Page 38 of Catching Fire

“She is?” Seline practically screamed it. If her pulse was high before, it was spiking into dangerous levels now.

When no answer came, she asked again. “She’s really alive?”

“I don't know!” The woman’s tone was more irritated than helpful or hopeful, and her next words cleared it up. “Some guy paid me a hundred dollars to call and tell you this.”

Seline turned frantically in a circle, her phone pressed to her ear, as she looked for Maggie. She practically ran right into her friend. Of course, Maggie had not missed any of it.

Maggie made a rolling motion with her hand, indicating for Seline to keep the woman on the phone. But for a moment, she simply froze. Her mind blanked.What should she say? What should she do?

“Well, there you go, honey. My job is done,” the woman said and seemed about to hang up.

That was enough to break whatever awful spell was keeping her silent, and Seline interrupted. “What did he look like?”

“What did who look like?”

“The man you said paid you to call me.” Seline tried not to let her frustration through. But who knew what was leaching into her voice? She was ecstatic that Marina might actually still be alive, but didn’t want to believe anything that originated from Sanders. His main goal was to toy with them and lying about this would certainly do it.

“Oh, he was just average looking.”

Sanders had not chosen the brightest bulb in the box to deliver his message—probably on purpose. Fighting to keep her calm and keep the woman on the phone, she asked more specific questions. “What color hair did he have?”

“Blond. With a little white in it maybe.”

“That’s great,” Seline tried to consciously unclench her fist, but it didn’t work. “Did you get his eye color?”

“I don't know that. Maybe blue.”

“His height?” They went back and forth, eating up time. But Maggie was still making the motion at her, so Seline kept talking. So far, the description had fit Sanders perfectly.

“He was average tall. I told you that.” There was a soul weary sigh from the other end of the line as her caller was getting ready to tap out. “Listen lady, I don't have time for this. I have things to do.”

Maggie was still motioning her hand to keep talking, even though it was getting harder to drag this out. At some point, while Seline had frantically been making conversation, Maggie had gotten on the phone herself. She moved away now to talk to whoever she was contacting.

“And he gave you a hundred dollars to call me? He gave you this number?”

“I already said that.”

Seline tried another tack. “And where are you calling from?”

“I'm not supposed to tell you.”

In the background, Seline heard Maggie utter the words, “phone call … trace … it’s something about Marina …”

Seline desperately wanted to give Maggie what little information she had, but she needed to keep the woman on the phone. She pushed again. “Where did you meet him?”

There was another moment’s pause where she thought she was going to get the same answer ofI'm not supposed to tell you. But the woman replied, “In the parking lot at the store.”

Both of them were getting frustrated. “Which store?”

“The grocery store! Look lady, I gotta go.”

And with an audible click the line went dead.

Bon Sang!

But right then, Maggie turned around, one hand on the phone but the other giving her a thumbs up sign—whatever that meant.

Had Seline managed to keep the woman on the line long enough to trace the call? Did it mean Watson or Decker had found where the call came from?

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