Fugitive

Chapter 8: "He's Gonna Hurt Me."

Nicole has been a ginormous mess for the past few days. Her parents have no idea what's going on, the police have no idea, nor do the town folks.
Nicole told her father she needed some time off from the store. Her father agreed and let Nicole take a few days off while him and Hope ran the shop.
Nicole is receiving multiple texts from JJ stating he's going to do rotten things to her. The young woman is completely petrified. She's home alone and just needs to get out and maybe go have a cup of coffee.
She gets into her car when she notices she has four flat tires. She gets out and all four of her tires have been completely slashed on purpose. Nicole huffs and puffs. She pulls out her cell phone to call her mother. She explains to her all four of her tires have been slashed. Her mother's voice shows a bit of concern and comes home immediately.
"Who would do such a thing?" Her mother questions.
Deputy Paul Rodgers just so happens to be driving by. He thought he would be nice and greet the Andersons. "Hey Hope and Nicole how's it going?" He says with excitement and he tips his brown immaculate cowboy hat. His mustache is well groomed. Deputy Rodgers never left the 1970's.
"Well not good Deputy Rodgers. Someone slashed Nicole's tires last night while we were sleeping." She says putting her hands on her petite hips.
"Well that's not good." He says frowning.
"Did you piss off a customer?" He jokes around.
"No Deputy Rodgers." She says nervously.
"Honey, is there something going on?" Her mother asks in a concerned tone.
"Nothing is going on mom. Just. Just leave me alone." She starts to cry and darts back into the house.
Nicole's mom frowns as she sees her daughter in tears which is extremely rare.
"Mrs. Anderson, do you know who would do this to Nicole?" Rodgers asks removing his cowboy hat.
"No, I don't." She replies biting her red painted nails.
"Any new people she hanging around? I mean I know she's a grown adult so she might not tell you anything." He says sounding like Dr. Phil.
"Well, I mean she met this one young man through the store. Her and him were kind of dating for a bit. Like they literally just met."
"Do you know anything about this young man?" He asks
"Well his name is Joseph Jennings. People call him JJ."
"Wait." He cuts her off. "Isn't that the same young man the two other deputies were asking about the other night?"
"Yes, that's exactly who it was!" She exclaims and put her hand on Deputy Rodger's shoulder.
"We did a little research on that fella. It turns out he's from Orlando, Florida not Fort Myers."
"Are you sure? Because Nicole told me that's where he originated from."
"No ma'am the boy was lying. Why he would lie about such a thing? Well that beats me." He says shrugging predominantly.
"That's really odd." She now puts her finger to her lip.
"Listen ma'am, I'm gonna take some fingerprint swabs from Nicole's car. We will get back with you maybe he can find the individual who did this."
Hope forms prayer hands and slightly bends her knees. "Thank you Deputy Rodgers."
"My pleasure." He replies.
He takes a few swabs from Nicole's car and seals them up in a zip lock bag. Once he collects his evidence he says his goodbyes to Mrs. Anderson and proceeds drive away.
Meanwhile back in the house Nicole hibernates in her bedroom. Her mom decides to let her be and just get the rest she needs for the day.