The Shadow Watcher

  CHAPTER 2

  09/20/2006

  Not-So Normal

  Either the light coming in from the balcony door, or Artemis scratching around in the litter box, woke me not long after dawn. I was glad either way, ready to be done with all of the running in my dream. I always felt exhausted after that one; it recurred at least once a month for as long as I can remember, but usually it stopped with the running. I’d never made it through the archway before.

  I got up and went to rummage around in the bathroom. Since it was so early, I took my time as I went through the mundane routines of brushing my teeth and taking a shower. I let the conditioner sit in my hair for an extra five minutes or so, and let the hot water pelt into my back, before reducing it to lukewarm and rinsing.

  Bailey and I had a breakfast date, so I put on a low cut sweater and the princess cut diamond earrings he gave me for our six month anniversary. I brushed on some mascara, put my hair in a twist with a clippy thing and decided I was good to go.

  It was still too early to meet Bailey, so I popped a can of Pepsi, relishing in my first gulp of the day. It’s not healthy, but I can’t help it - screw the dental bills. I took another swig as I walked over to my desk and started up the computer, then opened my working email to see if I had any assignments yet for the day. Several of my clients - webmasters needing writers to fill their sites with content - recently placed rather large orders, which I fulfilled gratefully and in a timely manner. From the looks of my email, I would have a slow week ahead, as I anticipated.

  Kneeling down to give Artemis a good scratch down the back once more, I whispered, “I’ll see you a little later, Puss.” She purred, and rubbed her head on my knee, then trotted off. I headed out, locking the door behind me.

  ***

  When I turned the corner to get to the bakery, I was so lost in thought, I walked right into Bailey. He laughed and threw his arms around my waist to steady my balance. “Morning, Babe,” he greeted me, and then kissed me deeply, temporarily pushing the dark stranger from my thoughts.

  “Wow, uh, good morning.” I managed to sputter out, after I’d reclaimed my tongue. “It is now at least,” I smiled up at him.

  It would be physically impossible for me to tire of looking at this man; tall, clear blue eyes, thick dark blonde hair, and a smile that could light up silver screens around the world as far as I was concerned. He was mine, and I liked it that way.

  “You seem especially happy this morning,” I observed as we made our way to a booth. “What’s up?”

  The corners of his lips twitched, barely able to contain their secret. “You know that project I pitched to Discovery last month?”

  “You mean the one about the South American tribal legends?”

  He nodded in response, and his grin told the story.

  “Ohmygodtheydid?!” I blurted in one word.

  “Yes, ohmygodtheydid!” He laughed, reaching across the table to run his finger down my nose. “Head writer and producer credit, I may even do the narration.”

  “Oh, Bailey, I’m so excited for you!” Then I remembered it meant he would be leaving for Central America, for an extended period of time. “How long will you have to be gone?”

  “At least two months, maybe as long as six,” he said softly.

  I looked down at the menu, and muttered, “That’s a long time to be away.”

  He reached across the table again, this time lifting my chin with the same finger. He surprised me by asking, “Come with me?”

  The room began to spin, and my “fight or flight” instinct kicked in. “Bailey, I…” I could not form a coherent thought.

  He put his finger to my lips. “No. Don’t say anything yet.” He must have seen the panic in my eyes. “We won’t be leaving until January or February. You’d have time to wrap things up here. Your mom says your passport is still current, and that Artemis can stay with her while we’re gone. I can cover the lease on your place until we get back.” Then he flashed a weird little smile. “Or you could let it go, and just move in with me when we get back.”

  Whoa, this is too much for me before breakfast. “Bailey, I, uh, wow, um…”

  He put a finger to my lips. “Don’t say anything now, just think. We’ll talk about it in a few days, okay?”

  “Okay.” No, not okay. His documentary would take him to South America for as long as six months, and I was not ready to pick up my life and go with him. I wasn’t ready for moving in together either, and didn’t foresee myself being ready to do so when he returned. But that was best saved for a private discussion.

  We ordered breakfast and ate, discussing some of the details of his project. I felt no need to mention my strange encounter the night before, Bailey never knew anything about my previous stalking experiences. I guess I felt if he knew, he might think I was crazy like everyone else said I was.

  As we finished, we made plans to meet at The Keg and walk back to his place together when my shift ended.

  ***

  I took my laptop to the park, and spent the rest of the morning working from a picnic table. Moving my office outside at my leisure was my favorite perk to the job, and the people-watching opportunities it afforded were priceless for character development. Working independently can get lonely though, which is why I kept up a shift or two a week at The Keg, to have some contact with other human beings.

  While most normal, sane women would swoon at Bailey’s invitation, I was taken aback. Do I seem like the type of woman looking for a man to take care of her? I generally considered myself independent, and we’d never discussed co-habitation, so why Bailey would think I wanted to pack up my life and move in with him, was beyond me.

  After five years I could never have back orbited around Jeff so completely, I was still in no hurry to make another man the center of my world again. No matter how incredibly hot he was.

  The tree I was staring at was dangerously close to catching fire from the intensity of my gaze, and rather than burn the park down, I turned my eyes back to the screen before me to write. It was hard to focus on the assignment, given that it was another mundane batch of one hundred and fifty word descriptions of dog beds. Only four of the twenty pieces remained, and I was determined to push through them before my shift.

  As I typed, a faint prickling beneath my skin began, spreading from my wrists and up my arms. When the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I knew again I was being watched. It was the man in the trench coat; I could feel it.

  I tried to look around nonchalantly, and thought I caught a glimpse of dark fabric swirl around a tree not far off. I thought my imagination might be playing tricks on me, but he told me he was “with me always,” and something about him made my gut say he was telling the truth.

  Not really knowing what to do, I turned my eyes back to my laptop and kept on writing. I figured if he was going to show himself to me again, he would when he was good and ready. Then it occurred to me that maybe I should be ready, just in case. So far he had not done anything to suggest nefarious intentions, though the whole stalking thing is usually not a good sign. I made a mental note to see if my can of pepper spray was still in the junk drawer, and brush up on some self-defense techniques at the very least.

  Little, nagging questions buzzed around in my mind while I tried to continue working. Who is he? Why is he following me? Why does he seem so familiar? How does he know me? The questions kept coming, but no answers followed.

  ***

  I got a text from Bailey around 7:30 that read, “Sry Babe, just leaving office, exhausted. My place? Use UR key and wake me ;)”

  “thinking about it,” I typed in response. I was seriously considering not going, since he was blowing me off again. It seemed like we spent no time out in public anymore.

  Wednesday night’s crowd was pretty light most weeks, and this one was no exception. Raeanne, the owner, occupied her usual stool at the end of the bar all night, greeting each of the handful of patrons as they wandered in a
nd out, and by ten-forty there were only two regulars left, Mitch and Joe, along with Raeanne’s boyfriend, Plumber Pete. He ran a tire shop by trade; I don’t want to know why she gave him that pet name.

  “Sammy girl.” I cringed as she got up to come around the bar. I hated when she called me that. “Why don’t you take the rest of the night off and go see your beau? I can close up after these louses,” she winked as she jerked her thumb toward the three men.

  “Who you calling a louse?” Mitch jeered back at her playfully.

  “Ah,” Raeanne just waved her hand back at him. “Really, go on,” she grabbed a rag from the sanitizer bucket, and started wiping down the bar. “Get outta here.”

  “If you say so boss.” She didn’t have to tell me twice. I waved to the men, “See you gentlemen later.”

  Off I was again, fearlessly trekking the back streets of Novica. Bailey’s place was two blocks off the other side of Citrus from mine, but I had to stop by my place to feed Artemis on the way.

  As I crossed First Street, I caught a glimpse of a man in a trench coat wearing sunglasses as he disappeared in the opposite direction on the other side of the building. Chills went up my spine, and I picked up my already brisk pace.

  At home, I made a quick chore of filling my cat’s food and water dishes, and scooping her litter box. Then I gave her a good belly rub, and kissed her on the head before locking her in for the night.

  Across Citrus, I took the shortcut through the alley behind Comics & Collectibles, and as I moved deeper into the shadows, my radar went off again. I stopped and called out, “I know you’re there.” I heard some rustling behind me and looked back down the way I had come. An orange tom cat jumped out of an open dumpster, hissed at me and took off for the street.

  This time I was expecting him when I turned around.

  “What do you want from me?” I demanded.

  "What do you want for yourself?" He wasn’t giving anything away.

  "To reach my destination," as I said it, I knew it was a lie. I would much rather be at home.

  "You know as well as I do there is nothing for you there."

  There was nothing malevolent about him, I decided. “How do you know so much about me when I know nothing about you?”

  He shrugged, and started walking past me toward the street. “It’s my job to know everything about you.”

  I started after him, shouting, “Wait! Who are you?” I reached the corner two Mississippi’s after he did, but when I looked, he’d vanished.

  CHAPTER 3

  09/21/2006

  An Unwelcome Encounter

  I never mentioned the strange encounter to Bailey; in the morning I left after he made me breakfast without breathing one word.

  A typical Thursday morning and afternoon went by uneventfully; I spent a few hours working on orders for clients and did a little house cleaning. In the evening I ran a few errands, and then went by the bookstore to pick up my book as promised. As usual, Mr. Zhou had to kick me out at closing time.

  About halfway home, I knelt down to tie my shoe, and glimpsed a shadow of movement behind me, out of the corner of my eye. Straightening as I turned, I saw a figure moving confidently down the alley toward me. At first I thought it was the man in the trench coat, but then a flashlight flicked on, aimed for my eyes, blinding me.

  “Police,” he identified himself. “What are you doing back here at this hour?”

  I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. “I’m just on my way home officer.” As an afterthought I asked, “May I see your badge please?” I smiled sweetly.

  Bad idea.

  He clicked off the flashlight and stepped forward, reaching into his coat for what I assumed was his badge, but instead he withdrew a gun, which he pointed in my face. “Make one sound, bitch, and I’ll blow your head off.”

  I swallowed and nodded. Oh shit!

  “Turn around, and keep walking,” he commanded, and I obeyed. I felt the barrel of the gun press up against my back. “I’m gonna follow you the rest of the way home, and then you’re gonna show me a real good time.” I could hear his grotesque lust oozing from his laughter. He jabbed the gun hard into my back, “Come on, move faster. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

  I obeyed; there wasn’t much choice just then. There was still another block and a half to think. I kept walking.

  He moved up next to me, and put his left arm around my shoulders, holding the gun at my side. “Don’t think for a minute you’ve got any way out. Try anything, and I’ll blow off your head and run.” He mumbled something incoherent to himself, then said, “Doesn’t really matter to me if they get what they want, I just took the job ‘cause they said I can have some fun in the process.”

  The guy was clearly unstable, which made me wonder if he might not just pull the trigger whether I did what he said or not, or even just accidentally. “Show me what a good girl you are when we get home, then I promise you’ll make it to see Christmas,” he hissed.

  Okay, I know I haven’t been to church in a while, but please Lord, if you can hear me.…

  As we approached the next dumpster, a dark streak darted out from behind it, crashing into the gunman and freeing me from his grasp. I started running for the corner, but stopped when I heard a thud of bodies hitting the ground. I turned to see the man in the trench coat had tackled the gunman to the ground, and was strangling him.

  What the hell do I do? I started to fish my cell phone out of my purse.

  “Wait,” he said. “There’s no need now.” He took something from the man’s pants pocket, put it back, then stood and picked up the man like a rag doll. “Now I know where to find him, if the police don’t.” He hurled his burden into the nearest dumpster, along with the rest of the trash. “Call them once you get home, but leave me out of it.”

  “What do I tell them? They won’t believe I fought him off.”

  He shrugged, and gave me a smirk, “I’m sure you can come up with something that will be convincing enough.”

  I raised my right eyebrow, “And the cops are just going to believe that I overpowered a man with a gun?”

  “Hmm,” he smiled, holding back laughter. “I have every confidence that if anyone can sell it, you can, Sam.”

  I was still doubtful. “I thought you were going to kill him.”

  “I might have … but it’s less complicated this way. Death is always complicated,” he mused eerily, gazing up at the sky above. “Once a life has been taken, it can’t be given back.”

  I felt uneasy, but lingered because I knew there were things he wasn’t telling me, things that I needed to know. I cleared my throat, and said, “I suppose that’s true.”

  He turned to stare at me. It was awkward for a moment, then he laughed, and said, “I knew you were naïve, but I never …” He laughed harder.

  “Who are you?” I asked him for the third time.

  He smiled again, and then everything went black as I went crashing to the ground in a faint. Even in my unconscious state, I felt him scoop me up into his arms. He started walking, and he mumbled, “Sometimes I wonder if you aren’t more trouble than you’re worth, always making things harder than they need to be.”

  ***

  The clock on my DVD player read 12:28 a.m. when I awoke and found myself on my couch. My shoes were off, I was covered with a blanket, and I was alone except for Artemis, who was curled up on top of my head. I saw my cell phone on the coffee table next to me, and when I picked it up I saw the police department phone number already punched in, all I had to do was press send.

  “Novica Police Department, how may I direct your call?” She sounded far too pleasant to be working at this hour.

  My head hurt, probably from hitting the pavement, “I need to report a crime, uh, I guess.”

  There was a gasp at the other end of the line, “Is it in progress?”

  “No, not anymore,” I assured her.

  “Are you in danger?”

 
“Not at the moment, no,” I was fairly confident in that statement.

  “What’s your name, Hon?”

  “Samantha Marquet.”

  “And your phone number in case we get disconnected?” I recited my home and cell phone numbers. “And address?”

  “I’m in the studios next to the theatre; one Citrus.”

  “Okay, got it. Now what is the nature of the crime?”

  “Impersonating a police officer, attempted kidnapping or maybe some combination of that and some other things? I’m not sure how you would classify it, exactly,” I stopped myself when I realized I was babbling.

  “Don’t worry, Hon, we’ll let the detectives figure that out, they’ll have to come and get a description.”

  “Well I can give it, but you’ll find him in the dumpster in the alley a block south of the bookstore.”

  There was a pause. “Excuse me?”

  “I left him in the dumpster, knocked him over the head.” I stopped, because I remembered that I needed to come up with how I got him in there. “I’m sorry, but can I finish this when the detectives arrive? I’m feeling a bit woozy.”

  “Sure thing, Hon, I’ll get a couple of officers out there right away. But first, I’m going to send someone out to this dumpster.”

  Pacing around for another ten minutes, I tried to come up with a story they would believe before the knock came at my door. When I opened it, my jitters subsided slightly at the sight of Detective Ramirez, an old friend, standing on the other side. I didn’t know his partner.

  “Tim, it’s been too long!” We were part of the same circle of kids that went from elementary through high school together, but drifted apart after that last summer, before we all went off to college or work. Tim was one of the few I made a point of staying in contact with, but aside from bumping into him around town, we didn’t see each other much anymore.

  “Geez, Sam, if you wanted to get together, we could’ve gone out for coffee. You look like hell.” He put his arms around me and gave me a big squeeze. “You okay?”