Tiona (a sequel to "Vaz") (8 page)

“Yeah,” Marlowe said, sounding depressed. “I don’t know how to help her either. I’ve been bringing in extra food in my bag lunch and offering some of it to her, but she hardly ever takes any. She’s so skinny when I first met her I thought she might be anorexic. Now I’m afraid she just can’t afford to eat.”

Eisner studied Marlowe for a moment, “You sound like you really care about her.”

Marlowe’s shoulders slumped a little, “Yeah. I don’t really understand it. She’s not really my type and she barely notices me, but I find myself thinking about her a lot… and now… worrying about her.”

Eisner gave a little snort, “Well, not only am I a
lousy
social worker, but I hope you realize that a physics professor is probably the last person you want to get relationship advice from?”

Marlowe smiled, though it was brief, then faded. “I’m sure that’s true. I’d
like
to be a physics professor and I’m surely clueless about relationships myself. No, I don’t need advice. I just wanted to make you aware of her situation. Maybe you could cut her a little slack sometime if it seems like she needs it.” He gave a little laugh and a shrug, “Her dad visited her in the lab yesterday. He’s one weird dude.”

Eisner’s eyebrows rose, “Really? I’ve been thinking she must not have a family if she’s got those kinds of financial problems.”

Marlowe shrugged, “I asked him what he does, and he said ‘physics.’ But he says he works for himself and he’s
such
a weird guy I have a feeling he can’t actually hold down a job. He wears the same kind of used-looking, baggy clothes Tiona does.”

They sat there in silence for a moment; then Eisner sighed, “Well, thanks for letting me know. I’m not sure what I can do to help, but just knowing that there’s a problem means that if an opportunity to help comes by, I’ll be able to consider it.”

***

Jimmy Ray saw the skinny blonde chick start up the steps into the shelter. He got up from the wall he’d been sitting on and followed her in. He managed to insert himself into the line a few spots behind her. He couldn’t quite understand why he’d become so obsessed with this girl. She ate at the shelter most week nights, but never slept there. Her clothes were old and didn’t fit very well, but were always clean. Sometimes he thought she might have a job. Not a job that paid very well, but one that paid for a place for her to live. Maybe she just ate at the shelter because she was cheap… or crazy… who could know?

This time he didn’t try to sit next to her. He sat at the next table, on the other side so he could keep an eye on her. He ate quickly so that he’d be done before she left. When she got up, he forced himself to wait a few seconds before he rose from his seat. He dropped off his tray, one person behind her, and went out the door about fifteen feet back.

She turned north so Jimmy Ray started that way himself. For a moment he thought about how he’d sworn he wouldn’t do this again. But putting these bitches in their place made him feel
alive
. She had her nose up in the air like a lot of other women who wouldn’t talk to Jimmy Ray.

They thought they were too good for him. He loved the moment they figured out that they might think they were too good for him, but they couldn’t get
away
from him.

Pacing along about twenty feet behind her he started thinking about the moment she would realize someone was following her. She’d get scared and after a bit she’d start to run.

But Jimmy Ray could run too. He might not look like it, but he could run and run and run. He wasn’t much of a sprinter, but he’d been on the cross country team for a while when he’d been in high school. These women would run on ahead for a bit; then he’d catch back up. They’d panic and gain a little on him, but he’d be patient and soon enough he’d be right behind them again. Sometimes, he’d slow to let them have a little false hope. He’d even let a few of them get away completely.

Not this one though.
She’d
disrespected him too many times now.

Ah, there it was.
She’d just looked back over her shoulder.

Sure enough, she sped up a little. Grinning to himself, he let her gain a little. When she looked back again she’d feel relieved.

He saw her glance back. As expected, when she saw that she’d gained on him, she slowed a little.
Now
he
started walking faster. Last week someone had brought a bunch of shoes down to the shelter and Jimmy Ray had scored these nice runners. It was like the gods
wanted
him to do another girl. The shoes didn’t even make any noise as he started to gain on the girl. The girl reached the bottom of the little valley and started up the other side. Jimmy Ray started to wonder if she was ever going to look back and realize that he was right behind her now.

He didn’t want to catch her already. The chase was half the fun. Running them down until they were exhausted.
Like a wolf,
he thought to himself.
I’m the big bad Wolf.

He brought his feet down just a tiny bit harder so that they made noise.

Sure enough she glanced back over her shoulder. Looked startled. Sped up again.

Jimmy Ray sped up to match her.

She glanced back again and saw him right behind her. She started to jog.

Jimmy Ray stepped up his pace, thinking,
This is more like it!

They were going uphill and moving fast enough that Jimmy Ray was starting to pant. He knew she’d be starting to worry now.

Suddenly, she cut across the Boulevard to the east and down a neighborhood street.
Crazy bitch. Shoulda stayed out there on the main street where there are more people!

The girl sped up again. So did Jimmy Ray. Most of the women he’d chased down had been pretty panicked by this point, glancing wild eyed back over their shoulders. Speeding up and slowing down as panic and exhaustion warred inside their bodies. This girl regularly glanced back, but kept a steady pace. She turned right at the corner.

Jimmy Ray picked up his stride, wondering if she’d try to scream for help. Most of them didn’t try to yell until they were so short of breath they couldn’t even squawk. He’d started to close on her, but when she glanced back she simply picked up her speed and pulled back away.
Damn! This girl can actually run!

But she ain’t gonna be able to keep it up.

The girl turned right again which put her going back west.
Maybe she’s trying to get back to the Boulevard?
Jimmy Ray picked up his pace again. He didn’t want her to get back to a big street.

To his amazement, though he started to catch up, she immediately picked up her pace and pulled away. His breathing came hard and his legs started to ache and tingle.
Is this bitch actually gonna be able to outrun me?!

She turned left just before she reached the main Boulevard. She started running through a parking lot and away from the Boulevard. Jimmy thought,
Oh, that was a screw-up! That main street would have been safer than an empty parking lot.

Jimmy Ray sped up a little more. All the women he’d done this to in the past had eventually given up in exhaustion, but he was thinking he might have to tackle this one. She ran along the side of a big concrete building, and then turned around its corner.

Jimmy Ray lunged after her.

She seemed to feel him coming. As he stretched for her collar it danced out of reach. He lunged again.

She stopped suddenly and leaned her back up against a big glass window.

Ah,
Jimmy Ray thought as he plunged past her and heaved to a stop,
she’s
finally
blown out.
He stepped back and grabbed a handful of the front of her shirt. With some surprise he noticed that there were lights on in the building behind her.
Probably the cleaning crew, this hour of the evening.
He also suddenly noticed that she had on an AI headset. She hadn’t had on an AI when she’d been eating dinner in the shelter!
Uppity bitch! If she can afford one of those, she shouldn’t be eating at the shelter!

He snatched the headset off and tossed it into the bushes behind him. He’d have to find her AI and destroy it with whatever record it had been making of this chase. But, first he had to get her away from the front of this window; there were people moving around inside.
Good thing she’s too short of breath to scream.

As Jimmy leaned to his left, getting ready to drag the girl away, she put her hand up towards him. He thought she was reaching up to fend him off, but then he saw a small canister in her fingers.

It sprayed something into his eyes.

Agony shot through Jimmy Ray. He leaned back, sucking in a breath to yell at her. This sucked the pepper spray down into his lungs as well.

As if his eyes, throat, and lungs didn’t hurt enough, the bitch’s knee shot up between his thighs and crashed into his crotch.

Seconds later, as Jimmy Ray crouched on his hands and knees in agony, he heard cops.
How the hell did
they
get here so fast?

The cops asked what had happened and the girl told them how Jimmy Ray had chased her, offering the record from her AI as confirmation. They pulled him to his feet and dragged him inside the very building the girl had been leaning on.

Through bleary-teary eyes, Jimmy Ray realized that the bitch had run a loop that had taken them around and brought them right up to the police station. It was like she’d been toying with him! She’d been leaning against the station’s windows when she’d attacked him!
Isn’t there some kind of law against this? Entrapment or something?

Mary Stone sat staring at the young woman with some bemusement. Short blonde hair and a cute face. She might have a nice body though it was hard to tell in the oversized clothing she wore. Certainly no one could accuse her of teasing or enticing men by the way she dressed.

Mary had watched the video record from the woman’s AI in awe. The guy had chased her down the long hill from Rosemary Street and then back up the other side, running faster all the time. She’d led him out through a neighborhood then looped back around, through the parking lot out front and wound up against the front windows of the police station. All without ever seeming to get panicked. The video from her AI showed her glancing back over her shoulder at regular intervals, then running faster if needed to keep the man from catching her. Her breathing and footfalls were steady in the audio record, not at all the panicked gasping that you might expect from a slender young woman being pursued by a large man.

“Ms.…” Mary looked down at a screen, “Gettnor?”

The young woman nodded.

“So, do you know Mr. McAllister?” She clarified, “Jimmy Ray McAllister?”

Gettnor shook her head. “I assume you mean the man who chased and attacked me. No, I don’t know his name. However I
have
seen him at the homeless shelter quite a few times.”

Mary blinked. Despite the worn, poorly-fitting clothing the young woman’s speech did not strike her as typical for the homeless people she had known. “Do you work at the homeless shelter?”

Gettnor shook her head.

Mary glanced back down at her screen then back up at Gettnor. “Are
you
homeless?”

Again, Gettnor merely shook her head.

Mary tilted her head curiously, “Then how did you come to be seeing him at the homeless shelter?”

“I eat dinner there a lot of nights. You don’t have to be homeless to eat at the shelter. Mr. McAllister, if that’s his name, has approached me quite a few times. He sits down next to me while I’m eating dinner.”

“What do you two talk about?”

“We don’t talk. I get up and leave.”

“And tonight? Did he sit next to you tonight?”

“No, he sat at the next table.”

“But he left at the same time as you did?”

Gettnor shrugged, “He didn’t get up when I did, but he must have gotten up and left soon after that.”

“And you think that because?”

“Because he wasn’t far behind me as I walked down the hill.” Gettnor said this as if stating the obvious.

“Okay. So then you ran.”

Gettnor nodded, “He’s a big guy.”

“You didn’t yell or scream?”

“You’ve seen the record right?”

“Okay, yes, I know you didn’t yell or scream. Why not?”

She shrugged, “Nobody around to hear it.”

“So then you crossed the street just north of the police station, led him on a loop through a neighborhood, back around to Martin Luther King Boulevard again; then doubled back through our parking lot and to the police station?”

Gettnor merely nodded.

“Why didn’t you just run straight to the police station instead of taking the big loop?”

“He’d have seen where I was going.”

“So? He would’ve stopped chasing you and you would’ve been safe.”