Page 6 of Against the Clock

When I woke up this morning, I expected it to be like any other day—eat a quick breakfast, get Rosie ready for school, spill coffee on myself at least once before I got into the office, and then listen to my boss complain all day about how incompetent women were since I was the only female in our department.

The day had gone almost as expected until I picked Rosie up from school.People were usually scattered in the pickup line on Friday, so I had parked on the street and gone in to get her.While I was waiting for her to finish talking with her friend, one of the teachers approached me and asked if she could speak privately with me.

I had expected to hear something about how Rosie had exceeded their expectations on a project or had gone out of her way to help another student.That was just the wonderful type of girl that she was.Instead, she pulled me into a classroom and exchanged nervous glances with another teacher, who confirmed she would watch Rosie for me.

Once we were by ourselves, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to me.There was a video on the screen, and my stomach sank when she pressed play.I was nervous and anxious to see what it was since she wasn’t acting excited or happy about it.At first, it showed kids playing on the playground, then it zoomed in to focus on the man standing across the street, leaning against a black van with dark windows.

He was of average height and build, wearing a baseball cap that hid his face and dark sunglasses covering his eyes.Everything about him looked casual, from the way he crossed his ankle over the other to how he tapped his cigarette against the side of the van and let the ashes fall.But I knew better.

I swallowed hard before I handed her phone back to her, unable to get any words out.

Someone had been there, casing the playground.A pervert was lurking in the shadows, watching the innocent children as they ran around and played without a care in the world.MY child had been there, unaware of the danger not even fifty feet away from where she was playing.

When I finally found my voice, I asked why they didn’t call the cops when they saw the man watching the kids.Her face fell with her shoulders, and she watched the video again.

“At first, we thought that he knew Rosie because she was the only one that he was watching.But when she looked in his direction a few times and didn’t seem to recognize him, we knew that wasn’t the case.We called the police, but we’re still waiting for them to send someone out....”

Her words had gone in one ear and out the other at that point.I was beyond furious, but I couldn’t figure out which part had me fuming the most.The fact that someone had been there watching my daughter or the fact that I wasn’t there to do anything about it.I had to trust that she was safe at school, and suddenly, it didn’t feel like she was safe at all.

Four

Roman

13 Days Ago

“How was Mike’s party?”Trevor asked as I pressed the phone against my ear.

“Fun, uneventful,” I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me.“I just got to his mom’s house to help take the tables and chairs back that his sister rented.”

“So basically, you ended the night early and were in bed before midnight?”he teased.

“Hey, I’m almost forty.I can’t handle the long nights of drinking and partying anymore.I’m not young like you.”

Trevor laughed, and we both knew that it was a stretch to say he was still young, given that he was usually in bed before me most nights, and he was barely thirty.

“Did you at least meet any nice girls?”he prodded.

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