Plastic People & Fake Masks

Chapter 32: Getting the Deets.

"What did you say to him?"

"I didn't say anything to make him upset, I promise! I was only giving him a small tip on something he wasn't aware about-"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Please let me down sir, my shirt is restricting my throat and I can't breathe."

Growling, I let go of the guys shirt and he crumbled to the ground, wide eyed and breathing heavily like a little wimp. I grabbed him by the fabric again and hoisted him up to his feet, while he squeaked in fright. "Tell me what you said. I've asked you seven times now, why do you keep avoiding the question?"

"It-it wasn't any of my business! I realize that now! Please, I'm sorry-"

"Tell me what you said!" I barked. Doing this in front of a public place probably wasn't a good idea, but what the hell. I wanted answers and I was going to get them.

"There was a young man in the back of the cafe who was giving him looks! I wanted him to be aware of it, in case maybe they wanted to talk! I had no intention of offending you, I'm sorry! And I-I had no idea your friend would get so sick, I didn't know-"

"You told him some guy was looking at him? What did the guy look like?"

"I-I'm not sure-"

"Don't give me that. You saw him. You know what he looked like."

"Please forgive me, I-I see over a thousand different faces every week-"

"God, you're useless." I let go of his shirt and he went crashing down again. He backed up against the building wall and drew up his knees, trying to distance himself as far as he could from me. He looked like Jordan when he did that.

Ugh. Jordan would be so pissed at me right now if he saw me. What am I doing? Who am I turning into? This isn't me. I'm becoming obnoxious and selfish and abusive just like Jordan's past boyfriends.

I need to stop this right now.

Sighing, I took a seat on the pavement beside him. "Look, I'm sorry. My friend is going through something and he's not telling me everything and I just...I'm tired of not understanding him. The guy who was staring at him could be the same guy who broke into our hotel room the other night and I really want to catch him so my friend will feel safe again. The cameras didn't catch his face and nobody seems to wanna tell me who the hell he is and I don't know why...I'm sorry I called you useless. And choked you a little. That was super rude."

He was brave enough to smile a teensy bit, which reminded me of Jordan even more. "It's okay. I-I suppose I could run the security cameras back? But I'm not sure if it will work. I think he was wearing a hat that shaded his face."

"That's fine, I just want at least some kind of image to go on. Right now I have nothing."

I helped him up to his feet, being way more gentle this time. He lead the way into the closed cafe doors and I followed him all the way into the back room behind the counter. The place looked creepy without people sitting around in it.
The computer connected to the cameras looked at least ten years old. Covered in a heavy layer of dust and decorated with grey sticky stains, the old thing didn't look too promising. I'll never find out who this guy is.

"I know it doesn't look at all reliable, but I can assure you it's um...it's not as bad as it seems. A few times we've been able to work it without a problem." He pressed an ancient looking power button. The thing made a weird beeping noise, but otherwise made no signs of turning on any time soon. The guy frowned. He smacked it. It powered on.

"Nice tactic," I smirked.

"Thank you. Let's see...how many days ago did you visit?"

Hell if I knew. Jordan and I had been so busy lately, I hadn't been keeping track of the days. "Um. Is today Wednesday?"