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Reg drove Steph and I to Penn Station on Monday after lunch to catch her train back to New Hampshire leaving at two o'clock. We hugged each other before she had to leave to catch her train.
"I'm so glad you didn't let me buy you a ticket back to Concord that day you called me," Steph said, tears in her eyes. "You got it good here. I can't wait to move here, too, and hopefully, Josh can introduce me to one of his hunky friends."
"That would be awesome," I said and squeezed her tightly. "Make sure to Skype me whenever you feel like it."
"I will."
She left me and went to her track, waving at me as she went down the stairs. Then she was gone, and I was alone. I sighed heavily, happy to have had Steph for the weekend, and sad to see her go, knowing I probably wouldn't see her again until Christmas, which was almost a whole month away.
I turned and saw Reg standing by the stairs, his hands folded as he waited patiently for me.
"Well, Reg. I guess it's time to go home."
"Lead the way," he said and pointed to the escalator that went to the upper platform. He followed me up and out of the station to the vehicle and opened the door for me when I arrived. I sat inside in the back and watched the streets of the city pass by on the way back to my apartment in Chelsea.
Once there, I paced the space, feeling a bit lost now that I was alone. Josh was still in California with David and Steph was on her way home to Concord. I was alone. I stood at the window and looked down at the courtyard behind the apartment building. It was late afternoon by then and I wondered what secret thing Josh had to tell me that he felt so embarrassed about. While I stood there, I saw a man enter the alley behind the apartment building and felt a shock go through me when I noticed he was wearing a fedora.
I picked up my cell and took a quick picture of the man and then called Reg.
"Hey, there's a man in the back alley wearing a fedora. Should I be worried?"
"I'll check it out. Stay in your apartment."
I ended the call and watched from the window, standing behind a sheer curtain, hoping that it hid me from his view. He was standing smoking beside a door to another apartment building across the alley and for all I knew, he was just a resident there and wasn't Mr. Fedora, but I wanted to be sure.
Soon, I saw Reg crossing the alley and approaching the man. They spoke and finally, the man threw down his cigarette and left the alley. Reg watched him and then returned to the apartment building. I'd given him a spare key, so he could come in and meet me when I needed him, so he came right up to my apartment and knocked at the door.
I opened it after looking through the peephole.
"It wasn't the same man," Reg said. "He's a resident of the building and can't smoke in his apartment because of his wife's emphysema."
"I'm so sorry," I said and shrugged. "I couldn't tell if he was the same man from my apartment. It's far enough away that I couldn't make out his face."
"No problem," Reg said. "Better safe than sorry. If you ever have any fear about a situation, if anything raises your alarm bells, call me and I'll come right away."
I frowned. "Do you think I'm a target? I thought you two figured the man was after Josh."
"Can't be sure until we know who he is. Both you and Josh could be targets, although given his wealth, Josh is more likely the one someone would be interested in."
I nodded and felt a little better. At least the man knew Josh was aware of him and that Josh had a body guard to watch over him -- over us.
"You can go home now," I said. "I'm going to stay inside tonight. I'll call you when I'm ready to go to work tomorrow morning, but it'll be the usual time."
"See you then. Good night.
"Good night," I replied and closed the door behind him, locking and double locking the door.
Reg went back to his vehicle.
I went to bed early that night and before I went to sleep, I texted Josh, wanting to connect with him in some way.
ELLA: Hey, there. How was your day? Steph is gone and I'm all alone back in my tiny studio apartment on my Murphy bed. I expect you're on your way to the airport to catch your red-eye flight. Can't wait to see you when you get back.
I didn't hear back from him right away, so I pulled my covers over my shoulder and closed my eyes, hoping that life would return back to normal the next day, but there was a tiny bit of unease inside of me as I tried to go to sleep.
Who was the man with the Fedor
a following Josh and me? What had Josh done that he wasn't proud of relating to Grant?
