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Dr. Steele hears dark, derisive laughter behind him. It's loud, and it sounds like there's a lot of it.. How many people are behind him?
Then "Watch him scamper off. Ahh ha ha."
He reaches his car, and as he does so he feels something heavy strike him in the shoulder, hard enough to leave a bruise.
Dr. Steele takes 1 bashing
The laughter continues behind him, intensifying even.
Being hit, Steele turns around to face his attacker(s). Fairly mad at this point, but just wanting to go home, he glares at the man who hit him. His voice is flat, without humor, and said with the utmost seriousness.
"If you know my name, I'll assume you know me well enough to know I can be your worst fucking nightmare in more ways than one. Now back off and let me leave, or I'll make your shithole of a life even worse."
Verbal Intimidation
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As Thomas Steele around to shout at the violent man with all the strength he can muster he finds that his angry words die on his lips when he realizes that there's no one there. The laughter he heard fades into a dull ringing in his ears, and the ache in his shoulder is the only evidence that the whole weird scene had even taken place. The lights over the parking lot flicker on, emitting a low electrical hum.
There's no mistaking it. He and his car are the only things in the parking lot.
Well, that's not true. Thomas notices an object on the ground at his feet. Closer inspection reveals it to be a brick, with a piece of glossy paper wrapped around it and attached with a rubber band.
Am I nuts, or did this late night just fuck with my head?
Thomas bends down slowly and picks up the brick and note, examining it for a moment before opening his car and tossing it into the passenger seat. He takes one last confused, scared, look around before getting in his car and driving away. At the first red light, Tom stops the car and unattaches the note from the brick, opening it to read.
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The visible part of the paper is blank, and reveals nothing of its nature at first glance.
When Thomas stops at the stop light and unwraps the thing he discovers it's a high definition black and white photograph.
The image shows Thomas and his father together at a gun show. He remembers the show as one they'd attended together about a year ago. His father had bought him the Desert Eagle that day. It's obvious from the photo that Thomas and his father had not realized they were being photographed. It reminded him of a police surveillance photo.
The dim lighting from outside the car causes Tom to take a moment before recognizing himself and his father in the picture. He stares at it for a long moment, not really believing what he sees. What...what is this? Who took it? Why?
Reaching up and turning on the car's inside-light to get a better look, the young attorney looks into the picture trying to remember back to the gun show so long ago. His eyes went over every detail caught in the photograph and it ran it against his personal memory of the event, trying to remember exactly where that was and what was around him at the time. Perhaps with a better mental picture, Steele could know exactly where the picture was taken from, or gleen anymore useful information from it.
((OOC: He has eidetic memory, should I make some sort of roll to see what he can recall about the Gun Show and his surroundings at the time of the picture? Or if he remembers any kind of flash, etc...?))
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Dr. Steele's photographic memory had usually served him well in the past. Sure there were those few times in Law School where some of his buddies thought it would be funny to show him some particularly horrific and disgusting videos on the internet. Sure, those images would be stuck with him forever. However, the good applications of such an ability outweighed the bad.
Vince reflected on this as he was able to piece together the scene from the photograph from his memory.
The show had taken place at the Folsom Blvd Flea Market, and it had been an overcast day in late February. They had just finished looking over a booth that was displaying antique WWII era weapons. MP40s, M1s, even some old knives and a helmet or two - all in excellent condition. The guy was asking WAY to much for them, though. Vince and his father had declined then turned away from the booth to find something else to look at. As Vince goes over the image in his mind he remembers a man, sitting at picnic table. He had an untouched hot-dog in front of him and a paper cup labeled with the Pepsi logo. He had short red hair, and was dressed pretty normally. He was taking pictures of the crowd and the show. At the time Vince had thought nothing of it, a guy taking pictures at a show is nothing to get crazy about. He and his father had paid the man no mind, and even walked right past him - coming within just a few feet of him as they passed by to enjoy the Gun Show.
"Short red hair..." Tom says outloud to himself after recalling the whole event. I'll have to keep that in mind.
This was a mystery, for sure, but right now Dr. Steele was more tired than anything else. He drove toward his apartment a few MPH above the speed limit. Once he arrived he spent a good few minutes sitting inside his car, looking out his tinted windows for his hidden assailants. Now you're just being paranoid. Go to bed, Tom.
His inner monologue was right; a good night's sleep would fix this whole terrible night. Tom exits his car, photograph and briefcase in hand, and walks toward his front door.
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