The follower

NRPG:

I had been writing a post which was along these lines, but couldn't get it finished for Friday. But here goes the follow on ....

RPG:

"Did you enjoy the gallery?" she asked him.

He shrugged his shoulder, not trusting himself to comment.

Just outside the door, they met a old woman.

She was dressed in a quite-ragged dress that used to be white, but now was more yellow than anything. Her hair was long and unkempt, and greyed, and her skin all wrinkled all. As she saw the agents, she walked towards them.

"You here to prevent the murders?" She looked up to Jim and asked.

"Who are you?" Jim asked.

"You here to prevent the murders? " She asked again. "Well, let me tell you... you are too late!" With that, the old woman gave a laugh that was not unlike what a witch's laugh was imagined to be.

"Too late?" Both agents chorused.

"What do you mean too late?" Jim asked, grabbing the old woman's hand. "Tell me"

"Too late!" was all she said.

A waiter at the coffeehouse next door quickly came over.

"Hey you! What do you think you are doing? Let go of her hand. " the waiter said as he stood against Jim. He was obviously taller, and much heavier. Jim looked at him in surprise, and his grip on the old woman lessen, and the latter slipped out of his hand, and ran away.

"Too late!"

Jim was about to run after the old woman when the waiter stopped him.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing? "

"FBI," Jim said, flashing his ID for yet the third time.

"Look, FBI, she is just a crazy old woman. She don't know anything. She had been like this since Christopher Columbus founded the new land. "

Jim contemplated removing the man's head from his shoulders and feeding him his own shoes, but decided that might not get them any support in the town for their investigation. He sighed. Maybe he was too excited. But maybe the old woman did know something, see something.

"Jim?" it was Vanessa, touching him gently on his arm. "Come on, we'll find her later. Why don't we go back to the Smiths' now. They might have some information about Mary, and maybe about the old woman as well. " She told him, but he could heard that she was shaken as well.

"Maybe. Let's go. " He said as he patted her hand, and she released it from him. Then they made their way back to the Smiths'.

The drive back to the Dr's house could not relieve Jim's thoughts of the old woman. That waiter (dumb SOB!) may have thought she was crazy, but she wasn't rambling about some inane rubbish. She mentioned the murders specifically and so must have had at least one foot in reality.

He shared this thought with Vanessa, finishing with "I want to find that old woman."

"Alright, Jim. We'll take a look later tonight," Vanessa said as they arrived at the Smith's.

They arrived at the Smith's and were invited in to a small lounge, well furnished. The 3-piece suite had a traditional floral print and the walls were decorated tastefully. After the preliminaries were over and each agent had a drink, Jim began to speak with Dr. Janet Smith.

"How long have you been Mary's doctor Janet?" Jim asked.

"Since before she was born. I even delivered her. She was a lovely girl."

"Had she been to see you in the last couple of months?" said Vanessa.

"Yes. She had come in here full of cheer. She had believed she was pregnant I had to tell her she wasn't and she got really upset. Hell, I didn't even know she was dating. She made me promise not to tell anyone, not that I would anyway. She seemed a bit scared, too."

Her husband looked concerned, obviously he had known about Mary's situation as both of them would have occasion to treat her.

"How was she generally?" Jim gently prodded. "Well balanced? Happy?"

"I see you have been doing your homework," the doctor said coldly.

"No, Janet. Just surmising from the files and trying a little profiling. Nothing more, I promise."

She softened again. "Sorry. This is very personal for me. I have known the family for much of my life."

"No need to apologise Janet," Vanessa said gently. "We are human beings too. We understand."

"She was a quiet child who grew into a morose teenager and a thoroughly unhappy woman. She had friends, but never seemed very close to anyone. I suppose the nearest thing was Rebecca Cross."

"Yes, someone has spoken to Ms. Cross already," said Vanessa.

"I didn't think she had ever dated. She must have kept it very quiet. I find out most things, with all the gossip in this town. She had some treatment for depression. In fact, she only stopped taking an anti-depressent about two months ago. She seemed to brighten up quite a bit. I had hoped she was beginning to get somewhere with her life. Now she doesn't have one."

"And she said nothing to you about who the father would have been?" asked Vanessa.

"No. She said nothing. She seemed scared, though, as I said before. Almost as if she thought something might happen."

"Well thank you Janet, Doctor. If we need anymore help, we'll be sure to get in touch."

"You are going to catch him, aren't you?" The Doctor Smith (Mr) looked drained of colour and couldn't help looking at his daughter.

"We will do everything in our power to make sure justice is done," Jim stated.

In the drive back to the Sheriff's office, Jim and Vanessa discussed the doctor's statement.

"She seems to have started dating about 2 months ago, if the time she stopped her medication is an indicator."

"Yes," Vanessa agreed. "She dates a mystery man then thinks she's pregnant. When she gets the test, she is scared because she is not. After only 2 months she was willing to give this man a child. Maybe even desperate to."

"Let's do the rounds of the clinics tomorrow. We can meet up with Jordan and Co. for dinner and discuss this with the team. We may be able to help Zenya build a good profile of the girl. It may be the kind of girl he's looking for."

Vanessa called Jordan on the cell phone and they arranged to meet at a small restaurant called "Delaney's".

They drove straight over. As Jim turned into the car park, he saw the car continue past them, pulling in a little way up the road. He had thought he had a tail, but decided it was unlikely. Plus, they were quite good at it, not getting too close. But it was confirmed now. Someone was following them, and they knew what they were doing. He was about to mention it to Vanessa, but her face told him she knew. That gave him even more belief in his highly professional partner.

"Let's just go in," he said. "I see the team. We can discuss it there."

So Jim and Vanessa just walked in to Delaney's. But under who's gaze?

NRPG:

Hope this gets us to the stage where we can decide what avenues to persue. This is getting to be very mysterious.

Respectfully submitted,

FCO Ensign Olivier Patru, USS ORION NCC-1997, Starfleet.
Private Eoin McDonald, Ranger, TEAM LEO, Ragnarok.
Special Agent-1 Jim Reaper, X-Files Division, FBI.

aka Peter Shillan.