Page 23 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Extreme emotional exhaustion.
Even now, someone was laundering pain into language. She had told the truth and lost everything.
He had built lies and kept getting paid.
His phone buzzed again.
Claire.
This time, he answered.
“Claire.”
“Henry.” Her voice was tight. “I saw the news about Cerulean. I saw your name in the old press releases. Tell me you weren’t part of that.”
Once, he would have deflected.
He would have explained the limited scope of his involvement. He would have distinguished between strategy and execution. He would have used words like regrettable and complex and context.
“I was part of it,” he said. “I helped them bury it.” Silence.
Then Claire said, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to walk away, Henry. Not from this.” “I know that too.”
Another silence.
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