Page 80 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
Chloe glanced around, as if to check they were alone.
‘Maybe you’d find it easier to come inside?’ Ottilie asked.
Chloe nodded. ‘Yeah, I think so. I won’t stay long.’
‘Stay as long as you like.’ Ottilie forced a bright smile. ‘I’m always happy to see you and make a fuss of Mackenzie.’
‘OK,’ Chloe said, following her down the path, but Ottilie didn’t imagine for a minute she’d stay longer than she needed to.
Her hunch was proved right as Chloe went into the house with Ottilie but stood awkwardly at the front door, pushing Mackenzie’s buggy back and forth in tiny, jerking movements.
‘This is going to sound weird, and I don’t want to freak you out, but I think someone is stalking you.’
Ottilie’s grip tightened on her housekeys. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve seen a woman looking in your house. I thought it might be someone you knew looking for you, but then I asked my mum and she said you never said you’d had a visitor or anything. I mean, I know you don’t have to tell everyone when you get a visitor, but…I don’t know, I got a weird feeling about her. She looked shifty.’
‘Oh…’
They were silent for a moment. Clearly Chloe had said what she’d wanted to, and Ottilie didn’t quite know what to say in response.
Now that she thought back, it would explain the upturned plant pot she’d found a while back under her windowsill. But she wasn’t quite sure whether that made her feel better or worse.
‘I think you should watch out,’ Chloe said. ‘Maybe you should get Heath to stay over for a bit.’
While Ottilie appreciated Chloe’s concern, she wasn’t about to do that.
‘What did she look like?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘But you must…Nothing? Hair colour? Age? Anything?’
‘She had a hat on and she was a bit far away.’
Ottilie was thoughtful. Going on this, she had to wonder if it was even a woman. Could have been a man. Could have been a goblin for all the description Chloe was able to offer. Perhaps there was a far more innocent explanation – a delivery driver at the wrong house maybe. Although, it wasn’t like Chloe to be melodramatic.
‘Perhaps I could get one of those doorbells with the cameras on.’
‘Yeah, that’s a shout. You should do that.’
‘Chloe, do you want a drink? It’s no bother if?—’
‘Nah, I’m going out later. Mum will be in if you fancy a drink with her. She’s babysitting.’
Ottilie nodded. ‘Maybe not tonight. Have a good time wherever it is you’re off to. And thanks for coming over.’
‘No worries.’
Chloe turned and opened the front door, and Ottilie held it for her while she manoeuvred the pushchair out onto the garden path.
‘Bye,’ Ottilie called after her. ‘Bye-bye, Mackenzie.’
Chloe put her hand up in a vague wave and then left with a clatter of the garden gate. Ottilie frowned as she watched her go. While she was grateful for Chloe’s concern, she still didn’t know what she was meant to do with this new information. But the fact that Chloe had cared enough to come over without her mum to warn Ottilie, despite the nature of the warning, warmedOttilie. She’d found Chloe fairly impregnable – difficult to talk to and even more difficult to like – but maybe they’d turned a corner in that respect? Perhaps Chloe was beginning to see Ottilie as a peer rather than an interfering adult she had nothing in common with. Chloe had been the toughest nut to crack since Ottilie’s arrival in Thimblebury, but perhaps this could finally be the start of a proper friendship. As long as it didn’t turn out to be something sinister, then perhaps the odd stalking incident might be a catalyst for good.
Still, Ottilie needed to do something about that. She didn’t feel safe or secure enough to forget about it, though she had no idea what she could do. The camera doorbell – that could be a good start, but it wouldn’t reveal people who’d been snooping before its installation. She could ask around the village, though if anyone else had noticed someone hanging around Wordsworth Cottage, Ottilie liked to think they’d have already come to tell her, as Chloe had done. Unless they’d forgotten or hadn’t thought anything of it.
She wandered to the kitchen, deep in thought, filled the kettle and switched it on. As it boiled she got out her phone and went online to order one of the camera doorbells she’d mentioned to Chloe. The delivery time was a week, so there would be nothing in place until then, but that couldn’t be helped. Who else might have seen?
