I’d have to be careful too.
“And how do you propose to do that?” I affected the same tone — patient, patronizing — I took with the women who called in.
“The how doesn’t matter,” Montgomery said. “Just know we’re coming. Unless you want to put your money where your mouth is and show your face.”
“I showed my face at Apex.” I started to relax. I was in my element, and my followers were going wild in the comments, cheering me on. “You’re the one hiding behind a phone.”
“We showed our faces at Apex too,” Montgomery said. “And we have the souvenir to prove it.”
My phone. He was confirming that they had my fucking phone.
“Doesn’t seem like it’s done you much good,” I said.
“Don’t be so sure,” Montgomery said. “We’re going to find you, Todd, and when we do you’re going to answer for all the shit you put out into the world.”
I caught some of the comments as they flew past in the feed:what’s going on/does this guy know him/whoa this sounds personal.
Fuck.
I needed to be careful. Careful and smart.
“Let me know when you get here,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “Maybe we can take a few runs together.”
I disconnected the call and immediately took another one, anxious to move on.
“Hey, Ethan, love the show,” the caller said. “So I’ve been dating this woman from my college. At first we seemed aligned in our value system, but she seemed a little freaked out when I shared some of my beliefs about modern gender dynamics. Should I cut her loose or try to bring her around or what? She’s super hot if that helps.”
I exhaled my relief. The caller was just a regular guy, a college student looking for advice about women.
I leaned forward in my chair and started talking.
He’d come to the right place.
52
MAEVE
I satthe desk in my room and stared at the notes I’d made on my computer, but I wasn’t really seeing the words.
Something wasn’t right.
It had been four days since we’d called in to Ethan’s show — since Bram had called in to Ethan’s show — and we were still debating what to do next.
Maybe we can take a few runs together…
Either Ethan had let it slip that he was somewhere there was skiing or he just wanted us to think that’s where he was.
Bram wanted to leave for St. Moritz now. He was out for blood, tired of chasing Ethan around the globe only to see Ethan slip away again.
No one understood that feeling more than me.
Remy and Poe voted for waiting to see if Aloha could get more out of the phone or if some new tip would arise that would give us more confidence we had Ethan’s location right.
I vacillated between the two options, torn between wanting to do something — anything — and not wanting to burn time running off to Switzerland when we couldn’t be sure Ethan was there.
I looked at the cities Aloha had given us from the phone, cities where Ethan Todd was known to have stayed for long periods in the past: Prague, St. Moritz, London, Paris, St. Kitts.
St. Moritz was the only place that had skiing.
