Never Forgotten

The Man in The Other Room

After a minute or so more of waiting Wayne entered the room with his partner. She was petite with light brown skin, dark brown eyes, curves in the right places, and her hair styled in a ponytail. From her apparel I could tell she was the "make work your life" type. In other words, she looked like a cop. Thanks to the little dig into Wayne's mind the last time I dropped by, I knew her name was Susanne Walker, but everyone calls her Missy.

"Sorry to keep you two waiting," Wayne said, shutting the door behind him. "Samantha Wells, this is my partner, Susanne." Susanne extended her hand out to me in order to shake. I respectively shook it, but invaded her mind unknowingly. I was able to find out that Wayne and Susanne were more than just partners; they're secretly seeing one another. So unprofessional.

"Very nice to meet you, Susanne."

"Likewise," Susanne looked at Jake and nodded, "Good to see you again, Jake." Jake nodded, looking from her to me.

"We should probably head inside there now. He looks like he's going to fall asleep on us." Susanne commented. Wayne nodded in agreement. Just as they turned around and were about to head out, Jake asked, "Susanne, is it possible if you could stay here with Samantha and let me interrogate him with Wayne?"

"What?" Susanne looked back at him, slightly shocked. Wayne just stared at him with a tiny grin paying at his lips.

"Sure, follow me." Wayne said, his voice kept calm. Susanne and I watched the two men walk out, one behind the other. When Jake shut the door behind him, Susanne looked back at me with a confused look.

"I guess I'm staying here." Susanne walked to the back of the room, grabbed a chair, and placed it a foot or so away from the glass window-wall. I did the same.

"Do you know what his name is?" I asked, honestly curious.

"Phil Stephenson. He's not from around here. Moved into town around a year ago. This is the third time he's been arrested."

"What was he arrested for the first two times?" Now this was getting interesting. My stalker has a record. That's not a good thing.

"Stealing a car and breaking into a deli." Susanne simply stated. She sounded like she'd seen tons of people get arrested for things like that. I, on the other hand, just sat there shocked. What person would ever try to break into a deli? Only someone who's stupid and desperate would try to get away with that. What a moron.

The questioning began in the other room. Wayne was the first to talk.

"Someone looks tired," Wayne commented. Phil immediately looked up and placed his head back down on the table. "Now's no time to sleep. You've got some questions to answer."

"Ask away." Phil muttered, his voice low but loud enough to hear. There were speakers in the room Susanne and I were in that enabled us to listen in on the conversation. I didn't notice them before.

"Who was paying you to monitor Ms. Wells?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't give me his name."

"Why would you do business with a guy who won't even give you his name?"

"I needed the money," Phil looked up at Jake and Wayne for a few seconds. "Things are rough for me. Have always been. It doesn't matter how I'm able to get money to pay for my bills. What matters is that I pay them."

"Did he say why he wanted someone to watch Ms. Wells?"

"No, he didn't give any reasons. I thought it was because he had an interest in her. She's a catch." A catch?! What the heck am I, a fish?! Men.

"What about the job?" Wayne asked, pulling out the chair parallel from Phil and sitting down.

"Simple. All I had to do was follow her."

"So why are you here? Why'd you decide to turn yourself in?" Jake asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Why do I always got to repeat myself? Someone caught me. They threatened to call the cops on me if I didn't turn myself in. I decided I'd rather not cause any problems and just get things over with."

"What about the guy that hired you?" Jake asked curiously.

"What about him?"

"What did he look like?" Wayne then asked. I was more curious to hear about who'd caught and threatened him.

"He wore a blue baseball cap with a black hoodie and jeans every time we met. Wore shades, too. Nothin' fancy."

"Hair color? Height? Weight?" Jake asked, absorbing the info.

"Brownish hair, about 5' 7" and looked pretty fit. Never got the chance to look at his eyes, but he had light skin."

"Anything about him that seemed off?" Wayne questioned, leaning towards Phil. Nodding no, Phil leaned back in his chair and stared at Jake and Wayne.

"Can I use the bathroom? I have to take a leak." Jake sighed and looked at Wayne. Wayne nodded yes and Jake escorted Phil out of the room.

"He was telling the truth," I told Susanne without looking at her. I felt her eyes trailed over me, staring at me curiously. "Trust me, I know."

"How?" She questioned. I didn't answer her. I just stared at Wayne waiting in the other room.

"How long have you two been partners for?" I asked, changing the subject.

"For the past two and a half years."

"How many cases have you worked on?"

"Don't know. I never kept count." She responded.

"How are you able to tell if someone's innocent or guilty?"

"I review their alibi and see if they have a record."

"So if one little thing is off, you assume that that person's guilty?" I questioned, hoping for her to realize something.

"What are you trying to get at?" She sounded a bit angry, but kept calm.

"Sometimes the truth is right under your nose. You just have to look down." I stood up and walked out of the room. I'd seen enough.

"Where are you going?" She asked as I left the room and shut the door behind me. Only if she could see that Phil is being framed.

My stalker's still out there.

I have this gut feeling that my stalker is closer than I thought.

"Hey," I heard Jake call from down the hallway. I looked over my shoulder and saw him standing there, staring at me. "Where are you going?"

"I've got to go to work. I'll see you around." With that, I turned my head back around and proceeded to leave. He'll understand.