Ding.
Unknown; What did you do with the car? Can anyone find it?
My heart sank to my stomach. What the hell did that even mean? A friend. A friend wouldn’t message me about this anonymously. They would either turn me in or ask me directly what happened, without the shield of anonymity.
Gwen;I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who is this?
Were they blackmailing me? Was that the plan?
Who the hell would blackmail me? The only person I could imagine doing that was Troy. He was a vindictive bastard. I could see him doing this just to torture me.
But he would’ve shown by now. Either here at the bakery, the ranch, or at the local bar I performed at on the weekends. He would’ve shown up and begged me to take him back. When I told him no,thenhe would torture me.
Regardless, there was no way he could’ve found me here. I’d had no contact with anyone from my hometown, including him, in almost a year. I hadn’t used social media in the same amount of time. Lacey Montgomery was dead for all intents and purposes. It wasn’t possible?—
Ding.
Unknown; Cut the shit. We both know. I googled him. Bastard probably deserved it. I just want to make sure you were smart about it.
Were they… helping me?
I shouldn’t have even been having this conversation. While I also used a burner phone, that was only because it was the rule at Rhiannon’s Ranch. Every single one of us used a contract-free, pay by month, cash only phone plan. We could only get a regular phone through a main provider once we moved out.
That didn’t mean this phone couldn’t trace back to me. I used it to talk to everyone at the ranch, my coworkers here at the bakery, and the managers of the bars I performed at.
How the hell could I even know that whoever was on the other side of this linewastrying to help me? For all I knew, they were a cop with a theory. They didn’t have enough proof, and they were planning on using this conversation to get me to confess.
Gwen;I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please stop texting me.
A long stretch of silence. Each passing second had my heart beating faster, harder. My hands were still shaking, stomach swirling, sweat covered every inch of me, and black started edging around my vision.
Nope. No way in hell was I passing out in the bathroom at work.
I lowered myself flat to the ground, lifted my knees toward the ceiling, and shut my eyes. Calming breaths. At least fifty calming breaths before that spinning sensation slowed.
Ding.
Unknown; Look, I get that you’re freaked out. I would be too. But I’m trying to help.
Anxiety lessened, I harrumphed.
Gwen; I don’t need your help. Stop texting me.
Ding.
Unknown; Too bad I already did.
Gwen; You already did what?
Ding.
Unknown; Helped you.
Gwen; I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.
Unknown; Get a burner phone. Text me on it instead. That way, you don’t have to be afraid someone’s going to see this.
Gwen; I’m not afraid of anything. I just don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about.
