"Who… who's there?" No answer, but the knocking continued. "Who is it?" I demanded, not sure if I wanted to know.
Maureen opened the door, but no one was there. "Hello?? Anyone there??" She angrily slammed it. "Okay, this is freaking me out, Mimi!! We need to get out of here." She grabbed her coat and started out. "Let's go over to—" she dropped her voice into a whisper, "Pookie's. She'll know what to do."
I followed her, still puzzled over the person who was at the door, and where he could have possibly disappeared to. The voice sounded somewhat like Jack's, but there was something different about it that I couldn't put my finger on it.
We took the exit out of the back of the building, just in case Jack was watching the front. But come to think of it, he could be surveying the whole building. We'd just have to take that risk, though I didn't want to. There was no "safe" escape. Maureen showed me through the back alleys and we ran all the way to Joanne's apartment, which was six blocks from hers.
She pulled out her key and we quietly entered the building and went to Joanne's, but she wasn't there. After all of the doors and windows were locked and all of the shades were pulled, we hid out in the small bathroom (Maureen's idea) with a phone because no one would be able to see us there.
The phone rang. We looked at each other, neither one of us wanting to answer it, fearing the worst. "Get it—it could be Joanne!" I urged her.
"Hello?" she answered, then silence. I couldn't read her face at all—it was like there was a mask. "No, she's here." More silence. "Well where are you?" Her face finally showed an emotion: concern, then shock. "You're where? What the hell are you doing there?"
"What's going on?" I asked her, but didn't get any response.
She kept on talking. "Look, you better get over here as soon as possible, which probably won't be soon, considering you're there, and we're here. We're hiding out in the bathroom in minimal lighting." She hung up, but stayed silent.
"What's going on? Who was that? Where is this person?" the questions flooded out.
"That was Roger, and he's at—or was at—the Life Café, then a police station, and was at a payphone near the police station when he called."
"What was he doing at those places?"
She shrugged. "He really didn't explain much, except that he had to get information from the Café, give it to the police, then something else that I couldn't understand. He's just glad that you're safe."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god," I whispered. "He's okay."
"Now we sit and wait until someone shows up."
Ring! "Hello?" Maureen picked up tentatively. She handed the phone to me, looking like she was about to cry.
"Hello?"
"Mimi?" the voice was shaky and hoarse.
"Yeah?" My mind wasn't registering the so-familiar voice. Something was wrong, I could sense it. "Who is this?"
"It's Mark!!"
Mark? What the hell? It didn't sound like him at all. "What happened to you? Where are you?"
"I'm so sorry, Mimi. I had to tell him—he had me at gunpoint, so I told him… I was outside Maureen's place after she called, then this guy comes out of nowhere, holds me at gunpoint, directs me not to go inside, and commands me to tell him where Joanne's is." He paused then explained, "I didn't know what else to do!"
"Shit!" I yelled. "Oh my god, Mark… we have to leave again! We'll call you when we find somewhere!" I hung up the phone and looked at Maureen. "Did he tell—"
She nodded. "Where else can we go? Not the loft, not my place, and we can't stay here."
"Benny's? Collins'? We can always hide out in a subway or store or something. Or get to Grand Central and go to Scarsdale and hide at Mark's parents'," I offered weakly.
Her eyes lit up. "Great idea! We'll go to Scarsdale! He'll never find us there!"
I stared at her. "I kind of like my 'Benny-Collins-Subway-Store' plan better. And it's cheaper. We'll go to Scarsdale if nothing else works."
She shrugged. "Okay, but let's make it quick. Jack could be circling the building as we speak!" She opened the door and we started to exit, but we heard commotion outside of the apartment. "Fire escape!" she whispered.
We threw open a window and climbed out onto the fire escape. To our wonderful luck, it was snowing. Maureen jumped over the rail and onto the garbage can ten feet below. It was crazy, but it was fast—I followed suit.
Running on the slippery ground in the dark wasn't the smartest thing to do—it was pretty stupid, actually, and it slowed us down, considering we didn't want to fall. After about twenty minutes of dashing around in the cold, I was exhausted and freezing. "We need to get inside—we're both going to be really sick and hurt like this."
Grumbling, she slowed down and muttered something about how we'd duck into the next place that's open. Another five minutes passed before we went into a tiny, but insanely warm, café. We ordered coffee as we thought of another plan; being outside was crazy. As we were thinking, the door opened.
"Maureen? Mimi? What are you two doing here?"
We turned around in unison to see Collins standing there, covered in snow. "We've been on the run," I whispered to him as he sat down next to us.
He looked amused. "From what? Mark's camera?"
Maureen rolled her eyes. "That is something to run from, but that's not it."
She lowered her voice. "If you haven't heard already, this guy named Jack is stalking Mimi and has been chasing us all day." She then told him everything that's happened in the last bunch of hours.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked me. "You need to get far away for awhile. Far away like out of the city, or at least a hideout. Stalkers are not a thing to take lightly." He thought for a moment. "I have a few students that you could probably stay with for awhile. I'll drive you there."
I nodded. "Thanks so much, Collins." I turned to Maureen. "Where are you going to go?"
She shrugged, then grinned. "I have lots of places I can go! But you have to stay safe, Mimi. Promise me you won't do anything stupid."
"Don't worry," I assured her as Collins and I started to leave the café. "I'll be fine."
Collins' car was waiting a block away, and I got into it as fast as possible. It would be a long rest of the night.
Where's Roger? What will happen to Mimi? Where is Jack? All coming in the next few chapters!