“Don’t worry.” I pulled out my phone. “I did—before I called you two up. Let’s run it and see what we get.”

++++

Timothy was just glad Blake’s men had shown up when they did to take Julianne’s body out. He didn’t know where they might have taken it, and frankly, he didn’t want to know.

That was over.

That part of his life was done.

At least with Julianne gone, she wasn’t talking to him anymore. At least there was that.

Gone is gone is gone.

Dead is dead is dead is dead.

Yes.

Whatever else might be up in doubt, at least that much was true.

And the agents were gone. Thankfully thankfully thankfully that was taken care of too.

Now, he just needed to pick up where he’d left off before Julianne Springman tracked him down in the first place and turned his life inside out.

Writing. Surviving. Making the bugs go away.

And the first step in returning to normal was getting his journal with his notes about Emily back from that girl, Tessa, who’d helped him get out of the bookstore last night after Miranda’s mom showed up.

++++

Tessa wasn’t the best person in the world at checking her phone’s screen without getting caught while she was in class, but she wasn’t the worst either.

However, she still hadn’t found out anything about who disappeared after Timothy Sabian’s last signing.

While doing her best to avoid letting her teacher see her using her phone, she received a message from the very person who was foremost on her mind.

The novelist wrote to her:

Thank you for helping me make my escape last night. So very cloak and dagger.

Also, those words on the church bulletin: “The waters of this moment rush over my head. I drink in the truth and find that it tastes like tears just as I suspected.”

Did you write that?

It’s good.

I never got the chance to sign your book yesterday. The next time our paths cross, I will. If you’re interested, that is.

Then he included a snail mail address in Ozone Park so she could send him the journal, but he also suggested that if she wanted to meet somewhere instead, if that was easier for her, and so that she wouldn’t have to pay for postage, he would be glad to do that.

She messaged him back, Yeah, no problem. Thanks for saying that about the poem. Means a lot. And yeah, I’d love to have my book signed. What if I brought it by in person?

The reply was slow in coming, but it did come: That would be fine. I should be here all day.