The warning note on her windshield, the mystery woman who appeared to be watching her, continued eating at Emma as she drove to her school.

Who is threatening me?

Theories ran through her mind: Were the note, the mystery woman and the man at the beach all linked? The anniversary was looming and it had to pass like the others, without anyone in Emma’s life knowing.

I’ll protect Ben and Kayla from my past no matter the cost because the truth would not only destroy me—it would destroy them, too.

Emma had gotten little sleep after searching her mind intensively. She woke with a possible solution.

Pulling into the staff parking lot, she collected her things and headed to the entrance, scanning the spot across the street where she had last seen the woman. Emma didn’t notice anything this morning.

Inside the school she didn’t go to her office; instead she headed to the end of the admin hallway to the door marked SECURITY.

She entered to see Greg Clifton, the school’s security supervisor, standing at the desk of Denise Stadler, the office assistant.

“…those biweeklies will now be monthly,” Greg said before stopping. “Oh, hi, Emma.”

“Hi, Emma,” Denise said.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“Quite all right,” Greg said. “How’re you doing? That was a great thing you did, saving your student.”

“Yes, it was a miracle,” Denise said.

“Thanks. Greg, I was hoping you could help me with something. Do you have a minute?”

“Sure,” he said, and led her into his office. “What is it, Emma?”

She was counting on the fact that she knew Greg a little. At the last staff retreat they were teamed and came second in the three-legged race. They got along, had fun and had eaten lunch together a few times in the cafeteria.

“It’s no big thing, a little embarrassing to be honest,” she said. “At some point yesterday I may have bumped someone’s car with my own, and left a scratch. I really don’t remember doing it, but someone left a note on my car about it. I seem to have lost it, though.”

“I see.”

“I was wondering if we could review the security cameras and maybe I could recognize the person, or something?”

Greg folded his arms across his chest and thought. “Hmm.”

“We could keep this confidential,” Emma said.

“Come with me.”

He led her across the hall to a room where a woman at a desk was watching several flat screens of activity.

“This is Amber Fry—she’s just joined us. Amber, this is Emma, one of our counselors.”

They greeted one another before Greg went on.

“Amber, could you excuse us? I need to show Emma something.”

“Sure,” Amber said, and left.

Greg took her seat and tapped at the keyboards as he explained the system, which had about forty high-definition indoor cameras and twenty outdoor cameras.

“Which staff lot are you in, Emma?”

“B.”