Rosalie closed the car door and dialed Mary’s number.

It took a while for the call to get through.

“Rosalie? Aren’t you out camping? What’s up?”

Rosalie could hear the noise from the other end of the call. “What are you doing?”

Mary sounded distressed. “I’m in hell. I have to work overtime again.”

As she spoke, the noise at the other end became louder again.

Before Rosalie could say anything, Mary said, “I have to go now. I’ll call you back later.”

Then, Mary hung up the call.

Looking at the dark phone screen, Rosalie felt disappointment rising, but she did not redial Mary’s number.

After a moment’s hesitation, Rosalie tried dialing Leon’s number.

Leon picked up the call soon after it went through, but he was not in the city and could do nothing.

Rosalie said nothing when Leon asked her what had happened out of concern. She brushed him off and hung up the call.

She did not have time to explain and did not want to cause them so much trouble.

Her only two friends were busy a