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It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. I had to learn to trust people. And she wasn’t automatically a bad person just because she was a stranger. And I definitely needed help from someone who wasn’t involved in law enforcement. I just had to work up the courage to tell her the right lies, that wouldn’t put the police on my tail.

‘Br—’ I hesitated, reminding myself that Brooke had checked into the hotel with Meredith’s ID. ‘Meredithdisappeared this afternoon.’

‘Maybe she went for a walk, or met up with some friends?’ Megan queried.

I shook my head. ‘We don’t know anyone in the city. We’re from Washington.’

‘Okay,’ Megan said. She didn’t look convinced.

‘She’s not answering her phone, and she hasn’t come back to the motel, and there’s this guy, Chris, who’s been stalking her.’

‘Someone has beenstalkingher?’ Megan said, looking even less convinced now.

‘Yes,’ I said emphatically. ‘We’re heading to St. Louis, and we’ve run into him a few times on the way, so he’s definitely following us. I didn’t know he was here until I checked your folder, and you have his van listed as being in your parking lot. And now she’s missing and so’s Chris’s van. I wanted to check your CCTV to see if I could find him.’

Megan stared at me intently, and I noticed that there was a little gray in her green eyes. It was hard to see under all the eyeliner.

‘Why don’t you call the cops?’ she asked after a long moment. I could tell she still wasn’t sure about me and that made me even more nervous. I needed her to help me, and I needed her to believe me before she could help.

‘Because,’ I said, treading very carefully now, ‘we didn’t exactly tell anyone we were leaving. Or where we’re going.’

‘So you ran away from home?’

‘Yes.’ It felt good not to lie.

‘And you knew she had a stalker when you ran away?’ she asked, clearly judging me.

‘No!’ I said quickly. ‘Not until a few days ago.’

‘After you left home.’

‘Right.’

‘I still don’t get why you won’t call the cops,’ Megan said, exasperated.

‘Because … because if I do that, they’ll ship us backhome. And I’ll never see her again,’ I said, the words melting into a sob.

Understanding dawned in her eyes. ‘Ohhh. So you’re running away because you’re –’

‘Yes.’ I didn’t bother correcting her.

‘And your parents don’t want you to be together?’

‘No.’

She whistled between her teeth. ‘This is some gayRomeo and Julietshit.’

I couldn’t help but smile, even though tears were spilling over. ‘I know. Can you help me?’

She shrugged. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘I don’t know. Until I checked your folder, I didn’t know for certain that it was Chris who’d taken her.’

‘So now you know who she’s with, but not where they are,’ Megan said, swinging herself back and forth in her chair.

‘Right.’

‘How long has she been missing?’