Maybe the wolf was hunting?
But I wasn’t a helpless little girl.I had teeth, too.
4
Ringo
You’d think I’d be used to being ignored by now.I cultivated the art of not being spotted, yet Ellie and the older bartender were hyper-aware.I’d managed to slip past their radar the entire night until I made the mistake of eavesdropping on their conversation once it moved from the bar to the back.
The booth was built for secrets.High walls, shadowy lighting, the cover of a speaker mounted just off center from the high half wall and the bathroom hall.I couldn’t design a better blind.
And no sooner than I walked away, I felt her eyes on me.
Knowing I’d been made, I took the chair guaranteed to attract attention.Regular patrons avoided it, as if it had “reserved” on it.Only one of the stools there didn’t wobble.Which meant it was a solo seat.
Rosco kept me entertained between spurts of activity.I asked the usual questions.Where’s a good spot to eat?How does he think the local team is going to do?That sort of thing.
He pegged me as new to the neighborhood, but native to the land.Anything more foreign would raise suspicions.
And when Ellie finally emerged for the rideshare she’d called, I was waiting in my car parked across the street and slightly back so she wouldn’t spot me.
What I didn’t expect was the car two spots ahead to pull out in front of me.
I waited, giving another car space to fill the gap between me and whoever followed Ellie.
She hadn’t had more than thirty hours to relax at home before she picked up a tail.Don Manca would need to know.
The rideshare turned left into her condo’s parking lot.The black sedan hunting her braked but pulled past.He’d circle the block and return.
I flipped on my blinker and waited for traffic to clear before pulling into her lot.I took a spot near the dumpsters and got out.
Ellie was inside, no doubt thinking she was safe.But she absolutely wasn’t.I entered the lobby of the units across from hers so I could mark her position as she flipped on the lights in her home.
The living room light came on.Seconds later, the kitchen lit up.I relaxed into the wait.There were two entrances into her unit.The lobby door, which often didn’t lock behind her like it should.This side’s lock had a misaligned bolt that made it impossible for the door to secure unless you lifted the door as it shut.A familiar issue, sagging from wear, construction mistakes, or deliberate sabotage.Like one heavy object dropped onto the handle which threw the whole mechanism out of alignment.
Then there was the slider she walked past.Her living room had a little balcony slab that was fenced off with a short, spiked fence.As if that was a deterrent?
One jump, a heavy screwdriver wedged into the frame corner, and with a twist-lift you were in.Unless you dropped the security bar into the track.
The curtains rustled, and Ellie bent over to lock it in place.
“Good girl.”
She stared out at the lot silhouetted by the lights inside.Her gaze slipped past me in the shadows.But she was searching for something.
A car parked near the entrance.The lights illuminated the side of her building.
Ellie slipped behind the curtains and flicked off all her lights.
If it were me, I wouldn’t have turned on the lights at all.But she was new to this.
Only the faint shift of the curtain gave her away this time as she watched the lot’s entrance.But nothing came from that direction.
As one who always looks for weak points, I monitored the shadows by the dumpsters.An alley led to the two bins hidden behind a wooden fence.
There was a gate there for tenants to drag their bags through.The path had been shoveled clean, and the melted snow puddles plaguing their trek had dried up today.
Ellie’s high bedroom window faced that breach.
