Like I Promised

A woman living under the radar in fear of the serial killer she helped put behind bars, is alerted to his escape and begins packing only to discover she is a sitting duck held hostage by her nosy neighbor who also has reason to wait for the killer's arrival.

Shelley James (40s) lives in fear. She has no phone, no internet, no car, and an expired government ID - nothing to show where she is in the world. She is an editor for a small imprint and gets assignments daily delivered by a college student (Lyle, 20) who caters to her exact timetable.

Her boring life is overseen by her nosey next-door neighbor, Ida Borkowsky (70s), who keeps tabs on all the comings and goings.

When Shelley gets a writing assignment for a short story entitled “I’ll Find you, Joan Atkins,” Shelley has a complete meltdown, hides in the hallway, and is suspicious of all the normal sights and sounds of the neighborhood.

Mrs. Borkowsky comes over to make sure everything is okay pointing out that Shelley does everything like clockwork and when the lights didn’t come on, she was worried.

The next morning, Shelley’s appearance worries Lyle, as does her request for some burner phones.

Their boss, Byron Patrick (50s), arrives later with the requested phones. He informs Shelley that the man she helped put behind bars, Duane Stiller, has escaped. A telephone call reveals that he is still at large after having shot and killed the Detective in charge of the case.

Mrs. Borkowsky brings some cake over, allegedly because Byron is a good-looking man with a nice car, but really to pump for more information.

Later when Shelley is packing her belongings to escape, Mrs. Borkowsky comes over to help pack.

Byron shows up hoping to get Shelley to the airport, but it becomes clear that Mrs. Borkowsky will not allow them to leave.

When Duane Stiller (40s) does show up, Mrs. Borkowsky has an opportunity to shoot him as he is breaking into the house, but she refused to do so. She wants Duane to see her face.

Mrs. Borkowsky has been waiting 18 years to kill Duane and does not rush the progress. She wants to experience the sweet taste of revenge.

It is revealed that Duane killed her daughter, and the reason Mrs. Borkowsky was living next door to Shelley was that Shelley served as a sitting duck. Mrs. Borkowsky knew that if Duane ever escaped, he would come looking for Shelley because he promised to kill anyone who put him behind bars.