Page 6 of One

The mere idea that I have been unaware of something going on with Meg already makes me fixate on what it could be. Meg and Linda found me. Saved me, and then took care of me. Of all six of us. We owe them everything. Making sure they’re okay is a task we all willingly accepted.

“What else?” Uri asks Rami. “Going to a hospital a few times could suggest she’s having a hard time with her lupus, but it’s not a major red flag. She looks fine. So what made you call all of us here?”

“I hid a tracker in her phone.”

We didn’t blink at that. The six of us all have trackers placed under the skin behind our left ear. After a very messy encounter with one of the donors four years ago—followed by Rague’s disappearance for an entire week—we unanimously decided to get trackers. But we also promised to use them only in case of emergency.

Rami pointed at a spot on the map.

“Marnie’s,” Uri reads aloud. “A restaurant?”

“A diner. She’s been going there every Friday evening.”

“Let me guess, for the last three months?”

Gabe is right, judging by Rami’s firm nod.

“Do you have any idea why?” I ask.

“She uses her credit card every other time and pays for two.”

Interesting.

“She meets with someone,” Uri says.

The Sallinger doctor?

“And they eat pies,” Rami finishes. A memory of us as kids sharing cakes at the kitchen table with Meg suddenly pops into my head.

“Pies?” Gabe tilts his head to the left with what I think is curiosity.

Sari pops back into the conversation. “Meg loves sweets. We all do because of her.”

“Can’t you hack into the diner’s security cameras?” I ask him.

“No cameras. Only one, from the ATM on the next block, and it’s too far and old to get a good image,” Rami replies.

“How about hacking the mic on her phone to listen to the conversation?” Uri suggests, sounding excited. He does love mysteries.

“She always turns her phone off when she gets inside the diner.” Rami huffs.

All I see are grim and confused expressions around me.

“This can’t be cheating,” Rami says.

Ah, but it could.

Rague rumbles. “Meg is crazy about Linda. Always has been.”

That’s also true.

“Also, Linda would probably summon the wrath of the gods,” Uri notes.

“To torture Meg’s lover slowly and thoroughly,” Rague adds with a faraway expression, and a small, dreamy smile on his lips.

“Something happened three months ago. I’m pretty sure it’s linked to that. And thatsomethingis making her meet this person and…eat pies. It’s ridiculous.” Rami looks pensive, moving his gloved hand over his reddish beard.

“It surely is,” Gabe agrees.