I stared at my sushi. “Maybe.”
Jamie grabbed my shoulders. “Text him!”
I thought about the unanswered message on my phone.
Dr. Ellie’s voice returned to my mind.
Safe people.
Allow access slowly.
It sounded nice. Actually, it soundedreallynice.
Maybe I had been guarding the door so aggressively that I forgot someone might deserve to walk through it.
My phone buzzed on the table.
Everyone looked down. I flipped it over.
Unknown number.
I answered. “Hello?”
“Is this Zoey Carter?”
“Yes.”
“This is Officer Ramirez with the Southern Adirondack Police Department. We’ve had a break-in reported at your apartment,” he said. “You’ll need to come right away.”
My stomach dropped.
The woman behind me whispered, “Well, that escalated.”
I stood up slowly.
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, it did.”
Chapter 19
Liam
The lodge wasquiet by the time I finished the last of the Saturday afternoon tasks. There was nothing left to do on Nora’s to-do list. Technically, there were still a few small things I could do before evening check-ins started, but none that actually needed doing.
Everything was handled, which meant I had run out of legitimate reasons to stay busy.
The day was over, but my body and my brain didn’t seem to agree.
I stood behind the front desk for several minutes, pretending to review tomorrow’s reservation sheet. The same names stared back at me in the same order they had been in five minutes earlier.
My attention had been drifting all afternoon.
Zoey had not responded to my message. She hadn’t returned my call.
My phone sat on the counter beside the reservation book. I had put it there intentionally so I wouldn’t carry it around with me and check it every thirty seconds.
That strategy had failed.
I picked it up again, glancing at the message thread. Still no response.
