It was practical. It was focused. It was safe. And then Sophia's new phone, the one she'd gotten when she left Atlanta, rang. She looked at the screen.
She went completely still. Who is it? James said. She turned the phone so he could see the screen. The number had a 404 area code.
Atlanta. No name saved, but she recognized it. He could see that she recognized it by the way every muscle in her face tightened simultaneously. That's him, she said. James looked at the phone.
At her at the phone. He got your new number, James said. He got my new number. She repeated like saying it out loud was the only way to make it real. The phone rang three more times and then stopped.
30 seconds later, a text came through. James watched Sophia read it. He watched her face. "What does it say?" He said.
She turned the phone to show him. The text said, "I know you're in Charlotte. We need to talk before this becomes something you can't manage alone." The room was very quiet. We need to talk before this becomes something you can't manage alone.
James read it twice. Then he looked up at Sophia. She was sitting very still in the way that people sit still when they are preventing themselves from doing something driven by pure adrenaline. He's been tracking you. James said, I don't know how.
Doesn't matter how. James's voice was even too even. The kind of even that was its own form of intensity. He knows you're here and he's making sure you know that he knows. James, call Sandra right now, he said.
Send her that text. Tonight, not Monday. He stood up. I need you to listen to me very carefully. This man just made a move and the move was designed to frighten you into acting alone.