Huh. Maybe a friend of hers?

They're both smiling, and a third woman joins them, carrying two smoothies. The door swings shut, so it's hard to see, but it looks like she just clapped the newcomer on her shoulder.

Eh, well. Onto food.

There's a burger bar just there, with an outdoor patio even. Mal drags Tess over to check the menu, confirms that yes they have Tess Food, then they go in, reemerging to the patio soon enough.

The food is tasty, and the weather is pleasant!

It's not too loud, although they can still hear people walking by and talking, and a few birds chirping, and a siren off in the distance.

Sirens aren't too common out here. Did something happen?

The siren's getting closer, but there's no other indication of what's going on.

Huh.

Well, she'll eat, and wait to see if it's coming here.

Well, it stops here-ish. It sounds like it's parked about a block away? But there sure are uniformed people rushing from the parking lot over there toward the smoothie shop.

...Where the woman was. 

That's kinda a freaky coincidence.

... and a few minutes later, there go the uniformed people again, this time carrying someone out.

Can she identify the person from here? (Tess kicks her under the table for being 'too nosy'. Mal keeps rubbernecking anyways).

It's hard to see from here. Long hair, probably a woman. No injuries obvious from here.

Huh.

Well, she'll watch until the ambulance pulls away, then go back to eating.

People disperse. The weather and food are still nice.

They finish up and head back to their dorm, moods down.

They make it back in peace, and have plenty of time for calming recreational activities, such as homework.

Mal gets her homework done pretty fast, then helps Tess with hers some, then the next day, before class, idly browses to see if there's any news or at least gossip about yesterday. (She's nosy, she can't help it.)

The dorm email has a chain about what happened; apparently someone knew someone who knew the lady who died. Apparently a food allergy? There's a picture of the dearly departed, and Mal blinks when she sees. That's one of the people from the smoothie shop, who that strange lady was talking to...

She'll... Have to wait and see if there's any strange spikes in weird deaths, maybe. Once is bad luck, twice is a coincidence, so if there's a third time...

There seem to be a fairly normal number and variety of of local deaths reported over the next week. A death or two, every few days, no given causes but probably from old age, given the differences between years of birth and death.

Ugh. She feels like she's jumping at shadows.

By the time mid-October rolls around, all the deaths reported have been of people in at least their 80s, but no causes of death are given. On Friday the 14th, the obituaries report the death of someone in his early 30s.

She's been checking the obituaries on and off, more off than on as time goes by. This could be something normal - people do die in car accidents and stuff - but she googles the name just in case there's something suspicious. (She doesn't know what she's expecting. A picture of the strange woman with the dead man?)

The first page just lists his name (Daryl Wells), hobbies (guitar, yoga, and building sets for model trains), and says that he is survived by his parents.

The second result is a bicyclist-protection article, claiming that the driver who hit him should have been arrested. The author interviewed several witnesses, and included a photo of the surrounding street. All the pedestrians' faces are blurred out, but one of the onlookers is wearing a brown sweater and a similar hairstyle. It could easily be the same woman, although it could conceivably be someone else.

Thaaat could be the same thing, yeah, of lady and then random bad luck leading to death.

But why, how, none of this should be possible - 

(She feels paranoid, incredibly so, like she's jumping at shadows. It's probably nothing, but - )

(She tells Tess to keep an eye out for the lady and avoid her. Tess doesn't believe her that the lady's dangerous, but agrees, if only for Mal's peace of mind.)

Aside from a shopping trip, most of the weekend is uneventful.

On Sunday night at about 11, Ava sends out a mass email asking if anyone knows if, theoretically, vets in town are required to report if people in the dorms bring pets to them, asking for an anonymous friend.

Someone accidentally Replies to All, saying probably not as long as it's a fish, and another person accidentally sends everyone a request for the hypothetical pet's name so they know who to pray for, someone else Replies to All reminding everyone that mass emails should be BCC'd and that Replying to All is bad unless it's to tell people not to do that.

She properly replies, BCC'ing everyone except Ava, that, no, vets aren't required to report. They really don't care, and having a pet in the dorm isn't actually illegal, just against school rules. She totally doesn't have personal experience with this, though.

(Her snake-baby, Samoa the sand boa, definitely isn't lurking in a desert terrarium in her window. ...She does not put that in the email.)