Page 49 of Crow's Haven
The next afternoon, my phone jingles. It’s my cousin.
“So, you found somewhere to stay last night?” she asks softly, concern still saturating her tone.
“Yeah. The trucker who picked me up took me to a place he knew was safe and I paid in cash, just like you suggested. I even got a decent night’s sleep,” I confirm quietly, gazing aroundthe worn motel room. “Nobody at the front desk asked any questions.”
“Good,” she sighs with relief, then abruptly brightens, her voice shifting to the tone she always takes when she’s trying to distract me from worry. “Hey, so listen. Did I ever tell you about the apartment complex my friend Cassie moved into last summer?”
I blink, thrown by the sudden change of subject. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Well, let me tell you, this place is wild,” she launches into her story enthusiastically, clearly intent on steering my mind away from the darker thoughts that threaten to overwhelm me. She’s chatting away. Usually I love to hear my cousin’s rambling stories, but today I have other things on my mind.
“—and there was this huge, empty room just lying vacant,” she says. “Would you believe it?”
“Sorry? What?” I ask, confused.
“You weren’t even listening were you?” she admonishes me.
I let out a sigh, “I’m so worried about everything I can barely think. Go on, I need distraction,” I say.
“I was telling you I think I found a solution to your problem about where to stay longer term.”
I sit up at that, “Tell me again, I’m listening.”
“My friend Cassie, she’s moved into this apartment complex. They can’t get packages delivered directly so the mailman uses an old laundry building that’s attached. The apartments all have a washer and dryer so it’s not used anymore.It’s got a keypad lock so it’s safe from thieves. She found out when she got some shoes delivered. Anyway, she was looking around and there’s actually a room at the back. It’s like a self-contained apartment, basic, but probably where the night maintenance man used to live.”
She pauses and I consider her words. I have a feeling I know where this is going.
“Remember Cassie’s friend Shana, the one who was always getting into fights at school?”
I nod even though she can’t see me.
“Well, she split up with her latest boyfriend and had nowhere to stay. Cassie told her about the room and said she could probably use it to crash for a while. She stayed there for a month before she moved on. But I was talking to Cassie about you—”
“You didn’t tell her, did you?” I ask in horror.
Ronnie answers, “I had to. She’d heard the rumors. Anyway, I asked if, hypothetically speaking, a person needed to lay low, was the room still available. She said sure, and told me the keypad code.”
My heart starts racing. “It’s really okay if I stay there?”
There’s a long pause. When she finally replies, her voice is quieter, careful, yet hopeful. “Sometimes the safest places are ones everyone else overlooks. Forgotten spaces, hiding in plain sight. Plus you’d be near me so I could visit you. The complex is only three blocks away.”
My mind begins to spin slowly, cautiously turning her words over in my thoughts. “And Cassie would do that, let mestay? What about the other people in the apartment complex, wouldn’t they see me?”
Ronnie’s voice softens with gentle urgency. “They don’t know about it. I think this room is exactly what you need.”
My breath catches sharply, possibilities flooding my mind. A hidden refuge, forgotten by the world. “Are you serious that nobody would notice?”
“I’m positive,” she insists earnestly.
Still, I hesitate because nothing in my life is ever this easy. I exhale slowly, thinking. This idea is almost too good to be true. What are the chances that there’s a safe, forgotten room squirreled away there that’s totally free and just waiting for me when I’m at my most desperate?
“I don’t know,” I say hesitantly, still wary. While I trust my cousin, I don’t like the idea of her friend being involved. “It sounds like the solution to all my problems but what if someone finds me there?”
“Who would look?” she counters gently. “The cops wouldn’t think to look at that apartment, because you have no connections to the location. Even if they did, they would be looking inside the apartments and maybe skimming the rest of the building. Chances are they would just glance inside the laundry room and call it a day.”
What she’s saying is true. The logic of it settles my mind. My natural fear and suspicion give way to genuine hope.
“You really think this will work?” I ask, feeling more upbeat. “That it’ll keep me safe until we figure out how to clear my name?”
