Chapter 20 Will #2
“I work in journalism,” Will continued, trying his best to talk into the camera and still watch where he was going as he walked.
“Finding the truth is supposed to be my job. So that’s what I set out to do.
Though, it was Freya—who I should probably note has no idea I’m doing this—she was the one who cracked the case.
We sat and scoured those photos for any hint or clue we might have missed.
She’s the one who noticed that in one picture, you can see someone looking out the window next to your apartment, holding a cat.
I knew who it was right away. I’m guessing you do too.
So, I got her phone number and called her. ”
He had never been happier to talk to Mrs. Pachenkis in his life.
Until the moment she picked up the phone, the only thing he’d say to her was “Hello” and “Sorry.” He had said both of those things to her on the phone before launching into a rambling explanation of why he was calling.
He was, admittedly, a little scared of her.
But he had been more scared of what she would do when he stopped talking.
She might have hung up. Or worse, told him she didn’t see anything.
Blessed old Mrs. Pachenkis did neither of those things, though.
Turns out, despite her generally curt demeanor she actually had a lot to say.
“She doesn’t have a TV, much less the internet, so she wasn’t aware of what had been happening with us, but she did have a lot to tell me about that night.
She said she’d heard you leave. It was dark, and she did not approve; she wanted me to tell you, by the way.
She watched out the window as you headed out down the street, then she saw a car park in front of your building and a woman get out.
She said she had long hair like yours. A minute later, two men showed up.
They walked to the grassy area across the street, and one of the men stayed back and took pictures as the other two walked together.
She didn’t like what they were up to, so she wrote down the license plate of the car.
From there, everything fell into place. Freya was able to help me get the license plate information. ”
The top of his screen was a strobe light of notifications, flashing updates so quickly his phone finally folded and gave him a generalized “Multiple Notifications” alert. But not before he spied names like Perez Hilton, DeuxMoi, and TMZ.
“The car was owned by a woman, a server and aspiring model, who’d answered a Craigslist ad for a moonlit photoshoot.
She’d been given a time, date, address, and a non-disclosure agreement.
When she saw the pictures and people claiming it was you, she thought she couldn’t say anything, or she’d get sued.
Luckily, it only took us a little digging to find out that the NDA was with a non-existent law firm; in other words, completely null and void.
I can now publicly say that she has confirmed she is the woman in those pictures and that the man she was with, the man who hired her, was … Simon Phillips.”
Saying his name, knowing what this man had put Naomi through for so many years, made his adrenaline pump so fast through his veins that it was hard to keep his hand steady.
On the same day she had texted Will, Naomi had put out a public statement.
Will had been avoiding the news and social media, but as he stepped out of his building and saw the newspaper on the front steps, he couldn't help but pick it up.
Naomi's face stared back at him from the cover, and despite his initial reluctance, he found himself reading the headline and then the article. In both her text and her public statement, her message was clear: she wouldn’t hide from Simon anymore.
Now, Will had the chance to make sure that Simon didn’t have anywhere to hide either. Taking photos with a Naomi lookalike might not land him in jail, but at least everyone would know exactly what he had done, and it would follow him for the rest of his life.
“Once I knew that, I needed to figure out what to do with it. I could tell you, but I felt like you deserved something bigger. No one should have to live through what you went through. There’s nothing I can do to fix that, but I thought maybe I could help even the scales a little.
I can’t exactly recreate our internationally-televised wedding, but I figured with our current popularity, I could put this out publicly.
I can also put myself out there, publicly.
Which seems to be working.” He stopped to look at the view count and nearly gurgled.
His plan had worked. Perhaps too well. “250,000 people watching. Jesus. Okay. Um. Right. So, I’m going to try not to think about that while I keep talking. ”
He was almost at his destination now. He needed focus on getting there and saying the rest of what he needed to say.
“I should never have walked away that day, Naomi. I should have trusted you. And I should have stayed by your side while we figured this out together. But I … left you in front of everyone. I want to give you the chance to do the same thing to me. I want to pick things up where we left off. I want to put everything that happened behind us. I love you, Naomi, and I want to be with you. And I mean with you. Every step, not only when it’s easy.
I’m sorry it took this long for me to find my way here.
And I understand if it’s too late and you don’t want that anymore. ”
He found the spot that he’d been looking for.
He set the camera on the ground, propping it against a rock so that it looked out at Lake Michigan.
He’d tried his best not to give away where he was walking, and now, he hoped the featureless image of water and stones would make his final stop a mystery to everyone except Naomi.
He took a seat on the ground in front of the camera and rustled through his bag as he spoke.
“Here I am. I’ve brought a good book and I’m going to spend the afternoon right here. Whatever my fate, it will be broadcast for everyone to see, which only seems fair. If you don’t come, I promise you won’t hear from me again, but I really hope you do.”