.. ugh"Suddenly, Oliver's face changed, drooped, a dark liquid began to pour out of his mouth. "Oliver?" I asked.Oliver looked up at me in pain, and t...hen fell on the table. I saw what appeared to be a large knife protruding from his back. Behind him was Wyman with an evil smile on his face. I tried to back away when I felt two strong hands on my shoulders."Going somewhere Ms. Perry," hissed Agent Fleck's voice in my ear.Suddenly I found myself being lifted into the air, my clothes being ripped. That is the life story I had concocted; no mention of mebeing adopted as a small boy named Stephen Grayson or of the events ofthe Prom night. I glossed over all of that and told Tina of being takenin by my aunt Amanda while I was still a little girl and of my love formy sister Sloane. It was all happy families and serenity. No mention ofAmanda being a whore and Sloane following in her footsteps. No mentionof me being outed as a trans woman at the Prom or the assault thatfollowed.Tina and I. And that’s not a compliment. A crazy old Siwash, they said.Adams closed the gate, pulled a folded cloth from his lapel pocket and wiped his sweating forehead. His driver scrambled to open the rear door of the Lincoln town car. Adams settled himself and ordered the driver to return to Winthrop and his motel room.“Parker,” he barked into the telephone, when the private investigator came on the line after several minutes delay. “Parker, don’t you ever keep me holding this damned phone again! For. The islander, on the other hand, didn’t even flinch. ‘You come here a lot, don’t you?’ Royce noted, his deep voice bouncing in soft echoes off the weathered rock and ceiling of the cave. ‘Huh?’ Gems briefly looked up as he jumped out of the boat, landing in a splash in the shallow sea water that covered eighty percent of the cave’s floor. ‘Oh. Yea.’ Then he frowned. ‘How’d you know?’ Royce gave the scruffy man a smooth smile. ‘Lucky guess.’ Gems frowned, but then he shrugged as they both.