Page 33 of Missing White Woman

The words tumbled out as soon as the beep stopped. “Baby, it’s me. I’m okay. I’m at a hotel. The Crown. Room 408. I don’t have my phone. It’s still at the house. They won’t give me my stuff, but otherwise I’m okay. Please call me back. So I know you’re okay too…”

I trailed off then, not having anything else to say but not wanting to hang up. This wasn’t an answering machine like my grandmother had when I was a kid. Ty wasn’t going to pick up in the middle of my spiel, breath heavy like he’d just run in from the garage. And yet I couldn’t hang up. I said nothing, just breathed. Afraid to end the call, afraid to think why he hadn’t answered.

Adore finally spoke. “Bree, hang up.”

And my brain jump-started like a car battery. “Please just call me. I’ll be here. And… and… please stay safe.”

I finally hung up, turned to her. “Can I please see your phone? In case he can’t check his voicemail.”

Her hesitation lasted just shy of a nanosecond, then she handed it over. There was no red bubble in the upper right of her Messages icon. Either she didn’t get a lot of texts or she was particular about checking them all. I didn’t bother to find out. Just went to the Messages icon, plugged Ty’s number into the “To” line, and typed a variation of the message I’d already left him two times now. It’s Bree. I’m okay. Crown Hotel. Room 408. Call me as soon as you get this.

I placed her cell on the end table. “Where are you, Ty?” I was talking to myself, but Adore answered anyway.

“Did he have a car? Would he drive back to Maryland?”

I shook my head. “Of course not.”

“I just don’t get why he hasn’t reached out to the police yet.”

“Do I really have to explain the optics here? Are you really asking why a Black man isn’t automatically trusting the police to do the right thing? You know how this looks. Black couple. White woman. It’s the reason you came to help me.”

I glanced at her, the weekender bag on her shoulder making her look like a little girl playing dress-up with her mom’s purse. Then I spoke again. “He wouldn’t leave me.”

She finally set the bag down on the end table. Took her time doing it too. I watched every move, until she finally spoke. “He already did, Bree. He left you to come downstairs and find a mutilated woman in the foyer.”

The hair. The hands. The jeans. The blood covering it all.

I hoped Ty hadn’t seen her. That those images weren’t consuming his brain like they were consuming mine.

“He could’ve chased the killer off. Been wanting to protect me.”

“Then why not come back? He’d have to be an asshole to leave his girlfriend to deal with it,” she said.

I’d rather he was an asshole than dead. Finally, I spoke. “He’s still here.”

Adored sighed, like she’d forgotten how stubborn I could be. “Okay,” she said, leaving off the we’ll play it your way. “Could he be staying with a friend?”

“Maybe.”

“He know anyone who lives close by?”

“I don’t know,” I said, then realized how bad it sounded. “I mean, no one he’s mentioned by name.”

“Okay… Who are his boys back home? Maybe he’s reached out to them.”

“There’s Mo.”

She smiled, relieved. Happy for something to glom on to, she picked up her cell. “That short for Mohammed? Maurice? If you just give me his last name, I can get his number too.”

Her questions came rapid-fire. I’d forgotten how she got when she was excited. She looked at me and I said nothing, too busy racking my brain for an answer to any of her questions. I came up empty. “I’m sure he’s commented on one of his posts.” I motioned to the phone still in her hand. “You have IG? You can check Ty’s account.” I rattled off his screen name.

She nodded encouragingly, like I was the child playing dress-up and wanting approval. She served as her own narrator as she went to Ty’s page and checked his last post. It was the one we’d taken in Central Park. “Ten comments. That’s manageable.”

She scrolled, spouting off each name. “You think any of these are Mo?’

None of them sounded familiar, but I’d never been the type to police my boyfriend’s Instagram activity. I shrugged.

“It’s cool,” she said. “We can contact all ten if you want.”

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