What Kind of Man || Jim Moriarty

Ten

She had decided to walk home for some reason, through the main city at least. There was still a chance she would catch the tube from another stop, but she needed some time to think. Lucy's mind had kept going over and over the questions that Inspector had asked and what her answers were to them. She needed to chill, and relax and just stop thinking about everything for a few moments...so she went shopping.

There was still some of that £775 she had got for that watch last week and although that was meant to be kept safe for future rent, none of that stuff seemed important anymore. Rent was just something silly and normal, nothing going on right now saw silly or normal. It was beyond ridiculous and unordinary to say the least. So for once in her miserable and boring life, she was going to do something just a little bit average for a girl her age and...shop! Living in the same shoes, literally, for five years wasn't what she felt like doing anymore and neither was dressing in old, ill fitting clothes. Just one nice thing she could put on, a dress or skirt, and one nice meal for her dinner tonight as she finally had the time to cook. That's all she wanted.

Lucy started in one of the mainstream stores in the heart of the city, the one all the cool girls shopped at judging by the large swarms of teenagers in crop tops. But even that shop was too expensive for her. A single dress had been £90 and it wasn't anything that great. A clunky, glittery, chain mail styled dress which reminded her of a charity shop piece. That's why she'd moved to a just as well known but considerably more affordable shop. Still stylish but not over the top, still easy on the wallet but not Primark.

Going around a clothing store with money in her purse felt strange, like a kid in a sweet shop being told they could pick anything they wanted for the very first time. There were multiple things that jumped out at her and she choose only a few of them before going into a changing cubicle. The end result was a simple dress but lovely all the same. It was white, different for her, but it just looked so clean and pristine that it was her favourite from the moment she laid eyes on it. It had a high round neck, and while half of the dress was revealed and ended at her mid thigh, the other half had an extra layer of covering. The material over her left leg went all the way down to the floor and started at her waist where the joining of longer material to the short was hidden by a gold metal belt. There were no arms but it was still sophisticated, way too nice for something she needed to own. But she had to have it. When she handed over the £70 it cost, her heart didn't even flutter at how much she was handing over for something she would never wear, but right now she needed to treat herself. And she was smiling, really smiling. Not that faked corner of the mouth lift she usually made. Lucy thanked the cashier with a grin and then left the shop with a skip in her step.

How she wished things would have stayed like that for at least five minutes, but her smile dropped as soon as she left the shop. A man was stood across the street, leaning against the building opposite the one she had just been in. He didn't look like anything unordinary and he wasn't doing anything but he was looking her way...but Lucy recognised him. The man, older, maybe in his late 30's was wearing dark denim jeans and a black shirt. He had short brown hair and a leather jacket on. Very regular wear, nothing offensive but she had seen it before. Not just someone similar but him. She knew she had.

She wasn't going mental, she definitely knew that face and the clothes he was wearing matched something she had seen earlier today. It was after the police station. He had been stood at a bus stop just outside the station when she left. Lucy had walked past it in a rush to get as far away from any figures of authority as possible. She had her head kept down but out the corner of her eyes she had saw him stood there, eyes following her as she walked past. There had been no reason to give it a second though at the time. He was just a guy. But now as the same man looked away as soon as her eyes turned in his direction, she knew it was more than coincidence.