Townsend [Sat, May 18 at 11:04 PM]:This is over. We are over. Leave me the fuck alone, or I will make you leave me alone.
A few minutes later, Townsend sent a photo, seemingly taken through the windshield of his car. All Meera can see is a nondescript apartment building. She looks closer, noticing something in the corner of the frame: a vague black shape sitting on the dashboard. Something that looks very much like a gun.
Townsend [Sat, May 18 at 11:07 PM]:Don’t forget I know where you live. Don’t forget I know things about you, too. Things you’d never want to get out. This is your last warning.
These are the last words Townsend ever said to Amanda. A cold chill spreads through Meera’s chest.
“May eighteenth,” Talia says quietly. “That was the day I ran into Townsend at Town Lake. When he took me to Congress Avenue Bridge to see the bats fly. He must have sent this later that night.”
Beyond the surprise and uncertainty, Meera detects the slightest hint of pride in Talia’s voice. Like she’s pleased that her serendipitous romantic evening with Townsend was apparently so meaningful to him, he wasted no time shutting things down permanently with Amanda.
But Meera’s still focused on the intensity of the threat and what came after—or, rather, whatdidn’tcome after. “There are no more messages from Amanda after that. Doesn’t that seem kind of odd, Tal?”
“She probably heard that Townsend and I got back together and decided to finally stop harassing him.”
“Heard from who? It’s not like they shared mutual friends.”
“I don’t know.” Talia shrugs. “She was clearly obsessed with him. She was no doubt stalking him too. Maybe she saw us together herself.”
“And you think she just decided to give up? After months of alternately threatening him and trying to get him back?”
Talia’s eyes flash angrily. “What are you implying?”
Meera has to tread carefully here; she doesn’t want to get Talia any more upset than she already is. “I just think it’s strange,” she says carefully, “that Townsend says he’s going to make Amanda leave him alone, and then suddenly, he never hears from her again. And now she’s missing.”
“So what the fuck are you saying?”
Talia so rarely curses that this catches Meera off guard. Before she can stop herself, she blurts out, “I’m saying, what if Townsend followed through on his threat?”
The sound of laughter carries from down the hall, and they both jump. Their coworkers are starting to arrive. Meera quickly exits out of the database and turns to face Talia again.
“You need to at least consider the possibility that Townsend is culpable here,” she hisses to her friend. “Okay? This shit is serious.”
“Okay,” Talia says, so softly Meera can barely hear her.
“Will you promise me to stay away from Townsend until we can figure out what’s going on here?”
“I—” Talia stands, still avoiding Meera’s eyes.
“Do you promise me?”
“I need a minute.” Without looking back, Talia scurries off toward the restroom, leaving Meera alone with Townsend’s threat still echoing in her mind.
A quick Google search later that night gives Meera the lowdown on Townsend’s company, AutoInTune—a start-up that proclaims to be “changing the tune for the autoimmune.” She reads through the company website, the launch announcement inForbes, and the early glowing reviews (“Since becoming an AutoInTune member and takinga foundational approach to healing, I feel more energy and less pain than I’ve felt in years!”).
Under different circumstances, Meera might’ve been impressed or even tempted to enroll herself—finally, a virtual solution for the millions of people like her living with an invisible illness! But she has reason to be skeptical about Townsend’s ethics. And apparently she’s not the only one.
In her search, Meera finds a Reddit comment about AutoInTune—a response to someone looking for information on Townsend linked to Amanda Reade’s disappearance.The user metrics seem like bullshit,it reads. Like a direct confirmation of Meera’s suspicions.
For a moment, she hesitates. Then she composes a message:Hi, LivingstonTheDream. Just curious what seemed off about AutoInTune’s data?Then she clicks send, unleashing her query into the digital universe.
There isn’t any need to tell Talia about this, Meera thinks to herself. In fact, it’s better if shedoesn’ttell Talia about this. But if Townsend’s company is anything less than legitimate, Meera wants to know, even if the information is dangerous for her to have.
Looking in on her sleeping daughter before putting herself to bed, she hears his ominous words again:Leave me the fuck alone, or I will make you leave me alone ... This is your last warning.
Meera may be a misanthropist, but she likes to think she knows a dangerous man when she sees one—and Townsend Fuller is, without a doubt, a dangerous man.
Chapter Nine
