“Give me your phone right now,” Trevor said. “Tell me what happened, not that I couldn’t guess by your face.”

“It was him. I know it was.”

“What did he say?”

Trevor had been sitting there watching her during the call. From the smile on her face, to the perplexity at having to say she couldn’t hear the person, to confusion, and then fear.

“There was silence. I couldn’t really hear anything. Nothing more than someone moving around. Like they were muffling the phone. I couldn’t even make out the voice, either.”

“So you don’t know what he said?” he asked again.

“Happy Birthday. That’s all I heard. Happy Birthday. How did he know it was my birthday?”

“We’re leaving,” he said, holding his hand up for the check. “Let me pay and we’re going right to the barracks. I’m calling Logan and we’re getting the number traced.”

“But they patched him through. I had no number.”

“Riley, it’s an on-call service. There is a way to trace the call. People call in hurt and sick a lot to services like this. Calls get lost or dropped, so there has to be a way to trace it back. Trust me on this.”

Trevor paid the bill and they left, driving in silence to the barracks where she had to relay the whole thing all over again to Roger. Then she called the on-call service and handed the phone to Trevor and tuned out all the questions asked while she sat in a chair at the conference table staring at the wall.

“I’ve got a number,” he said, feeling like they were getting somewhere now.

“Trevor. Someone called and wished her a happy birthday. There is no threat there,” Roger explained.

“If you don’t run it, I will. You asked me to come to you first and I’m doing that. But I can just as easily walk out the door and do this on my own,” he said, furious right now.

He knew there was no threat to those words, but he also knew this was the closest they’d gotten to finding some answers. Whoever this person was, whatever they wanted, they were making mistakes now. They had a voice and it was recorded.

When the recording came in, they listened to it a few times and couldn’t make out much more than the voice was garbled and she wondered if it was intentional. But it didn’t matter, because they had a number, and the number could lead to a trail.

“Burner phone,” Roger said after another trooper came in with the report.

“You can’t get a location of where the call came from?”

“The area code is in and around New York City, but that isn’t a surprise to anyone. We’ve sent what we have over to Logan. Maybe he will have a better chance at it. We’re limited here with our resources. I’d have to go outside the area for more. I’d have to justify it and I’m not sure I can.”

Trevor wasn’t surprised to hear Roger say that. He went to the state police because his own resources were limited too. “Logan will call me when he gets something. Until then, we just have to wait.”

“That’s it?” Riley said. “There’s nothing we can do?”

“I’m sorry, Riley,” he said. “It’s not what you want to hear. It’s not what I want to hear, but it’s out of my hands right now.”

“What a shitty way to end this night,” she said.

“Come on. I’ll go pick up a chocolate cake and we can eat it together at home.”

She stood up and walked over to him, then into his arms. “I’m going to eat the whole thing,” she said, her voice trembling now. At least she wasn’t putting up another wall on him, but rather letting go.

“And I’ll let you.”

 

***

 

Riley couldn’t believe she was in Cole’s chopper with Trevor and on her way to New York City the next morning.

Logan had come through. Though they couldn’t trace where the call had been made from, they traced the purchase of the phone to just a block away from her old apartment.

Cole was going with her to wait at her parents’ apartment while Trevor and Logan went back to her apartment building to try to get the manager to let them look around. She knew Cole was being asked to watch over her, and as much as she wanted to say it wasn’t needed, she wasn’t stupid, either. She wouldn’t argue, even though it was her first reaction.

She couldn’t wait to get out of the chopper once it landed. She’d felt claustrophobic in the back seat, not to mention the raging headache from the noise and the headset.

Logan met them on the landing pad, coming forward and shaking Trevor’s hand, then giving her a hug. She was taken back by that.

“Logan hugs everyone that will let him,” Trevor explained.

The two men were about the same height and build, and even had the same haircuts now that she looked closely enough. “Trevor is just jealous because not everyone can be as free with their emotions as me.”

Riley looked at Cole, who was grinning at the two men, then back to Trevor and shook her head. She didn’t know if she’d ever come across a guy like Logan.

“This is Cole McGuire,” Trevor said to Logan. “He’s with the state police.”

“Don’t even think about hugging me,” Cole said, shaking hands.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. You’re the pilot Trevor’s told me about. Air Force, right?”

“Yeah,” Cole said.

“Sweet chopper,” Logan said. “Can I get a lift in it when we’re done?”

“It’d be my pleasure to fly around the Big Apple.”

“You’ll get more clearance with me on board,” Logan boasted.

“You two can bond over aircraft when we’re done,” Trevor said. “Riley, get to your parents and stay put. Cole, don’t let her out of your sight.”

“Where would I go, Trevor?” Riley said. For months, all she heard was there was no real threat. That this was a nuisance. And now Trevor was starting to scare her.

“Just do as you’re told,” he said.

She and Cole hailed a cab, while Trevor got in the car with Logan and drove away. “Do you think they’ll be able to find out who it is finally?” she asked him.

“They’re getting closer. I’m sure they’ll find out something before we leave. Even if it’s just more clues.”

“I hope they find out. I just want this over with.”

“Even if they do find out who he is, there isn’t much to be done right now,” Cole said.

Her shoulders dropped. That was the kicker of all of this. “I know. He hasn’t actually done anything but scare me. Make me run.”

“Did he really make you run? Was it that?” Cole asked.

“Of course it was,” she argued.

But she was lying to herself and didn’t speak to him the rest of the cab ride, lost in her own thoughts.

“Mom, Dad,” she said, rushing into their arms when they opened the door. “You remember Cole, from Max’s party, right?”

“Rene’s husband?” her mother asked.

“I will be in a few weeks,” Cole said.

“Come on in,” her father said. “Both of you. We’ll get you something to eat and then talk.”

“Mom, can you and I talk alone?” she asked. “Do you mind, Cole?”

“Not at all,” he said.

They walked into a small room beyond the foyer. Her mother pulled her forward and hugged her tightly again. “I’m so glad you’re here. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe you kept it from us.”

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, though,” she said.

“That’s a lie and you know it,” her mother said. “This situation forced you to leave your life behind. That’s definitely a big deal.”

“I don’t think it really did, though. Maybe if I was happier I could have focused on this other business and handled it right instead of leaving. But I was so miserable and I just used it as an excuse, told myself if Jason didn’t believe me, no one else would— that it was a sign to go. I hadn’t been happy here for a while. You know that.” Though she never told her parents everything going on in her life, they knew enough.

“Because of Jason?”

“No. Not completely. He wasn’t right for me. I know that now. I probably knew it back then. I’m not sure I would have found anyone right for me here.”

“That’s a ridiculous comment, Riley. You don’t know that for sure.”

“Don’t you like Trevor?” she asked. She thought her parents did.

“Of course we do. He’s a great guy. I just don’t want you to think that you had to leave to find what you wanted.”

“But I did. Don’t you see? I wouldn’t have found anyone here because I always thought all they saw was the name. They saw me and my life, and they made assumptions. That I had it all and had no reason to want something else. Something different. Going there, no one looked at me like they did here. I’m just another face in Lake Placid. A face that was allowed to be me and be free. I felt I could finally find someone that made me feel like my dreams could have a great ending. I was so trapped in my head looking for all those other things, and now I’m not.”

“And Trevor is all those things you’ve been looking for?” her mother asked.

“He is. He loves me. He wants me. He believes me.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

“I didn’t run away. I ran to someone. I know that now.”