Chapter 16 Arrow #2
The girl tells Annie that if she sees Neveah or hears from her, she’ll let Annie know. Annie turns to me. “I’m going to text her. Tell her it’s urgent.”
I nod, and we head toward Annie’s room. I’ll admit, my mind first thinks about how many more condoms she’s got stashed in there. But any R-rated thoughts leave my brain as soon as we walk through the door. Right underneath our feet is a note.
“Annie,” I say, nodding. “Don’t touch it.”
We enter the room and close the door slowly behind us, then we bend over the letter to inspect it.
“Something’s off,” Annie says, squinting. “It’s not like the others.”
I’ve already seen that. This note is printed on plain white paper. Annie’s entire name—first and last—is printed in blocky black ink on the outside. There is no envelope, and the regular sheet of white paper is folded in half.
“Should I read it?” she whispers. “Or call campus security?”
I know there are no security cameras inside these hallways, so unless the exterior building cams picked up someone carrying this note very visibly and obviously, I’m not sure there is anything they can do to help us figure out who left this.
“We’re going to read it,” I tell her. I bend down and pick up the note, then look to Annie. “Okay?”
She nods and swallows hard. “I’ll do it.”
I hand the note to her, and she opens it.
Annie, you and your tattooed fuck buddy are not smart enough to get you out of this. When you get this note, text me at the number below. I’ll give you instructions from there.
She holds up the note, and I grab my phone, immediately doing a lookup on the number that’s at the bottom. “That’s not Neveah’s number, is it?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Let me check. I think Neveah has a local area code. This is one I don’t recognize.”
“Probably a burner.” I’m not able to find anything online in a quick search of the number, except to confirm that the area code is not local.
“Should I call Neveah? Text her?” she asks. She’s holding the note like it’s poisonous.
“No,” I tell her. “If this is a burner phone, I’m going to guess they don’t have your number in their contacts.
Leave the tracker from your purse here in your room.
Then we’ll text this number when we’re far from campus.
If whoever left this note is tracking us, I don’t want them to have any idea where we are when we text. ”
Annie wrinkles her nose. “Should we take it with us and, like, throw it out of the truck? What if whoever is behind all this comes to campus, thinking I’m here?”
I agree she has a good point. “I have an idea,” I tell her. “Come on. Keep the tracker. I want Neveah to know we’re on the move.”
We take the note and, with the tracker in Annie’s purse, we head back to my car.
I grip her hand tightly in mine and keep an eye on our surroundings.
I don’t want to involve campus security at this point, but I do know who I need.
I don’t have many close friends, but I do have a few I can count on. And I’m going to need backup.
An hour later, we pull into the parking lot of the strip mall that houses my office.
“Come on.” I climb out of the driver’s seat and come around to open Annie’s door. We inspect her car for any evidence that it’s been touched or tampered with, but I don’t see anything.
Annie follows me to the doggie day care first. Leo is holding baby Rider and watching as Lia chats on the phone with a customer.
“Hey, Arrow,” Leo greets me and then waves at Annie. “How’s it going, man?”
I give a small smile to the squirming toddler, who seems to be teething hard since he’s chewing like mad on a tiny plastic toy that’s shaped like a banana. “Can we talk when you and Lia have a second?”
Leo nods and waves to Lia, who’s got a phone clutched between her shoulder and ear while she talks. Lia finishes up her conversation and hustles to greet us.
“Hey.” She’s breathless and happy, her apron tied tight around her waist. She gives me a quick hug and then leans in to hug Annie. “I don’t know you, sweetie, but I hear you’re staying at my dad’s?”
Annie looks at me, and I make the introductions. “Annie, this is Lia, Tiny’s daughter.” Once the intros are out of the way, I fill Leo and Lia in on the shortest possible version of the story. “We have no idea why Annie is being tracked, but I want you all to be aware.”
Lia’s brows knit together. “I’ll close the shop to appointments only,” she says. “I won’t let anyone in or out unless I know them or they have a dog already here to pick up.”
I nod. “That’s a good plan.”
“Tim’s in the shop,” Leo says, “but he can handle himself. I’ll tell him so you don’t have to waste time. Talk to Morris yet?”
I shake my head. “That’s my next stop.”
We say our goodbyes and head toward my office. It’s only been a few days since I locked up, but it feels like forever. As we pass by Alice’s office, I can see Morris leaning over his wife’s shoulder, reading something up on her computer screen.
“Come on.” I take Annie’s hand, and we push open the office door.
Morris lifts his head and shoves his glasses up onto his forehead. “Arrow,” he says with a nod. “Annie, how you doin’, sweetheart?”
Alice jumps up from her desk and pulls Annie into a hug. “Sweetie, what’s going on? Tiny called this morning and said the trouble may not be over.”
I explain everything. I wouldn’t normally bring anyone into the specifics of a case like this, but Morris stuck his neck out by letting us stay at the compound.
And now the very danger that sent me into hiding there may have found us.
And worse, may know where we are at all times.
There’s no more hiding. He deserves to know what I do so he can protect his own.
Morris is quiet as I explain what we do know, as well as what we don’t. He puts the stem of his glasses between his teeth and thinks for a minute. Then he looks from Annie to Alice and back to me.
“What’re you thinking? What’s your plan?”
I explain the note and the fact that we need to text this burner phone for instructions. Morris nods and then tells Alice to lock up the office.
“What are you doing?” I ask, confused why they’re locking up.
“A threat to any of us is a threat to all of us,” he says. “We’re coming with you.”