Creepy Old Dude

Damn it.

Bob knows that Rosanne already thinks he speaks to her like a creepy old dude. Now she sees Bob following her. Another word for this behavior is called "stalking." He is a creepy old dude who is also a stalker.

Rosanne clicks on her phone screen to hang up. After putting the phone back to her bag, she places her hands on her hips. "Um, what are you doing here? Do you happen to walk past here?"

"That's right. I am just walking by." Bob cannot be more humiliated, but he tries to remain calm.

"Walking by a parking lot to get to your car? Which I know you don't have?"

"How do you know I don't have a car?"

"Never you mind how I get the information. Everything I know is through the police headquarter, and I know quite a lot about you," Rosanne pauses to glare at him.

Bob isn't sure what she is thinking right now. She doesn't seem to be super upset.

Rosanne continues to say: "There are still many things I don't know about you, however. For example, how are you planning on getting my bicycle back? I remember clearly that you said you were going to be responsible for my bike." Rosanne stares at Bob.

"Well, yeah, exactly. That's why I'm here. To get a patrol vehicle, and drive you to where you lock your bicycle." Bob quickly says.

"That makes no sense. Why didn't you just contact me and let me know you were going to do that?"

"Oh, of course. I was going to call you in a minute. But you spotted me first, ha ha." Bob laughs to cover up his lies. He totally forgot about Rosanne's bicycle.

Rosanne looks around the parking lot and then says, "Well, let's just walk towards where I left my bike. It's not that far. That way, you can get on to a subway station afterwards, and I can ride my bicycle away. I'd rather walk and reduce carbon footprints anyway. Also, at this hour, driving in Manhattan is probably slower than walking."

Rosanne then walks on, making a small gesture for Bob to come along with her. But only after a few steps walking with her, Bob thinks to himself-- well, if Rosanne just wants to walk to get her bicycle, why does she need me to walk with her? She could have just walked there by herself. This is quite unnecessary. Oh well, I don't want to be a jerk and tell her to go on her own.

As Bob walks on with Rosanne, he realizes he is not quite sure how to make a small talk with young people these days. Maybe it's a good thing Bob never has children or grandchildren. He would've had a hard time connecting with them. Although Bob appears to be like a 23-year-old young man, he cannot think of the young people around him like his peers. He views them as kids. He thinks Rosanne is just a young girl as well.

Rosanne does strangely remind Bob of a Russian woman he met long time ago. That was when he was still a CIA agent, living in a small apartment in Moscow. There was a lady living right downstairs. She was a kind of pretty. Stern, but had a nice face. Red hair as well. She would volunteer to tell him where to shop for food, for clothes. Even tried to show him how to catch busses. Although, Bob... or Robert at the time, didn't really need all that information, since he had his own secret way of finding things out, he still really appreciated that lady. He, at one point, felt having a crush on that Russian lady.

Seeing him silent, Rosanne turns her head towards him and says, "I have to ask you about something though, Robert."

Bob is so shocked to hear that she calls him "Robert." Bob almost wants to stop walking but he must not show his surprise.

"What do you want to ask?"

"I hear that you had FBI training and qualification? Then why did you work for NYPD then? That's kind of a step down in terms of your career."

Bob is instantly relieved. She probably just saw some HR personnel file on him and wants to know about his background.

Bob then explains, "Oh, it's nothing. FBI is not for me. Too busy. I'd like a comfortable and stable position. Like what I have with the records department."

"Hmm," Rosanne doesn't look like she believes it.

"Why did you call me Robert though?" He chuckles, trying to sound casual about it.

"Well, you called me Annie a few times, which is not really the name I told you. So I decided to call you something else, too."

"But I'm not going to call you Annie anymore. "

"OK. I was just joking about the Annie part. To be honest, I snooped around your desk one time when both you and Jack stepped out of the office."

"What!?" Bob is very shocked.

"And I found a very worn out little leather wallet that you don't use but you kept with your belongings. Inside, it has several ID cards. Many of the cards bear the name 'Robert Smith.' And that is the one you used before you assume the identity of Bob."

F**k!!!!! That old wallet is in his hidden drawer at work. He had a hidden box inside a hidden layer of the drawer. He kept it there in case he needed his old ID numbers to access something else. He doesn't keep track of all his ID card numbers. And he definitely forgets the made-up addresses that he put on his ID cards, which he might need sometimes.

Bob is outraged. Why is this girl touching his personal stuff!?

Bob is about to reprimand her, but she turns around and grab his shirt like a street gangster,

"Look, I went to look at your stuff because I think you are shady as hell. There is something suspicious about you."

"Hey!" Bob tries to get her hands off his shirt.

"I may not be a detective, but I can tell something is fishy. You were super reluctant to have any publicity with NYPD, which made me suspect you had something to hide. As if you are some kind of fugitive on the run. And then Kasim Bashar once told me you had FBI trainings. Yes, at first I was impressed. You seemed kind of... interesting and intelligent," Rosanne stops, loosens her grip on his shirt. She has a shy look on her face briefly, and she seems to suddenly realize that she is physically close to Bob.

"I did see that on your HR profile, there is a footnote saying you have had FBI trainings. But then, after I checked out FBI's website, I found out that there was no way you could be trained with the FBI years ago. You were lying. I don't know why Bashar or anyone never questioned it."

"Huh?" Bob is surprised that this is direction that she is going with. It makes him want to laugh a little now.

Because she is wrong. She starts out strong, suspecting him, which is good observation, actually. But she is now incorrect about him.

His former identity and his real identity, Robert Smith, was indeed an FBI agent for years.

Rosanne continues to say, "You would have been too young to be qualified to be an FBI agent. So you probably bragged and lied to everyone how great you were."

Bob can't help but scratch his own chin. She is wrong. But, he kind of wants Rosanne to misunderstand him.

She continues, "Look, I don't care why you have so many fake IDs. As long as you don't do something stupid, I'll not reveal your secret. OK, Robert Smith?"

"OK. But next time, try to resist looking trough my personal belongings, OK? If you are curious about me, you can just say so."

Rosanne makes that face again-- the face where she seems to have swallow a bubble and her cheeks become round, "But you probably would have just lied about it. So I thought I had to look. I thought you could be a con man or a criminal. I was only doing that for security reason."

"Yeah right." Bob smirks.

"It's true. And, If I ask you, I'll never get your real name out of you. I am very certain that your real name is Robert Smith, according to all the ID cards I saw. At least, that seems to be a name you prefer to use more frequently in the past. I will be secretly calling you Robert from now on."

Bob sighs. "I guess this is why you wanted me to walk with you. To show me what you found out about me."

"Oh..., yeah." She says.

"Well, after you get your bicycle, may I ask you some more questions as well?" He asks,

She looks up, face flushed. "Um... what do you want to ask me about? Is it going to be long?"

"Yeah. It will take long. We can talk maybe over a dinner?"

"Huh?"

"Because I've got a feeling that you won't answer my questions straightforward. I need a little more time with you."

Oh, Bob. He hasn't noticed that what he just said is basically asking her out to dinner.

Would Rosanne think he sounds like a creepy old dude again?