Haunting Past (Closed to JesterofTortuga)

[AlwaysFaithful]

Her eyes opened slowly, dawn light flickering through the curtains. Sighing, Katherine Doyle sat up, rubbing her hands over her face. She'd been living here for a few months now, in this tiny town of Dutton, South Dakota. She stood, and with her massive dog stood up, tail wagging. "Morning, Romeo." She murmured, petting the black wolf hybrid. Walking into the bathroom, Kat eyed herself, thinking for the hundredth time, she looked wrong. Her hair was black now, not it's natural mahogany color. Her eyes were green now, thanks to colored contact lenses, not the ghostly grey they were suppose to be. But she was still her usual height and weight, 5'6" an athletic 120 pounds. Her skin was still it's natural gold dust color, due to a native American heritage. Showering and dressing in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve green shirt. Kat headed downstairs.

She'd bought this cabin from the bank after the previous owner, an elderly man had passed away. It's exactly what she needed, a little two story cabin on the edge of town, plenty of forest surrounding her. With her gun at her hip, she grabbed an apple off the counter, slid on her boots and walked outside. "Let's walk." She murmured. Together her and her wolf mix hiked for the next several hours. She was getting tired of being on the run, but at this point, the 29 year old didn't think it was ever going to change. So for now, she'd be happy that she'd been able to stay here for the last few months and if she was lucky she'd have a few more months here before she was found and would have to move again.

After the hike they returned and Kat grabbed herself some breakfast and sat on the porch. She was still acclimating to life here, she was known as Caitlyn O'Malley, a woman with an unknown past who came into town only once a week, never talked more than she had to, always paid in cash and kept to herself. Sighing, Kat shook her head, finishing her breakfast and just taking a few minutes to sit on the porch, Romeo napping at her feet.

 

[JesterofTortuga]

Hartigan groaned as he opened his eyes his vision blurring and burning while the world around him slowly cleared. His head was sore and pounding causing him to take a second longer than it should have to identify his surroundings. He found himself in his same old living room, in the same old chair, in the same old position like he had since moving to the small town to take the job as Chief of Police and as usually the only difference was the bottle of whiskey sitting in his lap changed once it could no longer medicate him. Slowly standing he roughly placed the bottle of whiskey on a small table next to the chair allowing the bottle to rock back and forth before settling the liquid inside sloshing around it's glass prison. Hartigan headed toward the bathroom of his small one bedroom cottage unbuttoning his shirt and stretching his arms back to shrug the shirt off his 6'2" frame.

There was a loud screech inducing an involuntary grimace on his face before the pitter patter of water in his shower. Standing before his mirror Hartigan possessed a hard grip on the sink his gaze mesmerized by the image being reflected back at him. The image before him seemed like a shadow of a man he once knew his dark black hair was a mess and in need of a good trim, his face was covered in scruffy stubble that stretched down over his strong chin and down his neck while his once shiny cobalt eyes now stared back at him dully and full of anguish. After staring down into the sink for an extra moment or two he finished undressing and hopped into the shower.

Sitting in his car he placed the keys in the ignition and just sat there his head falling back onto the head rest the hangover slowly leaving him as he let out a deep sigh. With a turn of the key the police car was brought to life beginning his journey through the quaint town of Dutton which would lead him to another uneventful day and for that he was thankful.

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

After a while on her porch she went back inside, shrugging on her jacket to conceal the handgun she carried on her left hip. Grabbing her wallet she stepped outside, leaving the wolf mix on the porch she headed to her big burly SUV. The drive into town was short, Katherine parked in front of the grocery store and slid out. Eyes naturally scanning the area as she walked inside. A basket was all she needed as she quietly set about gathering the items on her list.

She avoided people that she could, and kept to herself. She knew people got weirded out by her, the quietness, the wariness, and especially if people noticed the gun. She was sure people thought she was a serial killer or a terrorist. But she'd learned to not make any attachments to people, it made disappearing easier, and she always had to disappear, it was a matter of When not If. Finishing the list she headed up to the register, checking out quickly, having a polite conversation with the elderly man who owned the store, paying in cash as always, before carrying her things out to her truck and stashing them in the back. She had one more stop at the local library to drop off a few books before she headed home.

 

[JesterofTortuga]

Strolling into the small Police Department Hartigan went straight to a small break room where he poured himself a mug of coffee, it tasted of dirt and was stronger than he would have liked but the cup of joe did its job warding off the last remnants of his hangover. As he made his way to his office Hartigan would give the odd Good Morning and or subtle nod as needed to the few remaining officers and employees. Reaching his office the first thing he did after placing his mug of coffee down was to take off his jacket and place it on a rack by the sole door into his office. Standing there solemnly Hartigan just enjoyed the silence for a moment or before taking a seat behind his desk and placing a file in front of him from a stack that had piled up from the morning.

The door to his office swung open as a short petite redhead barged in, "Morning boss!" she gleefully announced before taking his mug of coffee away and replacing it with a tall paper cup. "As usual one venti whole milk, extra hot, no foam latte, with whip, a touch of vanilla and 3 sprinkles of cinnamon."

"Ah thanks and good morning Sheryl." Hartigans focus remained solely on the report before him but could feel the Sheryl still hovering which was odd as she would generally go back after bringing him her coffee. "What can I help you with Sheryl?" Hartigan queried while signing off on a report.

"Well it's just..."

"..."

"I know you said if any more reports came in about her to disregard them but..."

Hartigan let out a long sigh. "Go on."

"She's been sighted in town again this morning and they are all worried, one report even mentioned her harassing Hank at the store this morning."

"Sheryl you know just as well as I do that Hank can handle himself, he maybe old but he is more than feisty and hell you know how his aim is."

A slight tremble came across her lips as her eyes widened a soft look she shared with Hartigan.

"Ok fine if anyone else has any small town complaints about the outsider tell them I am handling it." Hardigan slid out of his chair and moved to get his jacket "I'm sure she's just some harmless writer getting away to write her masterpiece or something."

 

[AlwaysFaithful]

Katherine drove down the road towards home. She couldn't help but glance in her rear view mirror, checking to be sure she wasn't followed. Old habits died hard. Getting home, she parked and got out. Whistling, she called Romeo off the porch. The massive wolf loped to her, rubbing against her, gripping her hand in his jaws, his way of greeting her, of welcoming her home. "Hey pal," She rubbed his side before grabbing her groceries and carrying them inside. Katherine slowly and methodically put the groceries away, each item having it's own specific place, not an item out of place.

Once finished she settled down at her computer for a while, doing some work. Kat was a security consultant for a private company. She looked over blueprints, watched videos of trial runs on systems. She found the flaws, the weak spots, She discovered where someone might exploit a flaw in the system. And then she designed a better system. It was intensive and took up much of her time. But it paid very well, and she could work on her own schedule, from anywhere in the united states. So there was no concern when she had to suddenly move. In fact even her boss never knew where she lived. She was some paranoid woman in his mind, but she did good work so he never pushed.

Katherine worked for several hours before taking a break to have lunch. Making a can of soup and a sandwich she sat at her kitchen table, looking out the window, her wolf laying at her feet as hse ate. She enjoyed the quiet this place offered. And despite some nosy townfolks, she liked Dutton, the quietness of the town, the privacy it offered. She hoped that she could stay here for longer than the other places. But quietly Kat reminded herself to not get to attached to this place. She had to be able to leave at a moment's notice if she had to.