Page 47 of Traces Of You

“I got rid of her shit,” he said. “I did what I thought was the thing to do so no one asked anymore questions. I’m keeping a low profile.”

He wanted all of this to just go away.

Randy picked up a glass from the counter and threw it against the wall. “Find her! I don’t give a shit how you do it, but make sure it’s done, or it’s your ass that’s on the line. I’m not taking the fall for this.”

12

FELT TOO EASY

It was so awesome of a place to belong that Reenie wanted to go out and be part of life again.

She complained she didn’t want to be stuck on the property but was struggling to take that step.

She couldn’t live her life in fear of the unknown.

At seven thirty that night, she placed a call that she’d told herself she would not do unless shehadto.

To move from this spot, it felt as if it was the only way.

“Maureen, are you okay?” the woman’s voice said on the other line.

“I am. I’m sorry to call. I know I’m not supposed to unless it’s an emergency,” she said.

“It’s fine. You called the other line like you were supposed to. Are you in Canada and settled?”

“No,” she said. “A change of plans.”

There was silence on the other end. “What kind of change of plans? You’re supposed to stick to it.”

“I’m safe and close to the border. I stopped at an old hometown and ran into someone I was close with.”

“Maureen, that’s not good and you know it.”

She let out a sigh. “I’ve been looking for any sign of my name in the news. It’s been a week since you reported me missing, two weeks since I left. I have seen nothing and wanted an update. I’m safe here. The people I’m with, they won’t let anything happen, and I kind of want to stay. I can’t do that if I don’t know what is going on.”

“I reported you missing. You knew how it was going to go down. I said we were friends and I was concerned. The officer I spoke with was nice. The update I got was that they went to Oliver’s house and he said he hadn’t seen you in a week and that you’d been known to leave and come back after you cooled down, but he was sure that you were ending things and moved on.”

She snorted. “All this with my car left on his property?”

“I drove by before I reported it. Your car isn’t there. I’m not sure where it is, but it’s not at Oliver’s.”

“He would have moved it,” she said.

“That’s my guess. I’m actually waiting for it to show up somewhere like you took a bus or something out of town.”

“I’m not sure he’s smart enough to do that,” she said.

“Me neither. Late last week I went into your old job and asked for you. They said they don’t know where you are, that you just quit. Someone had called Oliver’s looking for you and were told the same thing. You just left.”

“Do you think I’m safe to go about my life now? Could it be that easy? He never did this before when I left.” It’d only been that once, but it was enough to scare her to not attempt it again.

“I talked to Ashley. I guess she went to the police too. So that is two of us that reported it. But she said Oliver stopped to see her yesterday and asked if she’d talked to you. She thought it was odd and said no. Even if she had, she’d never tell him.”

Ashley had been the friend whose house she’d gone to before when Oliver came back to retrieve her.

Reenie didn’t have a lot of friends in life and felt bad that she just walked out on Ashley like this, but she didn’t feel she had a choice. At least right now.

“So the policearelooking for me?” And the fact Oliver was now asking Ashley about her wasn’t good either.