The new story continues…
Day 7: Anna shook her head.
Anna shook her head. The tracker wasn’t that big a surprise. “I would have done it,” she mumbled to herself. She closed the envelope, the paperwork with the non-active tracker sliding back into her bag. She put the bag by her feet and leaned back in her chair, once again picking up her coffee.
Overhead there was the distant rumble of thunder. She looked out of the window and found that at some point clouds rolled in. Whether that would actually mean rain or not would depend on the wind. They could just end up with clouds while the areas around them got whatever rain fell. It happened frequently enough to be considered a thing here. Someone explained about a factor of the landscape. She wasn’t entirely sure of the details as she hadn’t been listening but she believed he said topography affected the movement of storms or maybe heat, possibly wind.
She shook the half heard conversation away. They might get nothing or they might get a deluge. ‘If it rains there might be less chance of someone following me home.’
Given the tracker on the letter, Anna suspected someone still wanted to know where she lived. While thoughts of dealing with her old life coming to call were things she could think over for a bit, the walk home was more immediate. She destroyed a tracker and no doubt whoever placed it on the pages felt it. There were more mundane ways of tracking her. She was on a sidewalk when Marcus found her. She didn’t feel anyone else in the area but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be watched and followed. It was after all one of the reasons she came to the coffee shop rather than going straight home.
Was that enough?
She looked out of the window and contemplated her next move. Did she go home and trust that no one was following her or did she spend the day and night elsewhere?
‘It is early in the day.’ She reminded herself. She did not spend the day researching as she planned. It was the thought of her research that gave her pause. Knowing where her home was could lead others to find her research. That might not be such a good idea. ‘Especially now that I’ve been pardoned.’
While her research was not illegal, she knew it would make a few people uncomfortable. They might then question the whole pardon idea and go back to hunting her. ‘Just to be on the safe side.’
There were other things she could do for the day. Then she could make certain no one followed her back to her apartment. ‘And if I continue on this path anyone watching might think that I travelled in to the archives.’
It was a possibility. She was well past her street now. Anna mentally scrolled through all of the things she could do on the far side of town. There were a surprising number. While her apartment was convenient to the archives it was far from many other things and she had been putting off some needed errands. ‘I suppose today is the day.’
Ten til Midnight 