Page 52 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

The Truth About Lying
“No,” Vincent said. “You know it’s incriminating. That isn’t the same thing as knowing it’s ugly.”
Henry lowered his eyes.
Jinji reopened the laptop.
“Say something true,” she said.
Henry looked at the patch.
“You want to test it on me?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Good,” she said. “That’s an honest answer.”
Vincent pushed the envelope back toward Henry.
“If this device works,” he said, “what happens to people who lie because they’re afraid?”
Jinji said nothing.
“What happens to the woman hiding money from the man who beats her? What happens to the child who says everything is fine because the truth gets punished? What happens to the dying man who tells his wife he isn’t scared?”
Henry looked at the patch.
Jinji said, “Those aren’t the people I’m after.” “But they’ll be in the blast radius,” Vincent said. Silence.
From the hall came the sound of someone dropping a tray. A man cursed. Someone else laughed. Ordinary life, holding itself together with noise and food and small lies.
Henry said, “Cerulean killed forty-seven people because lies had no cost.”
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