"I'm sorry," Eileen repeats for maybe the two or three hundredth time and Lindsay just shakes her head, not wanting to hear a single word.
I'm a bit more sympathetic to Eileen's plight because of several reasons. I know Linda intimately. I know how conniving and twisted she can be. I also don't know Eileen that well. We may have shared a moment or two, but other than that, I don't feel as betrayed as Lindsay does. Add to that, Eileen has tried explaining multiple times, and It seems I'm the only one listening.
"She didn't know," I say softly, trying to calm Lindsay's rage.
"This is bullshit," Lindsay says. "You should have left her ass outside, and we should have gone to work! Now we're both taking a day off that we can't afford-"
"I'll give you the -cunt!- money," Eileen says quickly. "I'll give -fuckface!- you all of it."
"You get paid like, half of what I make," Lindsay says snidely.
"No. I -cunt!- I'll give you -suck my dick!- I'll give you the money your mom paid me."
Lindsay blinks and then narrows her eyes at Eileen. "What money?"
"She paid -whore!- me," Eileen says in a sad voice.
"She paid you to spy on us?" Lindsay asks, and I shake my head not fully realizing how desperate Linda has become, but I should have known. If she paid some man to spy on us, why not one of Lindsay's friends? Why not all of them?
"Explain everything," I say. "Don't leave anything out. Not one thing."
Eileen frowns sadly and then nods. "Can you -rape my ass!- loosen the ropes?" Eileen asks softly, giving Lindsay a pathetic look. "You know I don't mind -asshole!- the legs and feet, but the hands..."
Lindsay glances in my direction as if to check if I caught the insinuation, and while I have, I don't let on. I've been learning quite a bit and being reminded pretty regularly, that Lindsay is not an innocent little angel like I've always thought she was.
"Fine," Lindsay says.
I get up and untie the rope around Eileen's hands.
"You can still -bitch better buy me!- leave me tied up," Eileen adds quickly. "I don't mind."
I leave the rest of the ropes and sit back down.
Eileen looks from me to Lindsay and back and then sighs. "So... a couple of weeks ago, I -toodle doo!- put an ad in the paper. I was -fucking asshole!- looking for a place to rent. I was trying to -whore!- find a place that's cheap. I need to move out of my -cum slut!- grandmother's house."
"Tell us about Linda," Lindsay says sharply.
"I will. I'm -fuck my ass!- trying. -fuck my ass!- Linda called me and said she had an apartment for rent. I was so excited, I -cunt!- I asked how much and she said -fuck off!- five hundred a month. I said -cunt!- I'll take it. And then she said, she needed to verify -cock!- some things."
I give Lindsay a look and she motions for Eileen to continue.
"At first, it was just, you know, -the V word!- normal stuff. How much do I make? Where do I work? Things like that. -Cock sucker!- Then she says I need to pay a security -asshole!- deposit. Fifteen hundred. And I'm like, I don't have that. I'm basically living paycheck to paycheck. Well... then she -cunt!- said she might be able to help me out with the security deposit if I can give her some references."
"So you used me?" Lindsay asks.
"No. I wasn't even going to. But she -Nook Nook!- said, "Do you know Lindsay Treebody?" and I was like, "Yeah, I know her." And then she started -fuck my pussy!- asking me questions about our relationship, and how I knew you."
"You didn't think that was strange?" I ask.
"I... I don't know. -Faggot!- Maybe," Eileen says. "When you have tics like I do, everyone acts strange. Either people can't stand to -fuck my ass!- be around me, or, they just accept it. Some people ignore it," Eileen says, focusing on Lindsay. "I'm so sorry. I really am."
"Tell us the rest," Lindsay says, and Eileen nods.
"So, once I told her that we were best friends, and I... I told her I come over all the time, -Fuck face!- she said she would waive the security deposit, and then I could come see the apartment the next morning. But when -fuck my ass!- I went to see it, and the woman, Linda, said -you fucking whore!- she was sorry. Someone else had already signed a rental agreement, and she -fuck off!- didn't know."
"Sure she didn't," Lindsay says snidely.
"There isn't an apartment," I say flatly. "She was telling you what you wanted to hear, so she could manipulate you."
Eileen drops her head shamefully and then lifts it up a moment later. "She said, she could still help me." Eileen shakes her head and a tear rolls down her cheek. "I'm so fucking -cunt!- stupid," she wails, and she bends forward. If she weren't tied in the chair, she would have slammed her head into the table, but the ropes do their job, and she sits back, tears streaming. "She said she worked for the sheriff's office. She had this -child molester!- deputy with her, but he was a real asshole. He kept glaring at -fuck my ass!- me, like he wanted to hurt me."
"I bet it was that same prick. That's the guy spying on us," I say.
"I don't know," Eileen says and then continues. "She said... -you dirty cunt!- you were wanted."
"Wanted? For what?" I ask.
"She's lying Daddy," Lindsay says sharply and I have to settle myself down, and realize not only is Lindsay not talking about Eileen, but she's right. Linda was playing Eileen for a fool. What a dirty cunt, indeed.
"What did she say I was wanted for?" I ask.
"She didn't tell me," Eileen says.
"You didn't ask?"
"No," Eileen says, shaking her head as if she's the stupidest person in the world. "I... I didn't know what to think. You're my friend, and... your dad is -fucking fuck fuck!- wanted by the cops. I thought... well... here, I might be able to find out... -whore!- you know, say, "No, it's not him. You got the wrong -cunt!- guy," and then nothing would happen."
"What did she say? What did she want you to do?"
"She said she wanted me to take -asshole!- pictures, and video some stuff. Gather evidence."
"And did you?" I ask.
"I mean... a little," she says. "But then she started asking for more. And then her requests -cunt!- were like, really strange... and then... -fuck me in the pussy!- I figured it out."
"What did you figure out?" I ask.
Eileen looks from me, to Lindsay, and back, and I get the distinct feeling she knows something. Maybe she knows something about Lindsay and me, but she's not saying it. She's not going to. She glances down at her phone. "Look at my -pussy!- messages. You can see what I sent her."
Lindsay grabs Eileen's phone and opens it up for the fifth time since we've tied her up, she goes to the text messages between Eileen and Linda, and scrolls all the way to the very top... from days ago... and then further back. A week. Two weeks. Three weeks.
"What the fuck?" I ask, seeing the length of time this has been going on.
"Almost three weeks ago?" Lindsay asks, seeing the date on the oldest message, the one about the apartment for rent.
Eileen nods and licks the salty tears off her lips. "Those first messages are just -fuck my face!- about the apartment. Keep scrolling."
Lindsay does. She scans through the messages until she finds where the conversation shifts and the deception and lies begin.
Lindsay reads the messages out loud, for all of us to hear. "I work for the States Fugitive Investigative Service. The reason I asked you about Lindsay Treebody, whom I already know works close to where you work, is because her father is wanted by the authorities."
"Oh my god! Why?"
"I can't tell you. It would compromise the investigation. But what I can tell you is, we need help. We need someone who can quietly gain access to the residence, gather evidence, and send it back to us."
"What if I can't find anything? What if he's innocent?"
"We already know what crimes he's committed. He's not innocent. We just need you to gather evidence, whatever you can find, and relay it back to us. If you can do that, you'll get paid, and you can move out of your grandparent's house."
"Did you tell her you were living at your grandmother's house?" I ask.
Eileen looks at me and nods and Lindsay keeps reading.
"How much do I get paid?"
"Five thousand dollars."
"Holy shit! Five thousand dollars?" Lindsay says, shocked. "She gave you five grand?"
Eileen nods quickly. "She showed it to me -fuck you Daddy!- on her phone later when she came to my -fuck off!- work."
"Did you check your bank account?" I ask.
Eileen shakes her head. "No. I have to go -shiver me timbers!- to the bank to do that."
Lindsay snarls. "She didn't pay you shit, I bet."
"She showed me on her phone," Eileen says defensively. "She said, "I transferred the -you nasty cunt- money into your account this morning. Here, look," and it was there."