“What?” Nicole asked.
“Tell the guy he may be right, I may have sent the address out to whoever this is. I can’t believe it.”
“Can’t believe what?”
“Remember the forms I had you sign when we first started taking the pictures and videos and the copies I made of your driver’s license and birth certificate?”
“Yeah?”
“A few weeks ago I got an email request to provide that info to someone that checks up on stuff like that, an investigator of sorts.”
“You didn’t give them my name and address, did you?”
“No, I gave them my address so he could come and inspect the paperwork. Only no one has ever showed up. They say to keep that paperwork for up to seven years though, so I just figured . . . God dammit!”
“Do you still have the email?”
“Yeah, it’s sitting in the Nikki account I made.”
“You should give it to the police and find out if it was legit. If not maybe they could use it to track down the person who sent it to you.”
“Yeah,” he said, his mind barely even acknowledging what she had said, its focus having shifted to that panic-stricken moment in the library when he had first opened the email from the investigator. The panic hadn’t been due to his fear that he had done something wrong. Instead, it was just the typical panic everyone gets when confronted with a law enforcement official who is looking into something, panic that makes one hope to God that they doted every ‘I’ and crossed every ‘T’.
“You still there?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah, my mind is just all over the place now.”
“Hey, you still don’t know whether or not that email is legit. This could still be something else.”
“Maybe.” Given the timing and the lack of any other explanation, he was almost positive this was the answer. He also felt foolish for falling for it, yet at the same time knew he didn’t really have a choice. Not providing the information when requested could mean jail time. All over the web one could read stories about amateur porn creators who hadn’t had the proper paperwork filled out when the government came calling and suffered serious consequences for it.
“Well, I guess you’ll know soon enough. At least you now have a path to explore, right?”
“Yeah.” It was all he could manage.
5
“No!” Kimberly snapped, anger rising. “I don’t care if you came out here, we’re through. You should have called before making the trip.”
“But that’s not fair,” Kyle whined. “You never even gave me a chance to apologize that night, and you stopped answering your phone when I called.”
“Something I should have continued doing.”
“But – “
“Bye Kyle. Stop calling and leave me alone. I have enough to worry about right now without you stressing me out too.” With that she disconnected the call, her mind scolding herself for answering it in the first place.
She looked over at Bill. Had he not still been on the phone when Kyle had called she would have ignored it, but given the wait and her need to do something while sitting there, she had answered it.
And he’s still talking!
The original purpose of the call had been to locate the Computer Science area, a location they could have probably walked to by now had he simply gotten the info on where it was right away. It wasn’t just a simple chitchat conversation, however, not if the look on Bill’s face was any indication. Something important was being discussed; something that could possibly shed light on what was happening. A discussion that you should be a part of.
Though true, she stamped out the frustration that began to grow because she knew that the conversation hadn’t been planned. If it had, she would have been a part of it. The three (or four?) would have sat down and talked things over and come up with a plan on how to deal with the unfolding scenario.
BUZZ!
She looked down at her phone, her eyes not needing to see the name Kyle to know the message was from him.
WE’LL TALK WHEN YOU GET HOME. IF YOU’RE HUNGRY WE CAN GET SOMETHING TO EAT.
Anger returned.
She typed, I JUST HAD BREAKFAST WITH A NICE YOUNG MAN. GO HOME. I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU EVER AGAIN.
Once sent she stared at the phone waiting for a reply, but none arrived. Unfortunately, she didn’t know what to make of the silence. If luck was on her side he would have read the message as ‘I have a new boyfriend, thus there is no chance for us to get together again’ and would leave. If not, he would have read it as ‘I’m not interested in getting anything to eat since I just ate, but will gladly talk to you when I get back.’
You know how he thinks, she warned herself. He will be waiting when you get back. He might even get –
“I don’t think we need to bother with visiting the computer area,” Bill said.
“What? How come?” she asked, staring up at him, his statement catching her off guard. She was startled by how distraught he looked.
He shook his head. “I fucked up.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll tell you in the car. Oh, unless you still want to walk around and get familiar with the place.”
“Um . . .” she looked toward the main building and then scanned a couple others in the surrounding area “ . . . no, I’ll come by later. Tell me what you think you did.”
Bill told her, frustration clinging to every word that left his lips while driving.
At Peace Road, after turning off from Barber Green, she said, “I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself for that. Sounds like you could have gotten in a lot of trouble if it was legit and you didn’t respond.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” he said.
Kimberly looked out at the farm fields for a moment, their crops stretching beyond the curve of the horizon, and then asked, “Wait a sec, if you sent them the address why would they still be tormenting me, and why wouldn’t they have realized you were the one behind the blog?”
“I just put the house address down since most places don’t recognize my address,” he admitted. “I didn’t want them thinking I was fucking with them. And my name wasn’t on it, just the title of Record Keeping since that’s what most of these sites always say. You hadn’t moved in at the time and I figured anyone who came by would get the idea once they looked around.”
“Well they got the idea all right. They got the idea that since I was living at the address you gave them I must be the one that fucked with them. Thanks.” She knew her anger wasn’t necessary, he hadn’t purposely done this to her, but couldn’t help it.
Bill didn’t reply.
Silence stuck with them as they made the turn from Peace Road onto Prairie Street.
BEEP!
Kyle Cell
“Shit!” she snapped.
“What is it?”
“My ex-boyfriend. He won’t leave me alone. I think he’s waiting at the house for me to get back too which is something I just don’t want to deal with.”
“Oh, that sucks.” Then, after a few seconds he laughed and said, “What’s he going to think when he sees us together?”
“I have no idea. I gave up trying to figure out his thought process several months ago.”
“That’s comforting.”
“Well, maybe he got the message and left.”
“You don’t think that at all.”
You’re right, I don’t.
“Is that him?” Bill asked as they turned onto South Street.
It was, sitting on her front steps, staring at his phone. Even worse, he had parked in the driveway making it impossible for Bill to pull in.
Or me to pull out.
Chances were he hadn’t intended for this to be the case. He just never was the type to think about how his actions would inconvenience the people around him.
“I’m going to pull around and park on the street,” Bill said.
“Okay.”
The roundabout maneuver didn’t take
long and soon he was easing the car to a stop alongside the curb, the house on their right.
Seeing this, Kyle came off the steps and walked into the yard, eyes studying them.
“I told you I didn’t want you here when I got back!” Kimberly shouted. Though forceful, her words were offset by a misstep on the curve that sent her to her knees in the grass, right forearm breaking her fall.
“You okay?” Bill asked while stepping around and helping her back up.
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
“Kim, I just want to talk,” Kyle said. “We can work through – “
“I don’t think she wants to talk to you,” Bill said before Kimberly could reply, his body positioning itself between the two of them.
“And who might you be?” Kyle asked.
“I might be Bill, and I might live upstairs, and, if you don’t leave right now, I might be the one that calls the police.”
“I see. And I might be the guy that tells you to fuck off.” He motioned to Kimberly. “Come on, let’s go talk. I promise, if you still don’t want to have anything to do with me once we finish I’ll leave.”
“I don’t want anything to do with you period, so let’s cut out the middle part,” Kimberly said. With that she walked around Bill and started toward the driveway, keys in hand.
“Kimberly, don’t be like – “
“Get your hand off me!” Kimberly shouted as his fingers closed around her upper arm, her body instinctively twisting away from him.
“Hey!” Bill snapped and stepped forward.
A sudden look of horror came over Kyle and he stepped back.
Kimberly looked at Bill, but couldn’t see what it was that had caused Kyle to go so pale. When she looked back, however, anger was present, as was a fading look of shame. Things were about to get ugly.
“Bill,” she said quickly. “Why don’t you go in and call the police because I don’t think he’s going to leave.”
“I’d rather do it right here,” Bill said and pulled out his phone. It was the wrong thing to do.
Kyle sprang forward in what appeared to be an attempt to grab Bill’s phone, an act that was most likely instinctive rather than fully thought out. Instead of grabbing the phone, however, he missed and hit Bill in the face. It wasn’t a punch or even really a slap, more of a forceful finger poke, but even so, it was enough for Bill to react with his own punch, one that landed right below Kyle’s left eye.
“Motherfucker,” Kyle shouted.
With that the fight was on, the display easily one of the most pathetic things Kimberly had ever seen. No skill was displayed in the blows that were exchanged, each one hurting the thrower as much as the receiver, and soon the two were rolling on the ground, their bodies taking on the image of two kids wrestling over a ball.
“Stop it,” Kimberly cried. She thought about kicking them, her mind not caring who she hit, but then held back as Bill suddenly got the upper hand and twisted himself around so he was on top of Kyle, a knee in his lower back and a hand holding his head face down in the grass.
Several deep breaths followed, then, “Unless you want to spend a night in jail I suggest you leave right now.” Another deep breath, and then an unintelligible muffled reply from Kyle. “You should also get it through your dumb little head that Kimberly doesn’t want anything to do with you anymore, so just relish what you had if you can and move on.”
Bill eased up on his head.
“Fuck you!” Kyle shouted once his mouth was away from the ground.
Bill pushed the face back down and glanced at Kimberly, a look of hopelessness appearing amid the redness and heavy breathing.
Kyle began to squirm.
Bill eased up again and then pushed himself off Kyle and onto his feet.
Kyle, face and body covered in grass stains, struggled to stand, the words, “We’re through,” echoing from his lips.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kimberly asked.
“Yeah,” he said while wiping away tears that had appeared beneath his eyes. “I mean, no, we’re finished!”
“You are something else, you know that.” That’s all she could think to say, her mind completely blown away by his thinking.
“And you better watch your back,” Kyle shouted at Bill, a pointed finger jerking toward him as if he were trying to puncture the air with it. “Because I’ll be gunning for you.”
Bill didn’t reply.
Several seconds drifted away and for a moment Kimberly was worried a second fight would ensue. Kyle then turned and walked toward his car.
Thank god – her mind started.
Kyle then turned back and said, “I dropped my keys.”
Bill looked down for several seconds, eyes glancing up a few times to make sure it wasn’t some sort of ploy, and then found them sitting about a foot from the sidewalk.
Kyle didn’t make any moves toward them during this, a look of embarrassment growing more and more pronounced.
“Here,” Bill said and tossed the keys toward him. They went nowhere near Kyle, who still made a pathetic attempt to grab them, and landed on the driveway.
Once secure, Kyle went to his car, opened the door, and then looked back at the two of them. Thankfully, nothing else was said. He then got in, slammed the door and started the engine.
“Are you okay?” Bill asked.
She sighed, nodded, and said, “I’m going inside. Thanks for breakfast and helping with Kyle and . . .” she let that fade. “I need to be alone for a while.”
Bill nodded. “I’m just going to put my car back, then. If you need anything, well . . . you know.”
Kimberly didn’t reply and then headed inside, her mind too distraught by everything to do anything but sit and watch TV. There she stayed until it was time to get ready for work, a shift she did not look forward to being a part of.
6
The Ollie’s Frozen Custard stand in Sycamore was crowded, the line stretching all the way to the backside of the building. This wasn’t unusual, though, at least not during the visits Mark had made in the past. What was unusual, at least for him, was sitting around and watching the line rather than getting in it right away.
What if she doesn’t show?
What if you wait here for an hour or two like a fool?
The fact that she had contacted him, and had suggested this as a good meeting place, did offset the fear of the two questions a bit, but not enough for him to relax. Nothing but having her arrive, walk up to him and introduce herself would. Too many bad experiences made this need inevitable; too many times of waiting at a Borders, or Barnes and Noble, or a bar, or the NIU Library, or Starbucks, or Caribou Coffee without the interested girl showing up.
They all always show interest and then –
A car pulled into the lot, a young looking female in the driver seat.
Heart racing and breath held, Mark watched as the girl found a parking spot and got out of the car. His hope then faded as she went right to the end of the line without looking for him.
It’s okay, he said to himself, chest tight with anxiety. Two minutes late is not a big deal.
Unfortunately, given his past, and the fact that he had arrived fifteen minutes early – just in case she was early too – it felt like she was later than she actually was. Two minutes was nothing. A stoplight or two could cause it, especially coming down Route 23.
Another car pulled in, but two people were within, so he doubted it was her.
Unless she brought a friend as backup just to make sure you aren’t –
His phone buzzed.
He looked at it and saw the message was from her.
SORRY. RUNNING A BIT LATE. SHOULD BE THERE IN TEN MINUTES.
Relief flowed through him. Fear that he would leave had most likely fueled the message, which meant she was serious. She wanted to see him and was anxious about accidentally making a bad impression.
OKAY. NO PROBLEM. I’M HERE AND AM SITTING NEAR ONE OF THE SMALL SHADE TREES BY THE FRONT. ALL T
HE TABLES WERE FULL. SEE YOU SOON.
He considered adding a smiley face, but then realized she had not sent any to him which could be a sign that she was disgusted by how frequently things like that were passed back and forth, and simply sent the message as it was.
A few minutes later, he signed online with his phone and started browsing things, just to pass the time. He checked his email while doing this to see if Kimberly had said anything, but no new messages from her had arrived. From there he looked at his OK Cupid profile and saw a message from Nikki, one that claimed excitement about seeing him that evening.
I can’t believe I fell for this shit, he told himself. Girls just don’t talk like this when they’re real.
Actually, he was sure some did, but not the ones who contacted him. Those always seemed to be fake. Focusing on this and his frustration for falling for it so many times did not follow, not when he caught sight of a car making a right turn from Route 23 and slowing to make the right into the Ollie’s parking lot. A female in sunglasses was behind the wheel. She was the only person in the car from what he could see, and somehow he just knew in his gut that it was her. Seeing her quickly check her face in her mirror while still in the car added confirmation to his theory because it didn’t seem like something a girl would do before heading over to wait in line for ten to twenty minutes, at least not when they were alone. Nope. It was her.
He returned his phone to his pocket and waited.
She stepped out of the car and turned toward his area rather than toward the line, scanned it, and then seemed to focus in on him.
He acknowledged her glance with a smile and stood up, the latter action probably being the only thing she could see from that distance.
“Amy?” he asked once she was within speaking distance, a smile still on his face.
“Yes,” she said, shyness present. “Um, Mark?”
“Yes,” Mark replied. He held out his arms for a quick, ‘nice to meet you’ hug, which she accepted, bodies lightly touching, and then motioned toward the line. “Shall we?”
“Okay.”
With that, they headed toward the end of the line, a nervous silence settling between them.
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