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Chapter 28: A Trip to the Store

That night Nikola hardly slept. She couldn't relax, thinking that he was outside. He had been in her thoughts continuously, ever since she spotted him outside the antique shop. As he had haunted her numerous nights in the past, now he haunted her by day as well. She started convincing herself that the dreams were a clue. Her subconscious was trying desperately to tell her something important, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Obviously some part of her knew something about this man - information that she needed now, but couldn't reach. It frustrated her.

She had no name for him. She thought of him only as the Intruder. The expression seemed to fit, since he had so thoroughly intruded upon every aspect of her daily life. Somehow that made him even more menacing. The name sent shivers down her spine, causing all the adjoining muscles to tense. Even when she couldn't see him, he frightened her.

She was relieved when the sun rose and gave her an excuse to get out of bed. She spent the next few hours pacing her apartment nervously, waiting for Greg.

Greg arrived early the next morning, before nine. Upon entering, he took her chin in his hands, kissed her, and said, "You look tired. Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Not much," she answered, leaning into him. "But I'm all right. I'll just make some coffee."

"Good idea."

They sat down on the couch with their coffee and Greg asked her to tell him again about the events of the previous day. She tried to remember every detail, and ended her monologue with, "... so, where do we go from here?"

"Is he still watching you?"

"He followed me back yesterday afternoon and hung out for a few hours, but I haven't seen him since then. I haven't checked in the last hour."

"I'll check," Greg said as he rose and walked over to the window. He scanned the street for several seconds before pronouncing, "I don't see anyone either. Of course, he could be there anyway, out of sight. On the other hand, if he's working alone, he's got to take breaks every so often to sleep and eat, so you never know. Personally, I prefer dealing with people I can see. At least then you know what they're up to."

"You speak as if you have a lot of experience with this sort of thing."

"That's from when I was an investigative reporter. I hung around with the police a lot and I guess I picked some things up." Greg glanced through the apartment as he returned to the couch.

"I could picture you in that role. From the first time I saw you, I thought you looked much too rugged and street-wise for an arts reporter. I could see you in the middle of a big city news room, or working in the police or something. What made you switch?"

"Oh, I don't know, a number of things, I guess. But, it's a long story and we need to concentrate on what to do here."

"Okay. What did you have in mind?"

"We have to get to the bottom of this, and find out who's behind it. I'd also like to lose this guy before our trip to Grove. But first I'd like to corner him and question him. Of course, you must realize that there's no reason to believe that he'll talk to us."

"What if we threatened to bring him to the police for the break-in?"

"He didn't take anything and the door was unlocked. With a good lawyer, he shouldn't have any trouble getting off - if it even got that far. No, I think we should try to unearth the source of this mystery. For all we know, that guy outside could be some hired private eye who's just following orders. That's unlikely, though, if he's the same guy who broke in here. That was a very unprofessional move."

"He's definitely the same man. All my life as an artist, I've trained myself to see. I wouldn't mistake it." Nikola could still see the face burned into her memory.

"Well, first we need to lose this guy before we go to Grove. That shouldn't be too hard since he's not a pro. But we can't come back here because it's the first place he'll look. We'll have to spend the night at my place. Pack an overnight bag."

"How do we lose him?"

"I think our best chance is in a department store." Greg's tone was that of a commander - expecting to be obeyed without question. Nikola started at the change in demeanor. Until now their relationship, or at least their discussions, had been relatively even. She had never seen this side of him before. It frightened her a little, but it seemed to fit the situation. After all, he was in charge of this venture. She nodded mutely and waited for him to continue.

"That's always a good place. With both of us there it's almost foolproof. When you told me about it I devised a plan and brought some props with me." Greg opened a duffel bag that he had carried in. Nikola watched, fascinated. He was pulling a number of unusual items out of it, including a gray wig, eyeglasses and an old house dress.

"It look's like we're going to a costume party."

"This will involve some dressing up, but it's the best way to get him off you, and I'll be able to follow him once he realizes you're gone. With any luck, he might actually lead me to something."

"Okay, you have my complete attention. How do we do this?"

"First, we have to wait 'till he arrives, so we can go out and make sure that he's behind us. Then, we go uptown, to that big Macy's on thirty-forth street. We do some browsing and then split up, leaving you in one of the women's departments. I'm sure he'll follow you, but if he doesn't, we'll keep coming back together and splitting up until he does. Once we're separated, you pick out some clothes and go into the dressing room. When you're in there, put on the wig, glasses, and this dress and see if you can find some clothes to wear under it, to round you out a little, and some clunky flat shoes, if you have any. If not, any kind of flats should do. You want to change outfits in the dressing room and leave as a different person. I'll be watching him, so I'll know right away if he picks up on it, but I don't think he will. When he realized he's lost you, I'll still be on him, and hopefully, he'll lead me either to his home base or whoever he's working with."

"You think he's working with someone?"

"I don't know. The break-in and trailing you are consistent with a stalker. But the note isn't. A stalker wouldn't want to chase you away. That could be from the gallery, and we could have two separate cases here. However if the gallery really did want to chase you back to Germany - how better to do it than to plant a stalker on you." Greg stared directly into Nikola's eyes, as if trying to read her mind.

"But if that were the case, he would be a stranger to me wouldn't he?"

"Yes, you would think so..." Greg said slowly. "When did he first start appearing in you dreams? Was is before or after you first arrived here?"

"I've had nightmares all my life, but they've been much more vivid and detailed since my arrival here. All my life there's been a frightening male figure in my dreams. He's always been very big, but his face has changed over the years. In fact, he's often taken on the features of some man that I'm having problems with, or had problems with in the past.

"It's hard to say when exactly the Intruder's face started appearing," Nikola continued, "and yet, there's something deeply familiar about it. But that could be nothing..."

"What do you mean by deeply familiar?" Greg leaned forward.

"Nothing. I don't even know what I was talking about." Nikola still didn't want to tell Greg about her memory gap or suspicions about her dreams. She needed a few secrets as an emotional defense, as if her secrets made her immune to his charms.

"So do you think you could have subconsciously picked up his face on the street and incorporated it into your dreams?"

"The mind is such a funny thing. Could that be how I knew I was being followed?"

"Quite possibly."

"So this all could be related to the gallery."

"It's possible. It doesn't seem very likely, but it's the only possibility you've offered me," Greg said with a challenging look directly at her. He seemed to know that she wasn't telling him everything. "Hopefully we'll know more soon."

"I hope so." Nikola looked into her hands to avoid his challenge. She reviewed the plan he outlined in her mind and asked, "Where do I go once I've lost him?"

"I'm going to give you directions and the keys to my place. I figured we'd spend the night there and leave for Grove tomorrow."

"Okay. I really hope we find some answers in Grove. I'm tired of being haunted."

"I'm sure the answers are there. I just hope we can find them." Greg looked away distantly, as if reminded of something else entirely.

"What makes you so sure all of a sudden? You seemed quite doubtful last time I mentioned it."

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

"Maybe tonight I'll tell you. Now we should concentrate on the job at hand."

"Okay, so when do we leave?"

"The stores don't open 'till ten, so we have to wait at least an hour before we can leave. Is your buddy outside?"

"Hold on, I'll check." Nikola walked over to the window and peered out. She scanned the street below for a few minutes before she spotted him: he was easy to miss. He was sitting in a doorway that was slightly recessed from the street. In his dark clothes and crouched position, Nikola almost mistook him for a homeless person.
"Yeah, he's out there," she said when she recognized him.

"Good, so we can take off in an hour."

"Okay. Well, now we have lots of time for your story."

"I can't tell you yet, I'll tell you later."

"Why not?" Nikola asked sharply, her voice rising. "Greg, you are the most evasive man that I've ever met. You expect me to pour my heart out to you, and then you won't tell me a single thing about yourself. How am I supposed to trust you? One minute you act like you care, then you disappear for days and snap at me when I call for help. What are you hiding?"

"You're in real danger, Nikola," Greg replied in a concerned tone, "I didn't realize how much until just recently. Let's catch this guy who's tormenting you and find out what's behind it. I'm on your side. You have to trust me and I promise I'll see you through this. Tonight, I'll answer any questions you have, and tell you more than you want to know about me. You'll see my apartment and how I live. I'll be an open book."

Nikola laughed at the thought of Greg as an open book, it seemed too unlikely. "Well, I suppose I don't have much choice, do I? But I'm expecting some serious explanations tonight."

"Don't worry, you'll have them."

The hour went by faster than Nikola would have thought possible: before she knew it, they had to prepare to leave. She filled a bag with her change of clothes - which covered a complete transformation, including another bag to put it all in when she was in her new character. Aside from her face, which would be hidden by glasses, hair, and some makeup, there would not be one detail in common between her costume before and after the dressing room. Nikola giggled when she imagined the reaction from the dressing room sales clerk. This was probably not something she saw every day.

Once they had prepared themselves, they headed out. As expected, the Intruder started following them as soon as they left the building. They took the subway to thirty-forth street and entered Macy's, with him not far behind. As Greg had expected, as soon as they split up the Intruder followed Nikola.

Nikola found a dress to try on and entered the dressing room. She hoped that Greg was watching the Intruder, because she lost track of both of them as soon as she and Greg split up. She put the dress she brought in with her to the side, and began the process of changing clothes. She tried to move quickly, being nervous, but the faster she tried to move, the more mistakes she made. She found herself dropping things and trying to put clothes on inside out. She stopped dressing for a moment, took a deep breath, and tried to continue at a more relaxed pace; but she couldn't control her nerves, and her movements were still jerky. She almost ripped the "old lady dress" that she had brought, and then had trouble fitting all her other clothes into the new bag. By the time she was ready to leave, she was sure that her follower would be suspicious already, and half expected to be pounced upon the minute she left the fitting rooms.

The fitting room clerk was busy with another customer and didn't even look up at Nikola when she exited. Nikola walked onto the selling floor and spotted the Intruder immediately. His eyes were fixed on the entrance to the fitting rooms, but, much to Nikola's relief, they didn't follow her when she walked away. Apparently her disguise worked perfectly, because he looked right through her as if she wasn't even there.

She tried to control her walking pace and posture such that it would befit an older woman, but it was difficult. She barely managed to maintain the tedious pace while she was still in line of sight with the Intruder, and as soon as she was around a corner, she broke into a slow run. She wanted to sprint right out of the store as fast as she could, but didn't want to attract any undue attention. It would only slow down her escape. She hoped Greg could handle whatever she had left behind.

Once she was out of the building, she breathed deeply of the city air and felt completely free. She hadn't even been conscious of the sense of claustrophobia until it disappeared. For a change, she no longer felt watched, or followed. She ran down the stairs into the subway, feeling as if she were back in control of her life, although she knew that her problems were not nearly over yet.

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