A Guardian Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

remembering that he had the
perseverance of a hunter. Along with that also came the obsession
with his prey.
    A brunette woman,
petite in stature and girlish in fashion, emerged from apartment one
with a red and purple backpack strapped over each shoulder. When she
bent over a bike at a rack and began working on a lock, Andy could
see a bright white peace symbol stitched into the backpack. He sat
forward on impulse, jolted like a man experiencing
Déjà
vu. It left him with the feeling that something waited on the tip of
his tongue. But it had fled him.
    She bikes, Andy noted. Perhaps an accident?
    He couldn't make
out any distinctive features about her other than her size and the
abundance of bright colors she wore. Knowing that she biked made her
easy to keep track of as they began to tail her, but it became
difficult to do in Steven's car without drawing attention. Andy did
not want to lose her trail.
    They had to pull
over after passing her once so that they did not get too far ahead of
her. Andy looked over at Steven as the nervous young man poured
scribbles into a notepad with furious precision. He hesitated to
speak, worried he might derail Steven's train of thought. As the data
collector wrote, Andy saw Haley pedal right past the car through his
window. She turned and caught a brief look into the man's eyes. Andy
froze as she rode by. Steven did not look up.
    “Let's follow
her,” Andy suggested once he saw a break in the writing.
    “Not in
this,” Steven replied in a tone that hinted that Andy would
agree, which he did. Still, he wanted to know how they would keep up
with her. Steven looked around outside as if he hadn't seen it in
quite a while, which was likely true with the concentration he put
into his writing. He started the car and then eased it onto the road.
He took the same course as Flynn. They drove right past her a second
time. She glanced back over at the car and Andy tried to cover his
eyes but moved too slow. He did his best to be unrecognizable. It
wasn't so much about being dressed or posed inconspicuous as much as
it was about being boring. There should be no reason to remember
their faces.
    They pulled into
the parking lot of a laundromat a few blocks away. Steven grabbed
every bit of clothing that he could find within the vehicle, handing
what he couldn't carry to Andy. He didn't quite follow the rouse, but
still entered the building after the stalker. Steven went to a
machine in the right corner, closest to the window. He started
jamming the clothes and blankets into the device and then rummaged
through his pocket for coins. He pulled out an insignificant looking
pile and asked Andy if he had any change. He thanked him once two
quarters dropped into his palm and then began working the machine.
    “She'll pass
by in about a minute, give or take,” Steven said. “Here,
take this and go outside.” He handed Andy a Camel filter.
    “I don't
smoke,” Andy told him.
    Steven smiled a
tight smile at him, like a parent preparing to explain the rules.
“Well then, find something worth doing outside so you can get a
view of where she's going,” he said. “Come on, you don't
have to inhale, just puff it.” He turned back to the machine,
checking the settings. “Or act like you're doing something
illegal.”
    Andy did smoke. It
wasn't a fact that he was proud of, but neither was his job and like
this, his job was no body's business. He was in the process of
quitting when he arrived in Lumnin but he knew that one cigarette was
a small sacrifice to make. Still, he felt awkward as he smoked. Like
someone who didn't really know what he was doing.
    Then the bike rode
by. It was a townie, the wide seated
sit-on-this-and-you'll-get-somewhere type of bicycle. The frame was
slathered in flower decals, the whites of the daisies blending with
the neon blue of the metal. It was a distinctive vehicle.
    The woman who rode
such a distinctive bike was a small structured white girl. She did
not resembled an adult