Page 89
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "I'll just go back to calling you That Writer Chick."
"Stay in touch."
"Oh, I will. I'll call later with all the details."
As soon as the call ended I rushed inside to change, grabbed my shit, and jumped in the truck. I drove down the gravel road faster than I ever had before, not even thinking about falling or the elevation, and was in front of Lost Creek Cabins in no time flat.
A bell jingled as I rushed inside. Joanne blinked up at me from her computer. Mack was nowhere to be found.
Shit.
"Is something wrong, Marley?"
Without Mack here I didn't know what to do. Our friendship was new and fragile, but the way Mack and Scottie made me feel like family was why I was confident in barging into her offices for help.
"Is the cabin okay?" Joanne stood up and approached me like a wild animal.
To be fair, I kind of felt like one. Had for a long time. Caged to be poked at and stared at.
"I, uh, needed to talk to Mack." Why couldn't I think straight? My mind was buzzing but I couldn't seem to keep a single thought in focus.
"She's sick. Can I help you?"
Sick? She might be out for days and I could not wait days. I stared at Joanne harder. This was Travis's sister. I could trust Travis, that meant I could trust his sister, right?You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.I ran my hands through my hair trying and failing to stop panicking.
"Guest information is secret, right? Like if some rando called you guys up and said they were looking for Marley Tranquill, you wouldn't be like 'Oh Marley? The woman in the Golden Hour Lodge?' right?" Why was I doing voices now?
Joanne's eyes went wide. "Uh, no. We respect our guest’s privacy."
"If they said it was an emergency? Life or death?"
"Still no. And it's just me and Mack. Neither of us would ever do that."
"Can your records be hacked?" Oh my god, I'd gone into full meltdown. Joanne was going to think I was crazy from now on.
She came a little closer. "May I touch you?"
I jumped back. "Touch me?"
She nodded slowly. "You're upset. Touch can be calming."
Joanne seemed nice enough. We'd met a handful of times, mostly at the saloon. We'd never had a full conversation before. "Uh, I don't know what to say."
She smiled and took another step closer. Then she gently placed her hand on my arm. "Do you have an abusive ex?"
I blinked. "What?"
She shrugged. "You're asking about someone getting your location. You've booked the whole summer and asked for privacy. It's a logical conclusion."
And not entirely wrong. It would be easy to lean into that lie. I licked my lips and looked around. It was a small office. But there was a very good chance their records were in a cloud somewhere. "Can you change my name in your system? I've already paid in full. Is there a way to make that information like, nuclear levels of secret?"
Her eyebrow arched. "Now I'm thinking you're a spy or something. Hiding from the mob? Are you in witness protection?"
"Joanne, please?" I sank down to my heels, squatting with my hands over my head. Did I think Cristobal had any shot at tracing me to Lost Creek? No. And I didn't think he had the long-term focus to start poking around small towns in search of me.
But what if? What if he found one good clue? It wouldn't take much for him to put it all together.
"Should I call Huk?"
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