Nia's next message came while Leonie stood at the market counter trying to choose something she could eat. All the envelopes are still in my bag. We're going to the address on the receipt. Leonie sent back, Got it. She put the phone on the table beside an untouched bowl of soup.
The next message came before the expected arrival. Nia said Cal had passed the turn for the address on the receipt. He said they would talk first at another family place. She had asked him to stop, and he would not. The last line was short: I want out now.
Leonie typed Did he turn round? She deleted it and sent, I'm passing your location and the car now.
She called the direct shore number Ada had sent and gave Nia's words exactly, the corrected car plate, the claimed address, and the road they had likely taken after passing its turn. While the responder repeated the plate, another message arrived: He says I agreed to talk at a family place. I agreed to the address on the receipt. He says this one is better. I said no. He told me, “Tell Leonie. She has the plate and the other address. We'll have finished talking before she finds this one.” He is still driving.
Leonie read the new message aloud and forwarded the messages and the car photograph through the channel the responder gave her. She sent them to Ada next.
Ada answered her call. “I have the messages.”
“Responders have them too. And the plate.” Leonie looked toward the road out of town. People still carried groceries across the square. “I want to go after her.”
“Keep the phone free. They know where to look.”
Leonie sat at the table again.
Nia sent another message: the car had passed a roadside sign for a turnout and a small store farther ahead. The message included a location pin. Leonie forwarded both immediately. She did not ask Nia to type a history of the argument while Cal was driving. A responder acknowledged the update and said assistance was moving toward the road and the public stop. Leonie sent Nia only, I have passed your words and location. Help is coming. If you can reach people, stay where they can see you.
Nia's reply came without a location: He knows I texted you. He says I can call my aunt when we stop, but not someone from the ferry. I said I already asked him to stop. He didn't answer that. Leonie forwarded it.
Inez called. She had heard from Miriam that Cal had been trying to learn where she was. Leonie told Inez the present fact: Nia had asked to leave Cal's car, he refused, and responders had the location. She asked Inez to tell Miriam not to go to any address Cal might name and to remain at a safe public place she chose. Inez repeated the request. Leonie did not ask Miriam to call Cal, send a plea through Inez, or make a private rendezvous in hopes he would change course.
“She wants to know whether Nia has the letters,” Inez said.
“Nia texted that they were in her bag before Cal changed the route. I don't know what she's holding now.”
“She wants to go to the road,” Inez said.
“Please keep her there. Cal may call her to a house. Responders are following Nia's location.”
Inez spoke to someone away from the receiver. “We'll wait here.”
The responder called back with a question about the planned address. Was it a family property? Leonie said Cal had described a small house used by his sister's friend. She did not know whether that was true or whether he had the key. She gave the address from the receipt and said Nia reported they had passed the turn. The responder thanked her and asked her to keep the line open.
Leonie moved to the bench beside the table. Her knees began to shake.
A worker reached for the cold soup. Leonie caught the receipt with the copied address beneath the bowl and moved it into her pocket. The plate was already in her phone and with responders. She looked at it once more.
The phone sounded again. Nia's number. Leonie answered before the second ring. She heard wind, a door chime, and Nia's voice: “I'm at the store. I got out.”
Leonie stood. “Are you inside with someone?”
“Yes. I'm asking the person at the counter to call too.”
Leonie passed the update to responders on the second line and returned to Nia. She did not ask how Cal had finally stopped. Nia had reached a public place. The next minutes would depend on her words there, and on whether the people already moving toward the road arrived before Cal persuaded her back outside.