“Micah,” I say. “I’ve got a favor.”
A pause. “Trouble?”
“Maybe.”
He exhales. “Hit me.”
“It’s Greta Pine. You know she’s been living in Timber Creek for a bit, and always happy. Smiling. Perfect. But today, something shifted. Like someone pulled the rug out from under her. One minute she’s all smiles and sarcasm, the next, she looks like she’s bracing for impact.”
Micah’s quiet. Then, “You think she’s hiding something?”
“I don’t know.” I press my thumb against the wheel. “But I need to. Can you run her?”
“I’ll see what I can dig up. Send me her full name, birthday if you got it.”
“I’ve got her file from when she signed up to volunteer at the center last winter.”
Micah grunts in approval. “Send it. Give me ten.”
We hang up.
I glance back at the diner. Lights still on. Greta’s behind the counter now, wiping something with more focus than necessary. Like scrubbing hard enough might erase whatever just scared her.
I shoot the info over to Micah and wait, tension knotting in my gut.
Exactly eleven minutes later, the phone buzzes.
“Got nothing,” Micah says.
I blink. “What?”
“I meannothing,nothing. No social under Greta Pine. No address history before Timber Creek. No credit. No old job records, no driver’s license, no car registration, not even a library card.She doesn’t exist.Not under that name.”
“She forged everything?”
“Maybe. Or she got help. But that name’s paper-thin. I can poke deeper, but if she’s running… she had help disappearing.”
I lean my head back against the seat. My instincts were right. Sheisrunning.
“Thanks,” I say.
“You think she’s dangerous?”
“No,” I say immediately. “I think someoneelseis.”
Micah goes quiet again. Then, in that dry way of his, “You like her?”
“Micah—”
“Don’t lie. I can smell it over the phone.”
I sigh. “Yeah. I like her.”
“Then don’t waste time,” he says. “She’s either gonna bolt—or she’s gonna break. You wanna stop either of those, you better get ahead of whatever’s chasing her.”
He hangs up before I can say anything else.
I sit there, phone still in my hand, and stare across the street.
