Mysterious Stranger

A photographer finds that many/all of his (or her) recent pictures contain the same person. This is coincidence -- the photog does not know or recognize the person. One detail is visible and allows the photog to track them down.

What happens next? Literotica authors write finish the story.

The Beginning: (submitted by Pennlady)

"Well, this is weird." Jake Robinson frowned as he flipped through the pictures on his Canon digital camera. "Really weird."

He took his camera over to his computer and hooked it up. While the pictures copied over, he grabbed a beer and sat down. Selecting a picture at random, he opened it in a preview program. Yes, there she was.

As a photographer for the local newspaper and their website, Jake had pictures of a local 10K charity run, a summer festival at the township park, and other town events over the last two weeks. As he clicked through the photos, his incredulity built.

The same woman was in every picture. She had dark hair and a right red coat; the coat started to stand out like a beacon in the images.

Who could she be? It wasn't right that she was in all of the pictures, he thought. That defied the law of averages or something. He sighed. Even if the odds were against it, there it was, and he didn't know how to find her. Absently, he paged through the pictures again until one caught his eye.

He'd caught the woman in the act of opening a car door. Since he'd been slightly behind the car, he'd managed to get the license plate. He reached for the phone while staring at the screen, then glanced down to dial.

"Hey, Michelle? Can you do me a favor? I need to look up a license plate. No, no, it's nothing. Just curiosity. Please? Thanks." He read the plate to his sister. "No hurry. Thanks again."

** ** **

(RoyceConnors' finish)

Michelle called back a few minutes later and told him about the licence number.

"Wait, you're telling me that car was demolished in an accident four years ago? That can't be right. I just saw it and it looked like new. Who was the driver?"

The description of the woman matched his subject in the photos he had to a tee. He told Michele thanks and slowly hung up the phone, staring at the screen and the woman in the red coat.

He shook his head trying to make sense of it, but one thing was factual about it. She was beautiful. He scrolled back and forth through the pictures and enhanced shots of her, zooming in on her face. He printed them off and went to his arm chair with a drink and looked at each one carefully.

Something was as familiar about her, as it was mysterious, but nothing was coming to him, until he remembered back four years ago. There was something gnawing at his mind to remember it, a connection that made sense of everything. He saw the pose in one of the shots and there it was, the missing part that started making sense of everything.

He went back to his computer and pulled up the newspaper's website. He scanned through headlines of events that happened four years ago and then there she was, The headline screamed the facts, but his pictures contradicted it. He looked at the photos again and confirmed it was the same woman, but how?

** ** **

** ** **

(3113's finish)

Michelle called back right away. "I thought there was something funny when you read me that number. It hasn't been issued yet."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the plate hasn't been created yet, brother mine. Either those were bogus plates or you read them wrong."

"Um...yeah. I, uh, don't think they were bogus. I think I read 'em wrong like you said. Thanks, sis."

He hung up, feeling very odd inside. He'd lied to his sister, of course. The plate numbers were crystal clear in the photo. Studying the picture, he also noticed that the car was odd as well. Sleek and sporty, it didn't quite stand out as different, but it didn't seem right either. Weird, weird, weird.

Maybe if he went back to the scene of the...crime? Event? He grabbed his keys and threw open the door.

There she was standing on his doormat and he barely checked his forward step. Glossy hair, dark as his own, red coat. Her lips were full and parted as if in wonder, her cheeks flushed with what might be excitement or embarrassment or maybe just the snap of cold in the air.

She was wearing some kind of perfume, flowery and delicate. His rush out the door and sudden stop had him close enough to smell it, to make out powdery softness of her cheeks. Eye to eye with her. Brown like his. Where had he seen them before?

"Hi," she breathed, the first to speak. "I'm breaking all kinds of rules, but it's no longer enough to just keep watching you."

"Watching me?" the words barely registered. Who would want to watch him? He wasn't anyone special.

"Yes. The race is a nexus, you see, meaning a place where I'm allowed to go to see you." She went silent for a minute, staring at him intently. "In person."

Ah, fuck. She was one of those off-her-meds types. He'd better shut the door and call the cops. Now. But those eyes. "Look, Miss, I dunno who you are or why you're watching me—" he tried.

"I know," she cut him off. "I know how I'm sounding and what you're thinking. But I'm breaking the rules by cutting outside the nexus both in place and date. Which means we haven't much time.

She pushed past him. Just swept in without a by-your-leave and he would never be able to say later why he let her do it. Except that when her shoulder touched his it was like getting an electric shock. Moving as if she knew where she was going, she hurried past the living room zigging and zagging right to his studio. He found himself hurrying to catch up.

"Hey, wait—just wait a minute—!"

He found her standing before his board of print-outs. She was staring most intently at a set of photos he'd taken last year while on a camping trip. He come upon a beautiful young lady, naked and bathing under a waterfall. Far from being shy, she'd posed for his pictures, then invited him to join her. They'd had a wonderful time warming each other up in those icy clear waters. Then they'd found a spot on the rocks and gotten very intimate.

He'd given her his contact numbers, but she'd been coy, saying only that she'd e-mail him. She never had, and all he had of her were the pictures. He'd never eve learned her name.

"Of all your photos, these have always been my favorites," the young woman in his studio said.

"Yeah, sure, right." He'd never shown those photos to anyone. No doubt about it, this girl was crazy and trouble. He reached to his pocket for his phone, then froze. Wait. He glanced at the girl in the picture, then back at the woman who was now unbuttoning her jacket.

It was almost the same face. Except for the eyes. The eyes brown as his own. Her coat slipped off. She was wearing nothing underneath, and her body was very much like that of the girl in the photo, there under the waterfall.

"You conceived me on that day," she said, turning around. Her areolae were tight, the nipples erect. Her hands smoothed down her hips, sending his eyes down below, to a clean shaven pussy with a small barcode tattoo.

** ** **

** ** **

(Privates1stClass's finish)

About half an hour later, Michelle called him back. She sounded confused.

"Jake, the BMV says those license plates belong to you. I'd think you'd recognize your own plates."

"That's the thing, Michelle, those plates aren't on my car."

"What kind of car did you say it was?"

"It's a late model tan Toyota Corolla, and my car is a silver Subaru."

"That's strange," Michelle said. "Probably some BMV fuckup. You'd better contact them and get it straightened out before you get a parking ticket for a car you don't own."

"Well, thanks anyway," Jake said, scratching his head. "Bye."

Jake went out to his garage and double-checked his license plates. They contained the same numbers as the one's in the photo.

It had been a long day and he decided to go to bed. Perhaps he'd had one too many beers and his mind was playing tricks on him.

The next morning, Jake went out on assignment with his camera again. Now that he was aware of the unknown woman's image in his photos, he looked for her in the crowd, but didn't see anyone in a red coat with dark hair the entire time he was out.

When he reviewed the photos he'd taken on his digital camera, the unknown woman was on every one of them.

"This is too damned weird," he told himself.

Her image must have been added by the camera, but he couldn't imagine how something like that could happen. It was almost like an instant, automatic Photoshop modification was being applied to all his photos.

Back at the office, he was pondering the strange transformation of his photos, when he happened to glance out the door and caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman in a red coat walking down the hall.

He jumped out of his chair, ran to the door, and looked down the hall in the direction the woman was walking, but there was no one there.

"I'm losing my fucking mind," Jake said to himself.

It was lunch time and his friend, Bill, asked he'd like to join him for lunch. Bill drove to a local fast food restaurant, and as they were about to enter the front door, Jake saw a tan Toyota pull away from the drive-through. It had the same license plate number as the one on his car.

Jake started running after the Toyota, but it had already turned down the street and sped away. He stopped and returned to the restaurant door.

"What's gotten into you?" Bill asked. He thought Jake looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Oh, I thought it was someone I knew," Jake lied. By now, Jake's hands were trembling.

They went back to the office after lunch and Jake couldn't get any work done, because he was constantly thinking about the woman in the red coat.

Around 3 PM, the receptionist called Jake to come to her desk. She said he had two visitors. When Jake arrived at the receptionist's desk, he discovered his visitors were two police officers.

"We need you to come with us," the first officer said. "We're taking you downtown for questioning."

"Please tell me what this is about," Jake pleaded. "I haven't done anything."

"You'll find out down at the station. Come with us."

Jake wondered what was going to happen to him as they drove downtown. At the station, Jake was introduced to a Detective Staunton and taken to a room for questioning.

Detective Staunton got to the point. "We've received a complaint from a woman who claims you've been stalking her. She got your license plate number and that led us to you. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Jake felt like he'd been gored in the stomach by a charging bull.

"This is getting more bizarre by the minute," he said. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to pin on me, but I haven't been stalking anyone."

Telling the police that the woman in the red coat was in every one of his photos would surely prove that he really was stalking her, so he kept his mouth shut about his photos.

"She says wherever she goes, you're there with your camera, taking pictures of her. She also gave us her schedule. I want you to tell me where you were on the following dates," Detective Staunton demanded. "Where were you on the 15th?"

Jake had to recall his schedule. "Let's see, the 15th was a Monday. That Monday I was sent on assignment to the Rest Haven cemetery to take pictures of damage vandals had done to some of the headstones."

"Okay, were you at the 10K charity run on the 16th?"

"Yes, but again I was on assignment with the paper."

"How about the summer festival on the 19th?"

Jake thought about the date, "Yes I think that was the date I was on assignment there, too."

"And the 20th, where were you?" Detective Staunton asked.

Jake replayed his schedule in his head for a few seconds. "I was across town for the ribbon cutting at the new bridge."

"Does the name 'Annette Thompson' mean anything to you?" Detective Staunton asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"She tells us that you were sexually involved with her several years ago, and that you fathered her child."

"Wait a minute. Yes, we had an affair, but she never had a baby. In fact, she died about four years ago of mysterious circumstances. You can find her headstone at Rest Haven."

After half an hour of additional questioning, Detective Staunton released Jake and had an officer drive him back to the newspaper.

The next morning, Jake received a call from Detective Staunton. "Well, Mr Robinson, it appears you're off the hook. It's strange, if I have to say so myself, but we've been unable to contact Ms Thompson at the number we were given. Your story checked out. Her file indicates she'd been poisoned and is buried at Rest Haven. Her murder is still a cold case."

"Thank God they don't know any more details," Jake thought to himself.

"We appreciate your cooperation," Detective Staunton said, and hung up.

After the phone call ended, Jake opened some of the photos he'd recently taken. The woman in the red coat was always too far away to be recognized immediately, but Jake zoomed in on several photos, and the woman looked like his former lover.

Jake's phone rang; it was the receptionist. "Jake, you have a call waiting on line three. It's from Annette Thompson."

** ** **

** ** **

(NymphWriter's finish)

Jake's phone rang a while later. "Hello."

"Hey Jake," said Michelle. "I got that answer for you. Those plates belong to a car that was stolen last month. You need to let the police know you saw it and where right away."

"Who's the owner?"

"Fredrick Barnes. He runs a local chain of clothing stores."

"Huh, okay. I'll let the cops know I found the car."

"Why were you asking anyway? Were you in an accident or something?"

"No," said Jake. "It was just... something felt wrong."

"Good thing you listen to your gut."

"You know I always do. Thanks Michelle."

Jake hung up the phone but knew something wasn't right. He called the police and told them about the car he had photographed, claiming the driver didn't seem to fit the car. The officer thanked him and said he'd follow up on the tip.

Jake thought about the pictures and the woman in the red coat. He went back through them again. She was very beautiful. She didn't strike him as a typical car thief. Something didn't sit right with him. He looked up the chain of clothing stores and found two near his home. With his camera in tow, he drove to the first one. A typical retail store with attractive sales girls and overpriced clothes. He asked about the owner and the manager said he was at the other store he was going to check out.

Jake quickly left and drove to the store. There he saw Mr. Barnes dressing a dark haired mannequin in a red coat, just like the mysterious woman was wearing. Jake stared at the mannequin and realized she looked just like the woman in his photographs.

"Beautiful isn't she," said Mr. Barnes.

"Excuse me," said Jake.

"The mannequin. She's beautiful. I know it's silly to use real mannequins that look like real women, but I find they just make the clothes look so much better."

"Oh yes, she is."

"So what can I do for you sir?"

"I'm Jake Robinson. I was told your car had been stolen a while back."

"Why yes it had. How did you know that?"

"Is this your car sir?" asked Jake handing Mr. Barnes the photograph.

Mr. Barnes smiled. "Why yes it is." He looked at his mannequin and smiled. "You naughty girl. You took my car now didn't you."

"Excuse me?" asked Jake.

Mr. Barnes laughed. "If I had know she had taken my car I would have never reported it to the police."

"Who?"

"Angelica of course. Oh yes, Jake Robinson, this is Angelica. Angelica was my first mannequin, and she's by far, my favorite."

"Your saying your mannequin stole your car."

"Not stole, borrowed. And I'm sure she's not the only one using it. But the fact you got a picture of her is rather unique. Mind if I keep this one?"

"Sure," said Jake even more confused than before.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Honestly, no. It sounds like an episode of 'The Twilight Zone'."

Mr. Barnes laughed. "I'm sure it does. Let me explain if I can. Mannequins like Angelica were once everywhere. Every store had them. Then, someone decided the faceless forms were better. More generic. Mannequins like Angelica were destroyed or thrown in to the garbage without a care. I spent years finding as saving as many as I could. I use them all the time in my stores. My sales slowly started to grow. Then one night I was locked in my store doing my books when I heard a strange noise. It was then I saw it, my girls were alive. They were discussing ways to bring in more business. I may put Suzette or Angelica in a certain dress, and the next day they're wearing something else. My girls know what women want and what will look good on specific types of women."

"So you're saying they're alive?"

"Exactly!"

Jake shook his head. This was weirder than he expected. He looked up at the mannequin. She did resemble the woman from the photograph, but Jake thought it was just a coincidence. "Well Mr. Barnes, I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"No bother. Come back anytime. I'm sure Angelica would like to see you again."

Jake smiled. "Goodbye Mr. Barnes. Goodbye Angelica."

Jake kicked himself mentally all the way home. Why did he say goodbye to a mannequin? He arrived home and decided to check his job request sheet for next week. There was a Veteran's Day event, a store opening, and a children's book expo. He stared to fix himself dinner when a knock came to his door. Jake opened the door to see the dark haired woman in the red coat standing before him.

"Hello Jake."

"Hello?"

"Don't you recognize me? I'm Angelica."

"Are you real?"

"I'm as real as you are Jake. May I come in?"

Jake stepped back and she entered. She sat down on the couch. "Why are you here?"

"To ask you to not doubt me. I am what I am. And the fact that I chose you should tell you that you are special. To tell you that I want you to be mine. To help you find success as a photographer they way we all helped Mr. Barnes who saved our lives."

"And if I don't?"

"Do you really wish to find out?"

"Why me?"

"Why not you?"

Jake sighed. "Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Angelica smiled. "I want something more than food."

Jake smiled. "I can fuck any girl I want. I'd like to get to know you a bit better first."

"Then that is what you shall have sir. And dinner does sound nice."

Jake proceeded into the kitchen to fix them something to eat.

** ** **

** ** **

Would you like to participate in the next 'Finish This'? Please check out this Literotica forum thread to get in on the fun!!