The Third Message novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Eleven Calls

On Monday the exchange office emailed me one line: "Please come in. We have a question about your emergency contact."

June came with me and sat in the plastic chair beside mine with her arms crossed.

The coordinator was a tired woman with a phone headset around her neck.

"Someone has called us eight times since August," she said. "She says she's your sister, and she wants your room number, your class schedule and your doctor's name."

"I don't have a sister," I said.

"That's what I thought, which is why I never gave her anything."

She turned her screen toward me.

The call log showed the same number every time, in a column.

I knew the number by heart.

It was Bree's.

"She also asked whether you were taking pain medication," the coordinator said. "And whether you'd ever been in a car accident, a fall, or a hospital here."

June leaned in. "Why would she ask that?"

"Because she wanted to know what was in your file," the coordinator said. "People who love you don't ask that."

My throat closed.

I thought of Bree saying Portland, in the hospital room, in her small flat voice.

"Please keep ignoring her," I said. "And can you send me a copy of that log?"

"I'll print it myself."

She did, and she handed it over folded, with a look that said she was on my side.

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