Lois' ears perked up. It's not really the kind of conversation one normally hears in public. Not that Lois ever eavesdropped. BEcause she didn't. But if she happened to overhear what was being said by someon ein a public location, what could she do, really?
The volume of conversation had dropped considerably, so she couldn't hear anything more about where the body might be. She turned a little to the right, and galnced at the speaker out of the corner of her eye. He was a man of about forty, dressed in an expensive looking suit, with salt and pepper hair that had been cropped short. He was speaking to a younger man in an equally nice suit. They were smiling and laughing, as if talk of bodies was normal and not at all alarming.
This was new for Lois, however. She usually overheard bits of lovers' quarrels, or discussions about the weather, or on rare occasions religion. She'd never overheard anything of any real consequence before, and she'd never thought she would. She had no idea what to do with the information.
Getting more detail might be a good start, she thought. Unfortunately her two chatters were paying their biull and getting ready to leave. Lois had barely eaten half her lunch, but she flagged the waitress down and paid hurriedly as well.
The older man turned right outside of the restaurant, and the younger man went left. Lois decided to follow her killer, and tried to keep a discrete distance as he crossed Main Street and headed towards the business district. Everyone was heading back to work afte rlunch, and this man seemed to be no exception. He stopped at one of the larger bank towers, and ran up the steps two at a time.
Lois followed. She wasn't entirely sure how far she could go, but she was determined to find out what she could. She slipped into an elevator just behind the older man, and worked her way to the back so she could watch which floor he stepped off on.
He rode it up to the thirty-fifth floor, and left the elevator. Lois waited as long as possible, then slipped out behind him. She stood in front of the floor directory, and watched as he headed into the offices of the First National Bank.
So not only was he a killer, he was someone who was making a lot of money working at the most profitable and powerful bank in the city.
Well, that made things more interesting.
Lois wasn't sure what else she could do. She couldn't very well walk in and start accusing him of murder with no proof. She would have to go to the police, tell them what she knew, and let them take care of it. As long as they didn't think she was crazy, it was the only option.
She went to a pay phone nearby and rang the local station. She was put through to a detective, and she told them what she had heard, and where the man was.
There was a loud sigh on the other end of the phone. "We don't really need you doing things that could put you in danger," the detective said. "But we'll look into this. Next time, call us as soon as you hear anything and don't put yourself in a position where you could get hurt. Better yet, don't eavesdrop, it will definitely keep you safer."
Lois was offended by that. She really couldn't help what she'd overheard. It wasn't like she was a gossip or looked for this kind of information. It just sort of happened.
As she hung up, the man walked out of the office again. This time he had a sheaf of papers under his arm. Lois considered phoning the police again, but she had a feeling they hadn't really believed her that time. She followed him again, carefully, not wanting to become his next victim.
He left hte building. Lois kept him in sight, and continued to follow. He walked quite fast, eyes straight ahead, for three blocks. Then he stepped into a coffee shop.
Lois stood outside, and watched him rthrough the glass. He headeed to a table in the corner, and sat down, shaking the hand of another man who was already sitting there. They put the papers on the table, ordered a couple of coffees, and looked like they were settling in for the long haul.
Coffee sounded good. Lopis went in, ordered a cup for herself, and found a table nearby where she could sit and listen.
The conversation was incredibly dull this time. They were talking facts and figures and numbers that were so huge she could barely wrap her mind around them. This was some sort of a business meeting, and the subject of bodies never came up. lois sipped her drink, and waited for hte meeting to be over.
Eventually the coffee got to her, and she had to step into the ladies' room. She moved as fast as she could, but when she came back out into the coffee shop, the men were gone.
Lois ran into the street, and looked around. She didn't see her man anywhere. If he'd come out to meet a client, he might be heading back to the office now. She headed back that way as well, scanning the crowd for anyone who looked like the man who'd talked about the body, but she hadn't seen anything. She went back to the office building, but this time security stopped her at the desk and turned her around when she coudn't provide a good reason for being there.
There really wasn't much else to do but go home.
Home was quiet Lois cleaned a bit, and set up her computer in the living room. She surfed the Internet looking for any informaiton on local missing people. When that failed, she looked for people who were missing a little further afield. No one had any relatives mentioned who worked at the First National Bank. It was a long shot, but at least she'd tried.
Lois forgot about the whole thing for a week, caught up in the minutiae of her daily life.
A week to the day of the first run in with Body Guy, Lois was back at the same restaurant, having lunch. The younger man who'd been having lunch with Body Guy was sitting one table over. Lois lingered over her lunch as much as possible, ordering dessert when it looked like the man was going to be staying for a while longer.
Body Guy eventually showed up, and he and the younger man started into their lunch.
Lois ordered coffee.
They talked business and weather and religion. Lois figured she must have misunderstood something last time, or had forgotten something important...
"So how are the kids handling the loss?" the younger man asked.
The older man put his coffee cup down. "They aren't handling it well, although they have built a shrine to help them deal with it."
Lois froze and listened as hard as she could.
"I remember the first time," the younger man said. "My dad told me she was just sleeping. It was years before I realised that she'd actually died."
This was the most bizarre thign Lois had ever heard, but it was definitely about bodies. Maybe they were hitmen. Maybe they were recreational murderers. Maybe they were in the mob.
"Well, my kids are aware that hamsters don't have long lives, but they just didn't believe me."
Wait.
What?
Lois listened a while longer. They were indeed talking about dead pets. Apparently Body Guy had created a little pet cemetary in his backyard for the hamster. This, to him anyway, was very important news.
This was kind of embarassing. She hoped the police had given up. Maybe she should call them back and explain. But that would likely mark her as a real crank in case she heard anything else.
Maybe this listening thing was overrated, really. Who needed this kind of stress?
On the way home, Lois stopped at Radio Shack and picked up an iPod and a pair of noise cancelling earphones. She spent the rest of her lunches listening to self-improvement podcasts.
She'd never been happier.
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