About forty-five minutes later, Kate was hurriedly changing out of her uniform in the ladies' room. Dagon had finished his dessert and coffee and bid her goodnight and she was free to go home. She put on the lightweight beige suit that fit her voluptuous form tightly, remembering that it was in that very suit that she and Tim had been married. God, she needed some new clothes! She knew it would be quite a while before she would be able to buy clothes, unless Tim had found a job today. But she knew that he probably would have called her long ago if he had found work. More than likely he was home asleep and snoring right now, having had still another bad case of "writer's block". She surveyed herself in the mirror, her long hair curled softly around her face and fell to her shoulders, and she looked more like a budding starlet than a waitress. She was too tired to apply any lipstick to her soft full lips. After all, she thought, Tim never even looked at her when she got home. What did it matter? By the time she left Alfie's, stepping out into the cool San Francisco night, she was deeply depressed. She paused a moment in front of the door and took a deep breath of fresh air, then she turned to walk to the bus stop a block away.

When Kate had gotten about halfway up the street, she noticed that there was a big black car moving slowly down the street behind her. She was afraid at first, but then she told herself, that that was silly, such things only happened in the movies… the car couldn't have anything to do with her! Nevertheless, she quickened her pace as she walked, casting occasional nervous glances over her shoulder.

Cruising in the big black Mercedes, Sam Dagon finally made up his mind. He had gone this far, he might as well go a little further. He wanted this girl, and he intended to have her. She would make a nice addition to his household… A very nice one!

He accelerated and drove past Kate, stopping at the corner where he knew from having watched before that she would go to wait for the bus. He leaned over and opened the door, as he pulled up and waited for Kate to arrive.