Page 12 of Dancing With Lies

Lincoln sighed, sat back in his chair, and closed his eyes. His left hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He’d forgotten to take his allergy medicine that morning and he was getting a sinus headache. At least, that’s what he told himself. It wasn’t a tension headache at all.

With another sigh, Lincoln got up and walked over to the window to stare out at the city below. The sun was going down and the city was in flames. At least, it looked that way from where he stood. Dark oranges and reds gleamed off thousands of windows as the sun sank lower in the sky. It was a beautiful sunset, the kind he liked to watch in the park, though he rarely got the chance to sit in the park. He had no dog to walk, and he had a treadmill at home to run on. And when he wanted to swim, he could always go to the indoor pool that was part of the gym facilities in his apartment building. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t spend time in the park, he’d decided long ago, this was one of the best views in the city to watch the sun set and rise.

He had the penthouse apartment of the apartment building and they’d clear the pool out if he wanted them to, just to please him. It was the kind of ingratiating attitude that got on his nerves. He didn’t want people to be nice to him just because he had money. He expected quality care from the management at the building because of the money he’d paid for the penthouse, but he didn’t want to be kowtowed to either.

Which kind of contradicted itself, he decided with a smirk. Oh well. He needed to go home and get changed. He was on a flight this evening to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was quaint down there, full of fun smiling people, even during Bike Week, and he loved the atmosphere on the boardwalk. People in the south were much nicer than people in New York and he loved hearing the drawling accent of the natives down there. But more importantly, that woman with the black hair who had Chloe’s face was down there. Her eyebrows were shaped differently now, and that black hair was a shock, but he’d seen her eyes and it hit him in the gut that she was Chloe.

He’d gone back to the dressing rooms as soon as he could get through the crowd milling around the stage, but she’d left. Emily told him the woman was named Roxie, but he had a feeling that was an alias. His eyes had locked with hers and he’d seen a flitting moment of recognition in those dazzling blue depths.

Lincoln rode the elevator down to where his driver waited in the parking garage below the building and slipped into the car, his briefcase in hand. He didn’t want to think much more about that file right now. He just wanted to relax before the flight that might bring him a little closer to the beauty who’d left him all those years ago.

* * *

“I’ll be back around six in the morning tomorrow, Jeff,” Lincoln said to his driver as the man came over to close Lincoln’s door. “I’ll need a lift to work.”

“Of course, Mr. Young.” The older man with a shock of white and gray hair that could never be tamed, no matter which haircut, or hat, he wore, said with a happy smile on his face. “You be careful on that plane, sir, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I will and you take care, Jeff. Enjoy the rest of your day.” Lincoln waved and pulled the handle up on his rolling suitcase. He was dressed in a single-breasted, worsted wool, navy blue Brioni suit with a black shirt beneath it. He knew it would be warmer in South Carolina, but he liked looking the part of a rich businessman.

He didn’t want to make this mad dash down to South Carolina but his good friends, Emily Thompson and her husband, Dylan James, might know more about this Roxie woman and he wanted to discuss it with them in person, maybe even find out where he could see her at work again since Emily said she was good friends with the woman.

He closed his eyes as the commercial jet’s engines started, quite happy in his seat in first class. He could buy his own plane but didn’t really see the point when he rarely flew anywhere. As the plane slowly crawled up the runway, he let his eyes close and took a deep breath. Soon he’d be landing in warmer temperatures and hopefully getting some answers. He might as well catch some rest while he could but before he dozed off a thought occurred to him. Would Chloe thank him for telling her the truth or would she just be pissed that he’d blown her cover? He’d think about it more, later.

3

Roxie

Roxie recognized some elements of the building she was in but for some reason, smoke clouded everything. She walked forward, ready to find out where she was and why there was smoke when something tugged at her hand.

Emily.

“Emily, where are we? What’s going on?” Roxie asked, but her questions were punctuated by the thick smoke that filled her lungs.

“I don’t know, Roxie. Help me?” Emily had changed since Roxie first met her, she’d become strong, capable, and confident. The Emily in front of her now was the old Emily, full of false bravado, trying to pretend to the world that she was tougher than people thought she was.

Roxie felt the weight of Emily’s plea as though it were a true weight around her shoulders, but she clasped her friend’s hand tighter before she forged ahead. “Let’s find a way out.”

People started to rush by, their familiar faces told her this was Elmo’s. They were in Elmo’s.

It became clear where the smoke was coming from when Roxie saw flames rush up a wall. Roxie tried to push Emily away from the flaming wall just as a group of people rushed past.

“Emily!” Roxie cried, trying to hold onto her friend’s hand, but the rush of people wouldn’t let her stop to grab at the other woman. She screamed her friend’s name as the building began to crumble around her.

Roxie moved, trying to get to the edge of the crowd until she was finally against a wall.

Fear ate at her, told her to run for the clear air to be found at the exit, but she stayed in the building. Emily was in there; she couldn’t let Emily die. Not like her parents had.

“Emily!” Roxie screamed as she moved along the wall now in flames, heat scorching her skin as much as the hot smoke scorched her lungs. Roxie held her hands out as the smoke became thicker, trying to feel for the woman, but she couldn’t find her.

Out of the smoke new voices rose, those of her parents, screaming in agony as they tried to escape the burning flames that surrounded them now. Roxie ran, trying to find them, to save them all.

She found herself in a room, surrounded by surging flames that created a noise, a roar that filled her head until her ears felt as if they’d burst. She screamed for Emily and her parents again, but the sound was only a whisper. As was the ‘help me’ she cried just as the world went black.

* * *

Roxie woke up, gasping for air, the smell of smoke lingering in her nose. Tears ran down her cheeks, scalding her skin, but she’d take that over flames any day. She looked around the dimly lit confines of her bedroom and took another deep breath to calm her pulse. It was only the nightmare.

She ignored the flood of relief as she got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. Luckily, Emily and Dylan came back from their vacation and picked up their little bundle of joy two days ago. She was alone in her apartment and didn’t have to think about anything at all.