Burner Phone
890 Words
Chapter Eighteen
Across the city Sophie sat at her desk with the phone number on the screen in front of her. She had been running traces on it for the last forty minutes.
Burner phones left almost nothing to work with. No registration, no billing address, no network history that pointed to a real person or a real location. She had known within the first ten minutes that it was going to come back empty but she ran it anyway because she had told Sarah she would, and because Sophie had learned over the years that empty results still told you something.
Someone who knew how to use a burner phone and stay off a trace was not acting on impulse.
Whatever this was, It had been thought through. The message had not been sent in a moment of anger. It had been sent by someone who knew exactly what they were doing and had prepared carefully for the possibility of being looked for.
She picked up her phone and called.
Sarah answered before the second ring.
"I didn't find anything," Sophie said. "It's a burner. There's no information attached to it."
Sarah was quiet for a second. "Okay. Thank you, Sophie. I really appreciate it."
"Sarah-"
"I'll be fine. I'm heading home now."
The call ended.
Sarah put the phone in her bag and kept walking back to her car. The street was mostly quiet at this hour. A few cars moved past slowly, their headlights sweeping across the pavement ahead of her.
She was scared. She had been trying not to admit that to herself since the message came in but there was no longer any point in pretending otherwise. Someone had sent it to her specifically, at a number she had not given out freely, and they had worded it in a way that made clear they knew more about her life than a stranger had any right to know. The question was not whether she was in danger. The question was how long it had been building toward this without her seeing it.
Her mind drifted back, the way it always did when she was afraid, to the period before she had built anything worth protecting.
Her father had come to her house with a threat giving her five days to think about it. The only option was for her to agree, and she would secretly do a DNA test on him with the kids if he matches and turns out to be their father she might consider but for now she had to pretend.
There were things she had gotten through only by not looking at them directly. That was one of them. She had carried it quietly for years and told herself it was behind her.
She turned onto her street.
The lights were on at the house. Through the front window she could see the blue flicker of the television and the silhouette of madam Cassy settled in the armchair, which meant the children were most likely asleep and the evening had passed without incident in the way she needed evenings to pass right now.
She stood on the pavement outside for a moment before going in.
The message was meant to frighten her. She understood that.
Whoever had sent it wanted her to feel watched and off-balance and unsure of her footing, and four words rather than a full explanation was a deliberate choice, designed to make her mind fill in everything the sender had left out. She understood all of this and it did not make her feel any less afraid but it helped her think, and thinking clearly was the only tool she had available right now.
She went inside.
Madam Cassy was sitting in the living room. She looked up and asked with a worried tone “Is everything okay Sarah?”
Sarah smiled and said “Madam Cassy you really worry too much.”
“You know you can tell me anything bothering you.” the old woman said with a concerned expression.
“It's nothing to worry about.” She assured her I will check on the kids.
She walked into the kids room and stood in the doorway. Adin was on his back with one arm thrown across his face the way he always slept, his breathing slow and even. She stood there longer than she needed to. And Aria was curled on her side facing the wall, blanket pulled to her. chin, completely still.
Sarah went to bed without eating. She lay in the dark and thought about the burner phone and the person careful enough to use one. and the four words, and all the things they could mean depending on which part of her past they were pointing at.
She was almost asleep when she heard it.
A sound from outside. Low and brief, like a car door closing very carefully on a quiet street. The specific deliberateness of someone who did not want to be heard.
She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
Footsteps on the path leading to her front door.
They stopped directly in front of it.
But almost immediately then the footsteps retreated. The street went quiet again.
She tried closing her eyes again but the her phone buzzed but this time it wasn't from unknown number.
- Writer
