Plain Jane (Preview)

Chapter 5

Jane ran back to the door leading to the rooftop, but before she could open it, footsteps rang out from the metal grate steps inside. Security was already charging toward her location, and Jane needed a way out. Looking around, there was only one option, and that was to jump. On one end of the rooftop, a lower part of the building looked like it had access back into the mall. Being pressed for time, Jane ran across the roof while the sound of gravel rolling under her feet rang out. The next thing she knew, she was jumping from one side of the building down to the next.

Those few brief moments of being in free fall scared Jane, but at the same time, they were the most peaceful of her life. For those moments, her life wasn't in her hands, and whatever happened, happened, and that would be that. Flailing through the air, her feet made contact with the gravel surface of the lower rooftop. Jane's body rolled before quickly getting back up and began sprinting. Although her knees were killing her now. Jane didn't know what sort of damage they had taken from the fall, but she didn't have the time to check.

Behind her, on the rooftop above, she heard the metal door squeal open and then banged against its metal threshold. Another second, and they would hear her, but thankfully she was at the door and swung it open before entering. Finding herself on one of the landings in the stairwell, Jane grabbed the handle on the closing door and slowly helped it along to minimize any sound. She was home free and turned around in the stairwell before quickly finding out her assumption was wrong. Already standing behind her was a small team of security guards accompanied by two police officers.

"Freeze!" One of the men yelled out as Jane immediately fired her hands over her head, and the police officers' attempts at intimidating faces faded. They pushed past the security guards so that they stood directly in front of Jane.

"Can I help you, officers?" Jane asked since they looked more annoyed than angry with her.

"Are you the one that stole the purse?" The officer asked while Jane had completely forgotten about the bag bouncing on her elbow as she kept her hands in the air.

"No, I was the one that got it back," Jane responded just as the man's radio started to hiss, then another voice came through the static.

"Yea, we have a deceased body. Matches the description of the thief. Over." The voice cut out as the officer looking at Jane went to respond to the message on his radio. "We have a suspect here; we're bringing her in. Tell the chief."

Hearing those words gave Jane some form of emotional relief since, no matter what, she'd be dealing with her mother, to who she could explain everything. Still, she wondered why they wanted to let her know. Jane could have been anyone's kid and knew that her mother hardly ever came out of hiding, let alone for a minor theft or even a single homicide. Then again, Jane didn't really care as the officers forced Jane's hands down and held them behind her back as they cuffed her. Once she was secure, she felt one of them take Jenna's purse from her hand while the other said, "Take this back to the girl that lost it."

Having no choice but to accept what happened next, Jane was paraded down the steps as a hostage and out the back service door of the mall. Outside, the police cars were sitting idle; but some of them were running, and she assumed she'd be shoved into the backseat of one of them. Jane was told to wait as she leaned on the side of one of the rumbling vehicles. The cops then left her there. She could have run, but there wasn't any point. Jane was severely outnumbered, and breaking a set of cuffs wasn't really her strong suit. With that on her mind, she stood there and waited for the unknown, except the unknown sounded more familiar than Jane anticipated.

A few minutes had passed when a low rumbling sound came from the side of the building. All the officers present got out of their cars in unison and stood beside them to watch as a black Shelby Mustang pulled up into the alleyway. Like Jane, the officers were aware of the car's driver. The vehicle stopped in front of her as she took a deep breath, and the door swung open, allowing a man in a white shirt and a black blazer to step out. Adjusting the glasses on his face, he turned to look at Jane and shook his head.