At school, someone was addressing Noah using the name Ethan.
Mark paled. “Are you sure?”
Noah claimed that Ethan had told him not to tell me. “An adult is talking to our son.”
Mark urged them to call the school immediately.
I didn’t even take off my winter coat when I walked into the kindergarten office the next morning. “I need to speak with Ms. Alvarez.”
The administrator arrived, and as soon as she saw my expression, her kind smile vanished. “Is Noah okay?”
I stated firmly, “I need to see the security footage from yesterday afternoon.” The back door and the playground.
She frowned. “Our privacy practices are very strict.”
“A stranger is approaching my son. Show me the video immediately.”
She met my gaze and sensed my urgency. “Come with me.”
The smell of printer toner and stale coffee permeated her workspace. She selected the recording, scrolling through the camera footage. The video showed opening scenes of a typical playground. Then Noah walked toward the back gate. He stopped, tilted his head, smiled, and gestured toward an unseen person.
She insisted on zooming in on that area.
Ms. Alvarez zoomed in. On the other side of the fence, a man was squatting. He leaned forward to speak to my son, keeping his body low and out of sight, wearing a baseball cap and a work jacket.
Who is that? Noah giggled and answered the man as if they were old friends when he asked.
The man passed a small object to Noah, sliding his hand through the wire fence. Pure fury blurred my vision.
Ms. Alvarez gasped. That’s one of our contractors. He’d been repairing the building’s exterior lights.
His job didn’t concern me. I was too afraid to read the accident report closely, but I recognized the man’s face. I knew the truck driver.
I pulled out my phone and called 911. “He’s that.”
“Who are you talking about?” Ms. Alvarez asked, confused.
“The man who assaulted my family.”
I spoke clearly to the operator. “I’m at the neighborhood kindergarten. A man who was involved in a fatal accident recently approached my son through the back fence. I urgently need police assistance.”
Ms. Alvarez grabbed my arm. “Please stay here until we find him, Ms. Elena.”
“I told you not to let him get away.”
Within minutes, two patrol officers arrived. One came straight to me, while the other spoke with the school staff. I showed her the video on the computer. The officer looked serious. “Stay here. We’ll find you.”
Noah was brought into the office by a teacher. He was holding a small plastic dinosaur. “What are you doing here, Mom?”
“I hugged it tightly. All I wanted was to see you.”
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