Page 74 of Lady and the Camp
And my other decidedly unhappy camper? Lucas. His eyes lit with molten lava at the admission I had a federal agent contact. Equally not happy I’d saved said agent’s number to a burner phone.
I guess that wasn’t typical of children’s camp counselors.
I hadn’t intended to keep the full story from Lucas. Not forever, at least. Besides, he could have looked me up at any time. He could have connected my need for an escape plan. Marcy told him only the basics, assuming I’d fill Lucas in when ready.
Only I hadn’t.
Marcy and Lucas went with me to the camp office as I related the latest information to the agent. Suspected stalker and all. I had permission from him to use speaker phone after disclosing who was with me.
The agent’s gravelly sigh punctuated the end of my wrap-up. “A children’s camp?” The burner phone offered a surprisingly crisp connection. “That’s certainly an interesting choice.”
My heart raced. “Kelly Q. Pierce told me I wasn’t in direct danger.” My shoulders tensed—was she on the line listening? I hated to shove her under the bus, but well, her name came out of my mouth. “I’ve barely been online. I swear. Not on my real phone or on my main accounts.”
A beat of silence passed. “Are you on accounts that are not yourmainaccounts?”
His attempt at controlling his tone reminded me of my dad after I’d run up his credit card at sixteen. Dad had handed the card over for my birthday weekend and told me outright to have fun. How did I know his idea of fun didn’t translate to a Sephora shopping spree and my first day spa experience with my friends? Look, I’d known the credit card had a limit, I just hadn’t known that limit applied to my birthday.
I still felt bad about it.
Focus. “I’ve been checking on my accounts—not logged in—from a desktop computer at the camp office. I’ve been managing the camp’s Instagram but—”
My words fell off. My breath came shallow.
Heat crawled up my neck. I took out my real phone and turned it on.
Marcy and Lucas, who’d been talking low to each other in the corner of the room, looked at me. Watching, waiting.
“Hudson.” My name dropped from the agent like a lead boot. “Please enlighten me so I can do my job.”
I opened Instagram. My moment of weakness the other night. After searching my name, I found an all-Krom fandom account with a post blasting me. A static image pulled mid-frame from one of my videos, caught while speaking so I looked half awake and messy.
I’d made one comment. One comment in self-defense. From an anonymous skincare junkie using a private account.
Horror struck as my worst fear surfaced. I hadn’t posted from the private account. I’d posted from Camp Junebug.
A reply showed beneath my comment.“Why is a kid’s camp dishing dirt about Kristoff Krom?”
“No. No, no, no.” I sank to the floor behind Twila’s desk, staring at the phone.
“That’s not what I want to hear,” the agent warned.
“What?” Marcy appeared at my side, her voice gentle, urging.
I couldn’t look at Lucas.
I faced my phone to Marcy and spoke to the agent on the burner. “I was logged into the Camp Junebug account and made a comment in my defense.” Right there on the screen, my rant against the troll. Not from a skincare fan’s account, but with the camp account I’d been building up the past week. “I thought I was logged into my private account.”
Marcy read the screen. “You clapped back to a troll and you used the camp account. So delete it. What’s the issue?”
“The account has the location in the bio. The camp’s location isn’t a secret. And look at the user’s name who called out my comment.”
Krom$Bro$Fan
Agent Mulder cleared his throat. “You posted in defense of yourself on an account with location information readily available. We have no knowledge this person believes it’s you posting from the account. Or that Krom saw this post or that he or his followers would connect you to a children’s camp. It was a sloppy move, but it doesn’t mean the threat is related.”
Lucas moved closer to the phone I held. “Sir, this the camp director. A new session begins tomorrow. I need to know if it’s safe for the children to attend.”
My mind flashed with the faces of the campers on their nature walks. Bianca and her craft mastery. Maggie’s ability to sense a homesick kid before the first tears shed. I put them all at risk by being here.
