Alright I'm back … can't believe its been a few months since the last update … trying to finish off this story for you ASAP! (Work is taking up way more time than I anticipated and my little guy has caught every bug at childcare over the last few months!)

These chapters are dedicated to all those wonderful people who kept checking in with me! You know who you are! ;)

The coming chapters might be a bit full on for some people but hang tight … a happy ending is in sight! It is a fictional story so if I get a few facts wrong, I'm sorry!

(12/7/2019)

CHAPTER 66

Recap …

Elizabeth felt the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention and as Elizabeth glanced up, she saw the same man from the other day watching her. Today he wore a grey singlet and black track pants. He had tattoos all down his muscular arms and his black hair was spiked up. Although a semi-attractive man, he seemed rough. He had no child with him but his attention was not seeking a child in the crowds. His chilling eyes were instead focused on something else – and at that moment they were locked on Elizabeth.

Continued …

As Elizabeth watched the man, he suddenly turned and disappeared into the crowd of parents and carers. Elizabeth stood there for a moment until Halley appeared at her side.

"Hi Mommy."

"Hi. Why isn't Oscar with you?"

Halley scrunched up her face. "He's being annoying. He got me into trouble today."

"Why? What happened?"

"He kept talking to me and wouldn't be quiet."

"Oh. Okay."

"Hi Aunty Beth" Oscar said as he approached warrily.

"Hi Oscar. Can you go two take your bags into the classroom? I have to finish up a few things before we leave for the day. I'll just wait for Gracie."

Oscar bounded ahead and Halley traipsed into the classroom after him and once she had found Gracie, Elizabeth followed them in. Her thoughts were still on the strange man and she had decided she would go speak to the principal, Molly, before she went home.

After waiting sufficient time for most of the parents to have left the premises, she led the three children to the school office. After setting them up in the waiting area, she went searching for Molly. She found her in the staff room, along with Florence, one of the administrators.

"Hi ladies."

"Hi Elizabeth."

"Do you have a moment, Molly?"

"Yes, of course."

Florence went to leave.

"I just wanted to speak to you for a moment. It's probably a good idea if Florence hears what I'm about to mention."

"Okay …" Florence sat back down.

"There has been a man hanging around the last few afternoons. I didn't see him with a child either yesterday or today but today he appeared to be watching me. I don't know him, so maybe he was looking for someone else but I just get a bad feeling about him."

"Can you give us a description of the man?"

"Yes." Elizabeth continued to detail the man's features, including his dark hair and tattoos.

"How old do you think he was?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe late twenties, I guess."

"Okay we will keep an eye out for him. In the meantime, I don't want you staying in your room on your own, even if you have the children with you. I will speak to the school security company and see if we can get one of the guards here tomorrow afternoon to keep an eye on things. Maybe they could approach him and see who he is here to pick-up."

"That's a good idea. Thankyou Molly."

Elizabeth got up to leave.

"In the meantime, don't approach him Elizabeth, if you happen to see him."

"Of course not. I had better go and get the kids home. See you both tomorrow."

Elizabeth left the staff room and gathered the children from the waiting area and headed for her car. Her paranoia kicked in and she felt like they were being watched but as she looked around she couldn't see anything else suspicious. She quickly buckled the children into the car before driving toward the preschool to get Eve.

When Elizabeth arrived at Viola's to drop off Oscar, Viola was already waiting on the front porch. She walked down to the car as Elizabeth pulled into the drive, with a casserole dish in her hand. She opened up the passenger door and put the casserole dish on the floor.

"Hi Vi" Elizabeth said from inside the car.

"Hi Beth. I made you a lasagne for dinner."

"You shouldn't have done that!"

Viola helped Oscar out of his seat before turning back to her.

"You know I appreciate your help, Beth. This will save you some time tonight."

"Thank you. That's very thoughtful."

"You're a bit later today. I was getting worried."

"Sorry, I would have let you know. I just had to speak to Molly about something."

"Everything okay?"

Elizabeth turned to see her three daughters not paying her any attention and Oscar had already run inside.

"There was a stranger at the school who has been behaving unusually" she said quietly.

"What were they doing?"

"He was just watching. I'm not sure what exactly but I had a bad feeling. They are going to get some security there tomorrow afternoon."

"Has anyone else noticed him?"

"Well, no one else reported it. But I was waiting for the kids yesterday with the other parents and then since I was closer to the students today, I noticed him again."

"Well, hopefully it's a false alarm."

"I hope so. Oh, by the way my kids came up with their own safe word. I better tell you in case something happens and I am unreachable. It's purple fairy unicorn."

Viola's eyes widened. "How on earth am I supposed to remember that?!"

Elizabeth laughed. "I've put it in my phone in my notes. I will text it to you so you remember."

"Fine" Viola said with a chuckle. "I will just have to get Oscar and Leah to try and top that!"

"They can try!"

"Thanks for dropping Oscar off."

"You're welcome. See you in the morning."

Elizabeth backed out of the drive and headed home, grateful that she didn't have to prepare dinner from scratch for one night.

"You're quiet tonight, Beth."

"Mmmm" Elizabeth said. She sat on her side of the bed, her legs already under the covers, her book in her lap. She kept reading the same paragraph over and over again. Her mind lingered on Jack's departure and the strange man from the school.

"Beth." Jack touched her arm and she jumped, her body giving away the tension she was feeling. "Beth, what's wrong?"

"There's a man at work who I keep seeing and he gives me the creeps. He has been there the last two afternoons to seemingly pick up a student but I can't put my finger on it. Something with him is just … off."

"Have you told anyone?"

"I reported it to Molly and Florence today. They are going to get security there tomorrow afternoon."

"Well, that's something."

"There's nothing much else that could be done. Until we know what he's there for, I could just be jumping to conclusions."

"Maybe but it's better than knowing something was wrong and not saying anything and then something happening. What if he kidnapped a student? You would never forgive yourself."

"Yes, you're right."

Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Is that all you're worried about?"

"Well, that and you."

"Me?"

"Yes, I'm worried about you leaving Jack."

"Beth, I'll be fine."

"Sure, but I might not be. Promise me you will be super careful."

"Always. But the same goes for you with this man."

Elizabeth smiled. "Of course, I will be."

She turned into Jack now, lowering her head to rest on his chest as his arms automatically wrapped around her, pulling her close.

On Thursday and Friday, the man did not reappear on the school premises. Elizabeth kept a lookout and the security guard spoke to her as well, but she never saw the man who concerned her. After the weekend, she had completely forgotten about him. Until he appeared on Monday afternoon again.

Elizabeth stood at the side of the playground where she normally waited for the kids and she saw the security guard, Jimmy, roaming at the back of the parents. He gave her a subtle nod, as he did on Friday, and continued watching the crowd.

Just as Elizabeth relaxed, thinking that the strange man had moved on from the school, she saw him appear under a tree opposite her, closer to the corner of the classrooms. She glanced to Jimmy and once he made eye contact with her, she nodded and he moved closer to her, trying not to attract any attention.

"He's under the tree over the other side. He has a white shirt and black pants on."

"Okay, Elizabeth. I'll check it out."

He moved away again and Elizabeth pulled her sunglasses down from where they rested on her head and glanced back toward the man and noticed he was watching the classrooms intently. She saw Jim moving toward that way, before he rested up against the school fence.

As the students spilled out of the classroom, she kept her face turned toward the classroom doors but her eyes were sideways focused on the unknown man. As her own children found her, her attention moved to the three in front of her and when she glanced back that way, the man had gone. She saw Jimmy watching something outside the gates and assumed he had his eye on him.

Jim made his way toward her slowly.

"Just a moment kids. Stand there for a second why I talk to someone."

Elizabeth pulled away. "Well?" she asked him.

"You were right. He left again without a child. He was watching the classrooms but he left before half the children had come out. I'm not sure what he was doing but I would guess that he's watching someone. If I see him again, I will approach him and watch how he behaves."

"Okay. Thanks Jimmy."

As the week went on, Jack was feeling more and more nervous about leaving his family. He had spoken to Shane a lot at work, who had tried to calm his nerves but coming home to Elizabeth each night just made the nerves worse. Elizabeth wasn't sleeping well with everything going on and Jack felt like he was to blame for it.

Jack called Lee later in the week to get a fresh perspective.

"Hey man. What's up?"

"I'm being sent away for training for a month."

"When?"

"The end of the week."

"You don't seem to happy about it."

"I'm worried. Beth is anxious about everything and I feel terrible for leaving her right now. There's nothing I can do about it though."

"No, there's not, unfortunately. But she will be okay. I'm sure you're making it all worse in your head."

"I hope so. I know you guys are busy with your own lives but could you maybe check in on her and just make sure she's okay."

"Of course, Jack. We wouldn't have it any other way."

"Thanks Lee."

"Come to think of it, how about you all come over tomorrow night for dinner? The boys got that new Disney movie on dvd and have been waiting to watch it. The kids can watch that and maybe we'll order some pizzas."

"That sounds perfect. I will check with Beth and let you know."

"Awesome. We'll see you then and we can have more of a chat then."

"Thanks Lee."

Getting off the phone, Jack felt better already.

On Saturday night, as planned the kids were in the lounge room watching the new Incredibles movie while the adults had just finished off the pizza at the dining table. Jack had his arm around Elizabeth's chair as he sat back with his full stomach.

"That pizza place is the best. Better than any near our place."

Elizabeth looked sideways at Jack and then glanced at Lee when she burst out laughing along with Lee and Rosie.

"What? What did I say?" Jack asked bewildered.

"You and Lee always argue about who has the best pizza place. You like Renato's and he swears by Luigi's."

"Renato's? Have we had pizza from there recently?"

"Yes, three weeks ago."

Jack sat there trying to recall. "Can I change my mind?"

Lee laughed while Elizabeth shook her head. "You used to argue until you were blue in the face. I don't think you can change your mind."

Jack pouted and Elizabeth laughed at him.

"Next he will say something crazy like he prefers the flavour of vanilla milkshakes over chocolate!" Rosie said with a chuckle.

"No way!" Jack yelled. "Vanilla is not a flavour!"

Rosie laughed. "And he's back!"

When the laughter died down, Lee dragged Jack away to the den to watch the end of some football game leaving Rosie and Elizabeth behind.

"How are you doing, Beth?" Rosie asked as she poured two cups of tea and brought them over to the table.

Elizabeth had her head resting on her hand as she replied. "Okay. There's a lot happening at the moment and I hate it when Jack leaves."

"I know. I understand."

"It just caught me by surprise. I didn't even think for a second that they would send him away again any time soon. I mean he is still recovering from a major head injury."

"But that's not a concern?"

"No, it's just a training course. Jack said it was all low impact and mainly theory so his seniors thought it would be fine. But whether it is a month or two it is still time away from us."

"Well we are here if you need us."

"Thanks Rosie."

When it was time to go home, both Elizabeth and Jack felt much more content after speaking to their friends. As Jack climbed into bed beside Elizabeth, his arm wrapping around her waist, he thought back to everything Lee and he had discussed.

Lee had made Jack much happier about his departure, although still reluctant, Lee had known how Jack had felt before previous deployments and his worries and concerns had always been the same – number one being Elizabeth and his girls and how they would manage without him. Jack kept forgetting that Elizabeth had done this several times before and she was actually more experienced with this than him at this point.

Jack still cursed his memory loss but at the same time he was grateful, because if he hadn't experienced it, he might still be deployed somewhere else right this moment rather than being at home in bed with his wife, with his daughters asleep down the hall.