Stranger 1
"Over the course of a one day, if you live in a major city you cross paths with about 100 people." Ebbe remembered hearing a some TV show the other night and had thought there is no way that could be true. I mean she lived in a big city, well biggish, Minneapolis, and took public transportation to and from work occasionally, but there was no way she saw 100 people a day? Maybe over the course of a week. Then again how often has had she been counting the people she saw on a daily basis. It was one of those facts, that she heard and then thought she should definitely google that later. Then again she was pretty sure it was on one those Murder death kill shows, so it probably wasn't true at all, she thought the second part of it was that based on that daily average, she was likely to come across at least 41 murderers during her life time! So maybe that is why she didn't necessarily but much thought into the 100 daily number and more on the 41.
She also had taken the subway today, mostly because it was so cold that her car wouldn't start and she had no other choice, but mostly because she wanted to see if she could spot the murderer today. It was more of a game, she had always loved to people watch. But now days with smart phones, it wasn't the same. And you always caught weird looks if your face wasn't buried in your device. But she had found a few good spots recently to indulge in her favorite pass time. But today's viewing was sparse, the pandemic coupled with sub zero temperatures had keep most people off the subway and those on it, most likely were there just for the warmth.
Only five people where on her train when she boarded and by they time they reached her spot, maybe 3 or 4 had come and gone. But she had taken detailed mental notes and was when she reached her office she took some time to construct a mini-murder board on the spare notepad. She detail the following potential murders.. or just normal people who happened to share the subway with me today. First she thought she should jot down the pet names she had for each, then she could fill in the details, that way she wouldn't forget anyone.
Wanna be Cat lady
Emo punk rocker
homeless Ted Cruz
homeless Ted Mosby
Patrick Bateman
Silvo
Tourist couple
Alright now for the details and maybe then I should rank them on Murder potential she thought.
Wanna be cat lady - Smelly, could have been homeless or just liked to wear layers, older weathered face, carrying a package from the PetPros. Murderer potential, low, seemed to smile at everyone that got on and off the subway, or maybe she has already started with animals.. Still also couldn't see her pulling off a crime of passion.
Emo Punk rocker - a walking cliche, and a walking popsicle. She understands the need to express yourself, but skinny jeans and trainer jacket is close to suicide in this cold. Murder potential, next to nothing, he was too stupid to pull off a murder. However she guessed he could easily get behind the wheel and take someone out, so maybe he actually was the most likely subject.
She stopped for a second and thought about her current morbid thinking. It didn't really matter. So she pressed on..
The homeless Teds, two white males, battling different degrees of homeless-ness she though, Cruz looked fatter, plumper and had an arrogant reproachful look to everyone else, almost like he thought he was better than them. While Mosby was younger and skinner and kinda looked the lead from the TV shows. Murder potential : Cruz high, he looked like a serial killer, or maybe she just really didn't like him. While Mosby she could see waxing poetically about the morning dew, or killing his friend over some meth.
Patrick Bateman.. Damn he had slipped her mind, she couldn't remember if looked like Christian Bale's character in American Psycho or Jason Bateman the actor.
Silvo, was ethnic, but she wasn't 100 percent sure. It was bad she now assumed Italian, and that put her at the top her murder board because of you know Organized crime and terrible outdated stereotypes. He was also wearing what she thought was a gold pinkie ring, which solidified her mental picture of him as a mafioso.
Tourist couple - got on towards the end, had a few bags. Line ends at the airport. When they first got on she thought it could be a loveless marriage that leads one snuffing the other out. But then they set about for the weirdest PDA she had every seen. Even thought it was little unsettling. She thought it knocked them down on the murderer potential.
She put down her pen and look over her murder list and thought, gotta be one of the Teds. She then ripped the paper off the pad and crumpled it up and tossed into the trashcan. Powered up her computer and logged into her workstation.
Stranger 2
- Was going to pick one of the people from the murder board and tell about their subway experience.