Listen for the Lie
by Amy Tintera
Contents
Chapter Twenty-Six: Lucy
Overview
Lucy meets Ben for drinks before their planned interview about Matt, and the evening sharpens both their mutual attraction and the risks surrounding the investigation. Nina reacts badly to seeing them together, hinting at growing tensions around Ben’s podcast and Lucy’s role in it. The chapter ends with Matt violently attacking Ben in public, a confrontation that reinforces Lucy’s fears about him and escalates the case just as Ben and Lucy cross into more dangerous personal territory.
Summary
At home, Lucy texts Ben about their next interview, knowing the conversation about Matt will be the most important one yet. As she weighs what to reveal, Lucy remembers that Savvy was the one person who fully understood her abuse and her desire for revenge instead of simple escape. When Ben asks her to meet for drinks instead of doing the interview, Lucy recognizes that agreeing is a bad idea, but she still gets dressed up and goes.
At Bluebonnet Tavern, Lucy and Ben settle into an easy, flirtatious rhythm over cosmopolitans. While they talk, Lucy hallucinates Savvy at the bar, and the imagined Savvy crudely encourages Lucy to sleep with Ben, reinforcing how unstable and conflicted Lucy feels. The evening becomes more awkward when Lucy notices Nina drinking heavily with friends; Nina is visibly startled and displeased to find Lucy socializing with Ben, and her hostility suggests Ben’s investigation has damaged their relationship.
After Nina leaves, Lucy and Ben continue talking and edging closer to each other. Ben says he likes Nina and Emmett because they are on Lucy’s side, but he also steers the conversation back to Matt and asks whether Lucy has contacted him. When Ben quietly asks whether confronting Matt is safe, Lucy realizes he likely knows more about Matt’s abuse than she has openly said, which shifts the conversation from flirtation back toward the danger at the center of the case.
Lucy and Ben stay for two hours, share personal details about their lives in Los Angeles, and leave with the attraction between them unresolved. Because Lucy feels too drunk to drive, she starts to call a ride, but Ben offers to take her home instead. Before they can leave, Matt storms across the parking lot, attacks Ben, punches him, and threatens to sue him over the podcast while calling Beverly a drunk and Lucy a liar in front of a growing crowd. Ben, who has already set out his recorder, effectively captures Matt’s violent outburst as fresh evidence, and once Matt leaves, Ben coolly asks Lucy if she wants to go back to his hotel for another drink.
Who Appears
- LucyMeets Ben for drinks, wrestles with what to reveal about Matt, and faces Matt's public eruption.
- Ben OwensPodcaster who flirts with Lucy, probes Matt's danger, and gets attacked by Matt outside the bar.
- MattLucy's abusive ex, who storms in, punches Ben, and threatens him over the podcast.
- NinaAppears drunk with friends and reacts with visible hostility to Lucy spending time with Ben.
- SavvyAppears in Lucy's hallucination, encouraging reckless behavior and recalling Lucy's darker past.