to use sex to get what you want.”
I never fucked Cole! But I didn’t mind Tanner thinking I did.
Tanner’s mouth dropped. But in a happy way. “Well that’s great news! I knew that asshole couldn’t be Ash’s true love.”
What the hell is he talking about? He was definitely deranged.
“It all makes sense now,” said Tanner. “Cole must have sensed that it wasn’t true love. So the only way to steal your heart was for him to photoshop some photos to make it look like I knew Rosalie. I can prove it. The real photos are on a flash drive in my left pocket.”
I reached into his pocket and grabbed for it. But all I felt was a long, hard… Oh my God. I was grabbing his penis. His very erect, very huge penis. Why was he so horny? Did he like being interrogated like this? Or was he aroused by the traffic stop story?
“A little to the left,” he said after my hand had been on his cock for way too long.
“Right.” I rummaged around until my fingers found the little flash drive. Then I popped it into the laptop and extracted the files. Just like before, it said it was going to take like ten minutes.
“In ten minutes, we’re going to know if you’re lying or not,” said Chastity. “And if you’re lying, Ash isn’t just going to blow Dr. Lyons. She’s going to fuck him right here on that table. Who knows…maybe she’ll invite one of the night janitors to come take a turn on her too.”
What?! I was definitely not going to do any of that.
We all sat there in silence while the files finished extracting.
Dr. Lyons was just standing there looking so uncomfortable. Or excited? I didn’t know his reactions well enough to tell the difference!
I stared at the computer. Please be different, I thought to myself over and over again. Even though all the evidence pointed to Tanner, I didn’t want to believe that he was a killer. The moments we’d shared had all felt so genuine. For it to all be fake would be soul crushing .
EXTRATION COMPLETE flashed on the computer screen.
I took a deep breath. This is it. I double clicked the photo and my heart sank. It was exactly the same as the photo that Cole had taken from Kat’s mansion. Tanner was standing there next to Rosalie, looking down at her like he loved her.
“That’s impossible,” said Tanner. “I swear that never happened. Someone must have tampered with the photos before me or Cole got them.”
Chastity turned to me. “You’re a lucky girl. Should I go find the janitor while you and Dr. Lyons get started?”
“No,” I said.
“Good. I would have been disappointed if I didn’t get to watch. But there is a really hot janitor on the fourth floor…”
“No to all of it,” I said. “I’m not going to bend over the conference table. Because I believe Tanner.” I pointed to the lie detector app. It had hardly moved at all when he said that someone must have tampered with the photos.
“Thank you,” said Tanner.
“Those machines aren’t always accurate,” said Chastity. “The photos clearly show that he was with Rosalie.”
“That’s exactly why I believe him.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. My brain was still working out all the details. But in my gut I knew he was telling the truth. “Think about it. His story checks out. The only reason he would have gotten that photo was if he didn’t realize that it showed him and Rosalie together. And if he had actually been with her at that spit roast, then he would have remembered it and known that it would be in the photo. Ergo, he’s telling the truth.” Or maybe I just desperately wanted him to be telling the truth. Because I loved him back. Please don’t let me get murdered tonight.
Chastity cocked her head. “Damn, girl. That’s some good logic. I would have seen it sooner, but in my defense, I really wanted to see Dr. Lyons fuck the hell out of you on that table. Especially if he’s packing as much as you claim he is…”
Dr. Lyons cleared his throat.
Chastity, please stop talking! “The real question is: who messed with that photo? Because whoever did it must have had something to do with Rosalie’s disappearance.” After all this time, we finally had a clue!
“I’m sure Kat has security cameras,” said Tanner. “As soon as you untie me, I’ll give her a call.”
“Thank you,” I said and reached for the duct tape.
Chastity grabbed my hand to stop me. “Not so fast. I still don’t completely trust him. Even if he’s not a murderer, he’s still hiding something. And he’s not getting free until he tells us the truth.” She turned to Tanner. “Are you a vampire?”
“No,” said Tanner with a laugh.
Chastity narrowed her eyes. “A werewolf?”
“Nope.”
“A wizard?”
“Some magazines have referred to me as a tech wizard. Does that count?”
“Don’t fuck with me,” said Chastity. “Dr. Lyons, remove your shirt. ”
“Huh?” he asked.
“Remove your shirt. And each time Tanner tries to bullshit us, remove another article of clothing. If you run out of clothes, then you get to bend Ash over the conference table after all.”
Dr. Lyons shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head.
Chastity turned back to Tanner. “Are you a cupid?”
“What the hell is a cupid?”
Chastity snapped at Dr. Lyons and motioned for his pants to come off. He pulled them off and put his hands over his crotch, but I could still see his semi erect cock straining against his briefs. I wasn’t actually going to let him bend me over that conference table in front of Tanner. Was I? I gulped.
“Let’s try this again,” said Chastity. “Are you a cupid?”
“No.”
“A time traveler?”
“In a way, we’re all time travelers…”
Chastity snapped at Dr. Lyons. He kicked his shoes off.
“Fine. No. I’m not a time traveler.”
“A genie?”
“I’ll tell you everything, but I’d really prefer for Anthony to not…”
“To not what? Fuck Ash on this table?” She snapped and this time Dr. Lyons pulled off his socks. “In that case, the next words out of your mouth better be the truth. Because Dr. Lyons only has his underwear left. And once that comes off…” She looked over at me and waggled her eyebrows .
Oh God.
Part of me wanted to put a stop to this. But I also desperately needed to know Tanner’s secret.
“Please tell us your secret, Tanner,” I said. “No more lies.”
He nodded and took a deep breath.