Page 84 of Spencer

Two things were abundantly clear. She couldn’t hang around in the station, and she couldn’t get on the connecting bus to DC in the morning, because Tabbi would already have the information that DC was the next leg of her trip.

She needed to make other plans.

First things first. Sheila needed a disguise.

Flushing the toilet and pulling up her ever-present, gray sweat pants, she opened up her suitcase and rummaged around.

Food. Computer. Clothes. Anime stuff… Yes!

Sheila had, emotionally, packed up the small collection of her anime items that she’d purchased over the last few years at the annual festivals she’d attended with Tabbi. She hadn’t been able to leave any of it behind, and that was certainly to her benefit, now.

Gleeful for her unintended foresight, Sheila pulled out part of her cache. That included a bright pink wig, and some Manga LED glasses with dark black frames.

She giggled. The attire would make her stand out, that’s for sure, but nobody would mistake this otaku girl for plain, dark-haired Sheila. She’d be hiding in plain sight. That was the plan, anyway.

Sheila quickly donned the two items, completing her outfit change by taking off her black sweatshirt and pulling on a bright yellow hoodie. She opened the door to her stall and took a quick peek. Nobody was around.

Washing her hands, she slowly left the restroom, trying to keep her eyes from going back to the man with the sign, but failing. Her breath caught when she saw two police officers conversing with him, and they were obviously sharing pictures.

Crap.

Oops.She’d owe the swear jar some money for that one.

She had to leave, but her feet felt glued to the spot.

Not good, Sheila. Not good.

Leave. Right now. Leave.

Spotting the door to freedom, she somehow got moving and hustled out of the station with her head ducked low. She only stopped to suck in a breath once she’d emerged into the night air.

The area outside the station was bustling with people, despite the late hour, so she immediately began moving again, setting her pace to blend in. The lot surrounding the building was stark, but the bus she’d taken here was still idling out front, the driver nowhere to be seen.Good.She could hunker down behind it, shielding herself from any curious eyes inside the building, and use the bus’s WIFI.

She walked quickly around the behemoth, but not so quickly that she looked suspicious.

Lowering herself to sit cross-legged on the ground, she brought out her computer and immediately initiated a search to find another way to get to Bangor.

A train that fit her schedule would work.

It didn’t take her long to…

Double crap.

And more money in the swear jar.

In order to shake any tail she might acquire—she’d always loved that term, “tail”—Sheila had already determined that she’d have to take the rest of the trip in small bites. She’d hoped she could find a train to New York without too much trouble, but the only one listed left at 11:29 PM each night. It was currently just shy of twelve, which meant she’d have to wait almost twenty-four hours before she could continue her journey.

She briefly let her mind go to the possibility of planes, but quickly shut that down. Her trip with her roommates to check things out at the local airport had been fine, but actually putting herself on an aircraft that would go up in the sky?

Nope. No thank you.

That would be her last choice.

So train it was.

Sheila bent her head and with a quick search, found that the nearest hotel where she could hole-up was only an eleven-minute walk away.

That, she could do.

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