On the fifth day, Dimitri gave her a phone.
Not her phone — that was apparently somewhere in London and of no use to anyone — but a clean handset, already charged, with a single contact saved in it. He placed it on the desk in her room without explanation and left.
Jane picked it up. Turned it over. The contact was labelled: Maya.
She stared at Maya's name for a long moment, then pressed call.
It rang twice.
"Hello?" Maya's voice, cautious in the way of a person answering an unknown number.
"Maya. It's Jane."
A sound she couldn't quite classify — something between a sob and an exhale. "Jane. Oh my God. Jane, where are you? I've been — we've all been — your parents, the police—"
"I'm okay," Jane said, keeping her voice steady for Maya's sake and hers. "I'm not hurt. I'm — somewhere abroad. I can't tell you where. I'm safe, I promise."
"'Somewhere abroad' — Jane, you went missing on Sunday! It's Thursday! The police have been asking everyone, your mum is—"
"Call my mum after this," Jane said. "Tell her I'm okay. Tell her not to worry. I'll be home soon." She paused. "Is she all right?"
"She's been beside herself. Your dad too. Luke has been very publicly worried as well, which—" Maya stopped.
"Luke," Jane said.
A short silence. "Jane. Luke came to the police and he's been—he seemed genuinely upset. But I did some digging after what I told you the other week, and Jane—he's been seeing that girl for three months. At least. People on the football team knew. Half of campus knew. He's been—"
"I know," Jane said quietly.
"You know?"
"I have photographic evidence." She paused. "It's a long story. Maya—"
"Are you being held against your will?"
A beat. "Technically."
"Jane." Maya's voice had gone very flat with the specific flatness of someone trying very hard not to scream. "What does 'technically' mean?"
"It means the situation is complicated and I'm handling it and I need you not to escalate anything until I understand what's happening. Promise me."
A very long silence. Then: "I hate this."
"I know. Promise me."
"...Fine. I promise. But Jane, the second you can—"
"The second I can, I will. I promise."
After she hung up, Jane sat for a long time with the phone in her hands and thought about the fact that Dimitri had given it to her. Had given her Maya's number. Had given her the means to call for help and had apparently simply — trusted that she wouldn't use it that way.
Or perhaps he'd known she would be careful, because he knew her better by now than he had any right to.
Either way, the gesture was not nothing. She didn't know what it was, exactly, but it was not nothing.
She went to find Irina to ask about dinner, and on the way, she thought about Dimitri Volkov and what it meant to give someone a lifeline and trust them not to use it against you.