Locked Out of Heaven [Complete]

Part 18

Roberto woke up to the indignant honking of a horn. He sat up and glared at his sideview mirrors. A teenager with dyed-blond hair and multiple piercings was giving him the middle finger. A girl sat next to him. Roberto thought she looked familiar. A pulse of pain in his head drove away the thought and it was replaced by anger.  

"Fucking teenagers." 

It didn't matter that he was blocking the entrance to the parking lot. He was pissed. He put the car in reverse and backed up until he almost hit the other car. The honking got louder, but he refused to move. Presumably cursing, the boy opened his door and was about to storm up to Roberto's when the girl pulled him back. She began yelling at him and hit him several times on his shoulder. The boy looked back and forth between the girl and Roberto's car as she talked. Finally, when the girl had stopped talking, the boy sat back in his seat and, slowly, backed up. Confused, Roberto shook his head and pulled out of the parking lot. It was several minutes later when he remembered where he'd seen the girl. She was one of the bar girls from the night before.

~~~~~

Adelina woke up sore in both mind and body. Somehow, she had managed to get home safely yesterday. She got lost on the subway circuit and had to backtrack many times. She was only saved by the copious amounts of change she had on her person. And even that was attributed to Zia. In other words, she was completely useless on her own. After several minutes of moping, her mind registered the drone of human voices. Her TV was on and the blonde anchorwoman was talking about--

"Phillip Bean, the infamous serial killer and rapist, was found dead last night in a back alley. Nicknamed Gourmet, his body was discovered by a Mr. Saile. The police questioned nearby residents and all of them have testified to seeing a young white male with curly brown hair in the area around the time of death. Further searches have recovered a coat splattered with the victim's blood. The motive is still unknown although the police are fairly sure that the suspect resides in the downtown area. The area's residents seem to be unwilling to positively identify a suspect and many expressed relief at finally being rid of the man called Gourmet. We have Michelle on the scene. Michelle, over to you..." 

Adelina zoned out again, going back to her misfortunes the day before. Something nagged at the back of her mind, but she forced herself to dwell on how the day before, it took her several minutes to figure out how to work the turnstile and how other people seemed to be able to walk into them without any effort or breaking stride. She reached for the remote and, finding that it wasn't on her nightstand where it usually was, gave up and sat there as the news moved onto the weather. 

~~~~~

Roberto put his purchases on the conveyor belt and watched it slowly progress towards the cashier. It was still early for a Saturday morning and most of the people here were either moms or old. 

"Paper or plastic?"

"Wha- Oh, neither. I didn't buy much stuff anyway."

The cashier nodded in approval. "Have you heard the news? Murder of a serial killer by a young white male with curly brown hair. Now, you don't look like the type to-," she raised her eyebrows dramatically, " -but you never know with the police. Be careful."

Roberto stared at her for a second before realizing what she meant. His hand went up to his hair. All he could muster was an "Oh." The cashier nodded wisely and handed Roberto his purchases. He paid for them and exited the store.

In the car, he poured out two pills of Tylenol and swallowed them with a gulp of water. He turned on the radio and waited as the latest love songs lamented, wished and mourned. Finally, the songs ended and the host comes on and comments about the weather and the traffic and with a grave pause, goes over Gourmet's death and discovery and not saying much about either the suspect or the victim other than emphasizing that they came from "downtown". Then, he launches into a detailed review of last night's baseball game and Roberto turned the radio back off.