With Parker still sound asleep, Jarod kept his promise and took the kids to school the day after.

“Yes, Katie?”

Ethan stared at his father sitting at his side in the passenger seat, interested to learn the answer Jarod would give them as much as his sister.

Ethan scrutinized his father’s reaction to Katie’s question. Jarod’s fake smile showed that he was on the defensive, ponderating each word he was using. He could cheat with Katie, but Ethan was a whole other story, and Jarod knew it. He casted a nervous look at his son, faking another charming grin, but Ethan knew better. The son looked at his father suspiciously, then opened his mouth. Jarod was sure that his son was trying to tell him something, but Ethan hesitated a couple of seconds then decided not to talk at all.

Sighing in resignation, Jarod parked the car in front of the building and exited. He helped Katie getting out and kissed her goodbye, “Have a nice day, Princess.”

Ethan stopped in front of his father and noticed that he was looking around, pretending that he wasn’t.

Jarod’s eyes moved down to his son. Ethan was so smart and sensitive that he might have felt something. So Jarod took off his sunglasses and bent down to look straight into his eyes.

He nodded vigorously.

Ethan smiled a bit bored, “You told us all the time, daddy!”

Ethan noticed the change in his father’s look. It looked like the ever joyful sparkle had faded, to a certain extent. He knew at once that Jarod wasn’t just making the typical paternal recommendation.

Ethan nodded slowly, “Ok, dad.”

“Of course I am, daddy. And also more fascinating. At least that’s what Mom always says.”

“You too, dad.”

But then he saw him. The same man of the pictures, the same man Parker was talking about. Bald, dark complexion, tall, light blue eyes that could even be purple, Jarod wasn’t sure.

‘Maybe they’re already inside, don’t be paranoic’, he told himself.

Jarod almost ran to the car, getting ready to leave, then he took his chances and drove the vehicle next to the bald man’s one. Jarod didn’t see him look back, so he passed over the other car and checked his rearview mirror. The man was already doing the same: He drove his own car away on the opposite direction and in a few seconds he disappeared from view.

The first was that Parker had been right all along. That man was creepy.

Something Jarod had been convinced since the man had nodded at him.

He couldn’t focus on the when and where, but he’d met him before. His face was familiar, there was something he recognized in that deceitful smile.