Red Ribbons in Her Hair Ch. 01

She reached over and pulled on the cord that lowered her blinds, blocking out her view. She drew the curtains closed and only then felt a modicum of safety.

James and Langdon stood next to their cruiser, a small evidence kit in Langdon's hand.

"She said she heard a car, shouldn't we check the neighbors, see if they saw a strange car in the area?" Langdon asked, putting away the sample he'd taken.

"No rookie. You can't go riling folks up just because some girl says she saw something. We got the samples and the pervert is probably long gone and won't be back. Shifts almost over, call it in and have them get someone to drive through a couple of times." James took off his hat and slid behind the steering wheel, thinking about the dinner his wife had promised him tonight. And maybe if he was lucky, dinner would come with dessert.

* * * *

A week passed slowly, a week in which she felt as if she were being watched. She couldn't see anyone, she just had that hair raising feeling on the back of the neck suspicion. It happened at work, at home, even at the grocery store. She'd turn the corner and feel him watching her.

Her eyes scanned faces continually, searching eyes to look for recognition. Or a knowledge that he'd seen her that night. She jumped at little things, couldn't sleep. Her appetite was off.

And her blinds stayed down, her curtains drawn.

"Kaylee, you're losing it," Ruth said to her one day as Kaylee was getting ready to leave for work. She was staring out the front window, her eyes scanning the street before she walked out to her car. "One pervert and you're ready to jump out of your skin at the least little thing."

"Yeah, you're not sleeping nights either," Ann, her other roommate chimed in. "I can here you pacing in your room at night. Girl, you need to get laid."

Ruth laughed even as she gave Ann a dirty look. "You think the sun and the moon revolve around a man's penis."

Ann gave her a questioning look. "Yeah, and your point is?"

"Nympho," Ruth accused without any heat in her voice.

"Ice queen," Ann shot back, a smile on her face.

"Would you two stop, I'm fine. I'm just having a little problem with sleeping." Kaylee stepped between the two even though she knew they both got off on digging at each other.

"Okay, but you should go see my doctor. He could set you up with these killer sleeping pills. One of those and the world could explode, you wouldn't hear it," Ann gave her a wink as she drank the last of her coffee. "I could call and get you an appointment."

With a deep sigh and another look out the window, Kaylee picked up her purse. "Yeah, okay. I guess it couldn't hurt."

The two friends watched as their roommate left the house, hurrying to her car and looking in the backseat before she opened the door.

"She really is losing it," Ruth said, shaking her head.

"Yeah," Ann agreed. She looked at Ruth and smiled. "When she's institutionalized, I got dibs on her room."

"No fair!" Ruth said, throwing the last of her toast at her.

Neither saw the blue four door pull away from the curb where it had been parked, slipping in behind Kaylee as she drove away from the house.