Chapter 159 Investigating the Stalker
JASON'S POV
I started watching for her the next morning and I did not tell Caitlyn exactly what I was doing because I did not want her to worry more than she already was so I just said I was going to hang around the apartment for a while and she said okay and I sat near the window where I could see the street below without being obvious about it.
She did not show up that morning and she did not show up that afternoon and I started to think maybe she had noticed Caitlyn waiting outside the pharmacy and got spooked and was not coming back but then the next morning I looked out the window at around ten and she was there.
She was standing across the street near the same corner Caitlyn had described and she was looking up at our building and she had the grey jacket on and her hands were in her pockets and she was not doing anything except standing there and looking.
I went downstairs fast and I went out the front door and I crossed the street and I walked directly toward her and she did not notice me until I was pretty close because she was focused on the building and when she finally looked at me her eyes went wide and she turned and started walking away quickly.
"Hey," I said and I walked faster. "Stop. I just want to talk to you."
She kept walking and I kept pace with her and I said "I am not going to do anything. I just want to know who you are."
She looked back at me over her shoulder and then she started running and I ran after her and she turned a corner and then another corner and she was fast but I was faster and I caught up to her on the next block and I stepped in front of her and she stopped.
She was breathing hard and so was I and we stood there on the sidewalk looking at each other and I got a clear look at her face for the first time and she looked scared which was not what I expected.
"I am not going to hurt you," I said. "I just want to know why you have been watching my girlfriend."
She did not say anything and she looked like she was trying to figure out if she could get past me.
"I am just going to keep asking," I said. "Who are you and why are you watching Caitlyn?"
"I cannot tell you that," she said and her voice was quiet and she had an accent I could not immediately place.
"You are going to have to tell someone," I said. "Because what you are doing is not okay and if you do not tell me I am going to call the police and you can tell them."
She looked at me when I said police and something moved across her face that I could not read and she said "Please do not call the police."
"Then talk to me," I said.
She looked around like she was checking if anyone was watching and then she looked back at me and she said "I cannot talk here."
"Then where," I said.
"I do not know," she said.
"That is not an answer," I said.
She pressed her lips together and she looked like she was making a decision about something and then she said "I know who you are. You are Jason. You are with Caitlyn Cross."
"How do you know my name," I said.
"I have been paying attention," she said.
"To what," I said.
"To everything," she said. "The trials. The news. Everything that has happened."
"Who are you," I said again.
She shook her head and she said "I cannot tell you here" and then she stepped around me and walked away and this time I let her go because something about the way she was acting told me chasing her again was not going to get me anywhere.
I stood there on the sidewalk and watched her go and I pulled out my phone and I called Rourke.
He picked up after two rings. "Jason," he said. "What is going on?"
"I found the woman who has been watching Caitlyn," I said. "I confronted her and she ran and I caught her and we talked for about a minute but she would not tell me who she was."
"What did she say," Rourke said.
"She said she knows who I am and she knows who Caitlyn is and she has been following the trials and the news," I said. "She asked me not to call the police."
"Did she threaten Caitlyn at all," Rourke said.
"No," I said. "She just watched. Every time Caitlyn saw her she did not do anything threatening. She just looked and then left. And when I confronted her today she looked scared. Not dangerous. Scared."
"That is interesting," Rourke said.
"I thought so too," I said. "She is not acting like someone who wants to hurt Caitlyn. She is acting like someone who wants something but does not know how to ask for it."
"Did you get a good look at her," Rourke said.
"Yeah," I said. "Dark hair. Forties probably. Medium height. She has an accent. I could not tell exactly where from."
"I am going to look into it," Rourke said. "If she has been in the area for a few days there might be traffic cameras or something that picked her up. I can run her description and see what comes back."
"You think she is connected to Hayes," I said.
"I do not know yet," Rourke said. "Could be. Could be something else entirely. The fact that she is scared and not threatening makes me think it is not a direct threat but I am not going to assume anything."
"What do we do in the meantime," I said.
"Keep your eyes open," Rourke said. "If she comes back call me right away. Do not confront her again. Just call me and let me handle it."
"Okay," I said.
"And Jason," Rourke said. "Tell Caitlyn to be careful. Not scared. Just careful. She should not go out alone until we figure out who this woman is."
"I will tell her," I said.
I hung up and I walked back toward home and I kept thinking about the woman's face and about the way she said please do not call the police and how scared she looked and how none of it made sense to me yet but it felt like there was something bigger behind it that I was not seeing and that feeling stayed with me the whole way home.