A three AM phone call about a locked room changed everything

fast and nervous. “I almost did not come inside.”

When I turned, she was twisting one of her silver hoop earrings with her thumb and forefinger, a habit she always had when she was uncomfortable. She looked smaller, her shoulders hunched inside a gray wool coat.

“You have every right to ignore me,” she said.

“I am shopping, Stacey,” I said.

“I know. I continue reading …