Darcy checked on Grandma and then went to clean up the kitchen. She washed the dishes, put them away, and leaned forward to close the kitchen curtains.

Then she saw the silver Toyota again. It was parked across the street from her building. The stocky man in the baseball cap sat at the wheel. “Oh my God,” Darcy whispered. Thoughts flooded her mind. He knew where Darcy lived! He was here! Sometime during the night he could find a way to get inside the apartment! It would not matter how securely the doors and windows were locked. He could get in and be standing there in the darkness.

Darcy rushed to the telephone and called the police. She told them that for the last few days she had been followed by a man in a silver Toyota. Now he was parked across the street. The police sergeant told Darcy to lock the door and a squad car would be there in a few minutes.

Darcy watched from the window as a police car pulled in behind the silver Toyota. The Toyota started up when its driver saw the police car, but when he heard a loudspeaker advising him to stop, he did. Darcy watched as police approached on both sides of the car. It was dark outside, and Darcy’s view was partially blocked by several parked cars. She struggled to see what was happening.

The man in the baseball cap handed some kind of I. D. out the window. The officers took their time checking it. Then the man must have been asked to step away from the car. As she watched, Darcy was trembling. She could not see the man clearly even when he was in the street because the officers surrounded him. They checked him for weapons, and it looked as if he did not have any. Then he got back in his car and waited while one of the officers came toward Darcy’s apartment.

“Police,” he said crisply at the door. Darcy opened it. “Are you Darcy Wills, the person who made the call on the silver Toyota?”

“Yes. Who is that man? What does he want? He’s been at my school and everywhere I’ve been. Why is he stalking me?” Darcy asked with increasing agitation.

“He claims to be your father, miss,” the officer replied calmly.

Darcy’s heart pounded wildly. She gasped as if she were choking. “My father? No, it can’t be! My father has been in New York for years!”

“He said his name is Carl Wills, and his I. D. checks out. He has no outstanding warrants. He said he has two daughters, a fourteen-year-old and a sixteen-year-old, that he hasn’t seen in five years. I asked him to tell me what your birth date is. He said you were born on April sixth. Is that correct?”

“Yes, but . . . anybody could know that,” Darcy stammered.