Chapter 158 Mystery Woman
CAITLYN'S POV
The first time I saw her I thought nothing of it because people stand outside buildings all the time and it does not mean anything and I was not at a point yet where I was looking for things to be scared of even though the fear was still there underneath everything.
I was coming back from the grocery store on a Wednesday afternoon and I had Emma in the stroller and two bags hanging off the handles and the woman was standing across the street near the corner and she was just standing there looking at our building and when I looked at her she looked away and I walked inside and forgot about it.
The second time was two days later and I was taking Emma for a walk around the block and the woman was on the same side of the street as us maybe half a block back and she was walking in the same direction we were walking and I slowed down to see if she would pass us and she slowed down too and that was when I started paying attention.
She was not close enough for me to see her face clearly but I could see she was a woman and she looked like she was maybe in her forties and she had dark hair and she was wearing a grey jacket and she was not doing anything threatening she was just there and she was following the same path we were following and she slowed down when I slowed down.
I turned around and went back home and I looked over my shoulder twice and both times she had stopped walking and was just standing there watching and I went inside and I locked the door and I stood in the hallway for a minute trying to decide if I was overreacting.
I did not say anything to Jason that night because I was not sure enough yet and I did not want to scare him over something that might be nothing.
The third time was at the pharmacy and that was when I knew it was nothing.
I had gone to pick up Emma's prescription and I was at the counter waiting and I turned around to look at something on the shelf and the woman was in the aisle behind me and she was looking at something on the shelf but she was not actually looking at it because her eyes kept coming back to me and when I made eye contact with her she turned away too fast.
I paid for the prescription and I walked out and I stopped right outside the door and waited and a minute later she came out and she saw me standing there and she stopped walking and we looked at each other for just a second and then she turned and walked the other way quickly.
She was not threatening. She did not say anything. She did not come close to me or do anything that felt aggressive and that was actually the part that confused me because if she wanted to hurt me she had plenty of chances and she had not taken any of them so I did not know what she wanted and not knowing was worse in some ways than if she had just been obviously dangerous.
I went home and Jason was there and I sat down and I said "I need to tell you something."
"What happened," he said and he sat down next to me right away because he could hear in my voice that it was serious.
"There is a woman who has been watching me," I said. "I have seen her three times now and the first time I thought it was nothing but now I know it is nothing."
"What do you mean by watching you," he said.
"Outside our building," I said. "And when I was taking Emma for a walk she followed us. And today she was at the pharmacy at the same time as me and she was watching me from the aisle and when I went outside and waited for her she saw me and walked away fast."
"What does she look like," Jason said.
"Dark hair," I said. "Maybe forties. She wears a grey jacket. She is not big and she does not look dangerous but that is what makes it weird because she just watches. She does not do anything. She just watches."
"She has followed you three times," Jason said.
"Three times that I have noticed," I said. "There could be more times I did not notice."
"Why did you not tell me after the second time," he said.
"Because I was not sure," I said. "I did not want to make it into something if it was nothing."
"Three times is nothing," he said.
"I know that now," I said. "That is why I am telling you."
"Did she say anything to you," he said. "Any time. Did she ever try to talk to you?"
"No," I said. "She never comes close enough. Every time I look at her she looks away. When I waited outside the pharmacy she just turned and left."
"So she is watching but she is not trying to make contact," Jason said.
"Right," I said. "And she is not doing anything scary exactly but it does not feel right. It feels like she wants something but I do not know what."
"Could she be a reporter," Jason said.
"She does not have a camera," I said. "And reporters usually try to talk to you eventually. She has not tried to talk to me once."
"Okay," Jason said and he stood up and he was already thinking about what to do next and I could see it on his face. "I am going to figure out who she is."
"How," I said.
"I am going to find her," he said. "If she is watching our building she will come back and when she comes back I am going to talk to her."
"Jason I do not want you to do anything that makes it worse," I said.
"I am just going to talk to her," he said. "That is all. I just want to know who she is and what she wants."
"Okay," I said. "But be careful."
"I will be careful," he said. "I promise."
I looked at him and I believed him and I also felt relieved that I had told him because carrying it alone for three days had been making everything feel heavier and now at least we knew about it together which was always better.