I glance around again. “I haven’t seen anyone. I guess after that man came up to us earlier, I’m paranoid someone else might find us.”
Her hand goes to my shoulder. “No one else is looking for us.”
I hope she’s right.
I follow her into the building and up to the apartment.
Samantha locks the door and spins around to me. “We need to get a burner phone.”
“A burner phone?”
She nods. “We call the Portland police station with that phone and tell them about the video on Tyler’s computer.”
“Huh.” I sit on the couch. Her plan isn’t too bad. “That might work.”
She grins. “I’ll go buy a phone now. You figure out what number we need to call.”
Before she has a chance to leave, I stop her. “Buy it with cash.”
She points at me. “Good call. Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I have no idea if a burner phone purchase can be traced. Hell, I have no idea where a person even gets a burner phone. But apparently, Samantha has an idea.
While she’s gone, I search for the police station we visited outside Portland and find a number to call for non-emergencies.
I want to talk to Durango about all of this, but I don’t want to wait. I smile, thinking Durango had a crush on me since I was in high school.
High school. I miss Priscilla, Durango’s sister and my once-upon-a-time best friend. Since I got a new phone after everything Tyler did, I lost so many of my contacts, hers included. I decide to reach out on social media. This is something I should have done already, but after I got free from Tyler, I was too ashamed to really reach out to anyone, including my own family.
I send Priscilla a message and hope she responds.
Samantha returns home with the phone. “All right, let’s do this.” She sits on the couch. “Wait, will the police station be open?”
“Yes, it’s in Oregon, and it’s not even five o’clock there yet.”
I give her the number, and she makes the call. My entire body is tense as she explains to the officer who answered about the video.
“It doesn’t matter how I know. What’s important is that you find that video and arrest Benson Hyde.” She ends the call. “Now we wait,” she says.
“What if they don’t watch the video? Or arrest Hyde?” I ask.
“One thing at a time. We can’t worry about that now.” She yawns. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to read for a bit before bed. Will you be okay out here?”
I nod. “I’m fine. Go. Relax.”
Relaxing is the last thing I’ll be doing. Once she steps out of the room, I grab my phone. There’s a message from Pricilla with her phone number.
I call her.
“Willow? Is that really you?” she answers.
“It is. It’s been too long!”
After attending college in Virginia, I moved back home, but that only lasted about a year before I knew I had to move back to Virginia. I loved it there. And frankly, there wasn’t any work in Montana. This was long before anyone was doing remote work. Or at least no one who was entry-level. I tell Pricilla the short version of my story, leaving out Tyler. That will be a conversation all on its own.
“Where are you now?” she asks.
“Well, I’m living in New York City.”
