Chapter 16

He kept his old phone line for a specific purpose, and worried it might lead to misunderstandings, so he hadn’t answered. Alice smacked her forehead as it hit her—Anthony had mentioned they were fixing the lock that day. No wonder he’d come to pick her up. “Alright, I’ll check it when I get inside. Thanks, Tony. I owe you a big meal.” “Deal. I’ll hold you to that.” By the time she got home, it was almost midnight. Alice collapsed onto the couch, completely drained. After spacing out for a bit, she grabbed the old phone from the side table. Thirty-eight missed calls. Six text messages. All six texts were from her service provider, warning that her balance was too low to cover the monthly fee and urging her to top up soon. As for the calls, a few were from the provider, but most came from unfamiliar numbers. One number stood out—ending in 5914. It had called twenty-eight times in total. It seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn’t place where she’d seen it before. She lightly tapped her th