CHAPTER 4
"Are you sure?I can stay I have no problem really.I can meet him some other time."Jill insisted for the hundredth time.
"I know Jill but you've got a date.Go have fun.It's only a couple of hours.I'll be inside all day."I said.
"My cellphone will be on all the time if you need something or you just want to talk, call me."Jill said hugging me and putting on her coat.
"I will.Thanks for staying over."
"Don't mention it."Jill smiled and waved going out.I locked the door after her and went to the kitchen.
I had called Jill in the afternoon and she had rushed over to my house.I told her everything about last night and after I convinced her it wasn't her fault she offered to stay and I accepted it.I didn't want to stay on my own after last night.
I was feeling more paranoid than ever.I jumped if the phone rang or someone's car drove by honking.
I turned on the TV and put on the kettle for tea.As silly as it sounded mom used to make tea every time I would be upset and it worked like a charm .I forgot my problems and was able to think more clearly afterwards.
I hadn't told my folks the whole story.Just the bit of being witness to a guy getting mugged.I left out the part where he died because I knew they'd want to rush back home but won't be able to, not with the storm raging on over there.Mom had made me promise to call her every few hours.
I flipped through some channels and left it on the cooking show.
For the next two hours I watched delicious meals being cooked on TV while I nibbled on crackers and drank a pot full of tea.
Another hour lapsed and I got a call from Jill.She sounded apologetic and informed me she couldn't come over for the night as her nephew had caught measles and she had to go home directly to babysit him.
We talked over the possibility of me going over at her place for a while before it struck me how childish I was being.
"Jill I can stay home by myself no big deal.I'll see you tomorrow at the cafe' anyway.You can come stay with me then.It's no problem really."
"Ok.I'm really sorry."
"Jill stop it."
"I gotta go.Call me if you need anything ok?"
"Ok.Bye."
I hung up.I took a deep breath and checked the locks for the tenth time since Jill had gone.
I went to bed early, cuddling with a book I had been neglecting for the past month.
I stared at one page for two hours.I didn't flip.I didn't read a single word.
My thoughts constantly drifted to the killer until sometime around nine when I fell asleep.
***
He frowned.
The tilt of the chin was wrong.
He rubbed it out with an eraser and scribbled in a new one.
He nodded satisfied.This was perfect.
His masterpiece was done.Nadia would love it.
He had captured her perfectly.No adjustments were made to her.
He wrapped in the brown paper and wrote her name.
Then he put it on his table and went to grab his coat.
He walked to the post office and dropped the package in the mail slot carefully.
Nobody paid much attention.
