In the next two days, Lucy Ansley went about her work and life as usual.
With few friends and her illness troubling her, she had almost no time for socializing.
On Friday evening, just as she entered her home, her phone's secondary SIM card received a text message.
The phone number had no name noted, the last digits, five 8s.
Lucy changed into slippers, looked at the text on the screen, and gave a short reply: "Okay."
The person on the other end seemed unfazed by her perfunctory response and sent another message: "Online tonight?"
Lucy: "Sure."
The other side sent a giggling emoji and didn't say more.
After dinner, Lucy sat in the study, placed Anna in the small basket at the corner of the desk, set up the equipment, then logged into the streaming system on her computer.
Anna was well-behaved; as long as Lucy was within sight, it would quietly keep her company without making any noise.
