19
GWEN
Rhiannon had us wait in the front of the cabin while she made the call to the local police department. Colleen, “the head of legal,” sat behind the desk up front. She was the grouchiest person I had met at the ranch. Middle-aged, with gray hair and thick black glasses that always hung halfway down her nose.
All I knew about Colleen was that she’d gotten me my new identity. She’d sat behind a computer, typing away, and told me that a few days later, I would receive my key card.
Simone and I exchanged a glance that said,Guess we can’t talk about this now.
We sat in the two metal chairs by the door, waiting. This cabin had the exact same dimensions as mine. Only difference was instead of a couch, TV, and coffee table, there was Colleen’s desk and a few metal chairs.
Given the hour, there wasn’t much to see outside the window, aside from some snowflakes and bluish moonlight behind thick clouds. Our only entertainment was the music of Colleen’s fingers on the keyboard.
My mind raced a mile a minute. Primarily over the same few sentences.
Now, the cops are going to know David was here, in Black Pines. They’re going to be looking for him. If they look hard enough, will they find his body?
Someone else sure as hell had.
What had they done with it?
It was the dead of winter. The ground had already frozen. Whoever had found it couldn’t have buried it.
Where the hell was his body?
Only one way to find out.
But I couldn’t send a message with Simone beside me. She would read it over my shoulder, then know that someone else was involved, possibly panic, and tell Edwards what I had done. No. She couldn’t know. Plausible deniability.
Eventually, Edwards arrived. I hadn’t met him before, but he was a decent-looking guy with a dark complexion and medium build. One look at Simone had his eyes softening. Rhiannon greeted him, then ushered him and Simone into her office in the back.
As soon as they were out of sight, I whipped out my phone.
Gwen; Where did you put it?
Their response came a few minutes later.
Unknown; Somewhere safe. Why aren’t you using the phone I gave you?
Gwen; Same reason you haven’t told me who you are or what the hell you did with it.
Unknown; That doesn’t even make sense. You think I bugged the phone? It was still sealed. I didn’t even open the package.
Gwen; I have no proof of that. But you’ve got lots of it.
Their responses came quick.
Unknown;Not really.
Gwen; Wtf do you mean not really? You’ve got the biggest piece of the puzzle.
Unknown; Really wish you would use the burner so I could give you more details.
Gwen; Can’t exactly get to it at the moment. Shit’s hitting the fan.
Unknown; Wdym
Gwen; Thought we weren’t giving away too many details.
