Page 86 of Lady and the Camp
The campers arranged themselves in the center of the bunkhouse to present digital evidence of the threats against me.
“I don’t have anything belonging to Kristoff,” I told them before they began. “I understand these scum suckers think I do, but I don’t. I barely packed anything. If I didn’t have these camp clothes, I’d be wearing the same handful of outfits over and over. And as far as bitcoin goes, I never invested in it. Kristoff didn’t add me to his accounts. We weren’t even dating that long.”
Bianca sighed dramatically. “You’re missing the point. Even if it’s not true, these people believe it is. Therefore, you’re in danger.”
No,I put you all in danger. I needed to tell Lucas. I needed to alert Agent Mulder. But what would I say? A cabin of fifteen-year-olds uncovered a stalker trail the FBI couldn’t find?
“I already told them about the skeezy guy in the woods this weekend,” Bianca said.
Great, just great. Teen counselors for the win. “As you know,” I said pointedly to Bianca. “The camp has taken safety precautions, and we don’t have any evidence that he had anything to do with me. Most likely not.” I hoped. I really, really hoped. “Anyway, the local sheriff has been patrolling and I have an FBI contact who notified the local office.” There. Now they all knew.
Undeterred, they launched into a detailed recap of the user’s digital trail on the website, following a link the user posted in another thread that led to their personal blog, which obsessed over cryptocurrency. Also, weirdly, Crocs footwear.
I was a terrible camp counselor. If these girls’ parents knew their camp money was funding an undercover investigation intersecting with an infamous billionaire’s open fraud case, they’d blow many and all gaskets. There wasn’t a badge for this sort of camp craft.
“Okay, I don’t see evidence that this user knows where I am.”
Three phones shot up with girls talking at once.
My head throbbed.
“Here.” One of them stood. “On this other website there’s a public chat thread that says where your hometown is and that you went to college at University of Michigan. They found pictures of you on Facebook.”
That information was public. The pictures were old. “That doesn’t tie me to the camp. We’re miles away from where I grew up and where I went to college.”
Another girl spoke up. “This one here says they found out from a source you flew to the Midwest and you’re researching subleasing your apartment in Los Angeles.”
Okay,thatwas creepy. But the simplest explanation was an educated guess. Someone on the run likely wouldn’t return to a known address. Though officially, I was laying low, not on the run.
“No, this is the one,” the third girl showed me her phone. “It’s Instagram. A lady posted that she got free Sheek lipstick in a restaurant bathroom from the pink-haired make-up YouTuber. Look at her location.”
My breath froze. Free lipstick in a restaurant bathroom. That was during happy hour in town my first week. The location of the user was a town nearby the camp.
Stupid me needing to give out my freebies. I’d been caged in social butterfly captivity and couldn’t resist. “Hold on, I was wearing a hat.” Yes, I’d definitely worn a hat when we went out. “Wait—I took it off at the mirror.”
This gave the girls new fuel to burn. “I told you!”
“They know she’s here!”
The women from the bathroom hadn’t said they’d recognized me at the time, but maybe they’d connected it later. Not good.
“Now look at the comments,” Bianca said over my shoulder.
Isn’t she the one Kristoff Krom broke up with?
Where are you, Michigan? Why would she be slumming it out there?
Hey, watch your mouth! Michigan is the Great Lakes State!
Michigan pride aside, this was like a dart making it onto the dartboard. Not a bullseye, but not a total miss. Only it didn’t prove Kristoff or his buddies had any awareness I was here. These were unconnected posts across multiple platforms.
“Credit due for your investigative skills, girls, but I’m afraid these don’t add up to solid evidence.” And thankfully for me, it was unlikely any of this resulted in a real threat.
The girls all talked at once. If only they’d been this excited over our leaf walk earlier today. I clapped my hands. “Okay. Settle down. Thank you for taking time to look into this. Focus on what camp has to offer. I promise I’ll be careful and we’ll watch out for anything odd. Promise me you’ll report anything suspicious to your counselor and radio Maggie or Lucas.”
“I understand camp protocol,” Bianca stated. Which was not an agreement to what I’d asked.
The campers reluctantly agreed.
