Page 47 of Sachie's Hero

Sachie sat as far forward as she could and still be secured in her seatbelt.

“Still see him?” Teller asked when the light blinked green. He pulled onto the road and fell in behind the cars slowing for the next light in a long line of traffic lights at every intersection.

Sachie craned her neck to look over the tops of the vehicles in front of them. For a long moment, she said nothing. “I think I see him. No... Yes! That’s him. Second car at the fourth light in front of us.”

Teller did his best to catch up, but he was stuck inthe gridlock, slowly moving forward. Fortunately, the lights synchronized in his favor, and although he moved at a snail’s pace, he didn’t have to stop at a red light.

Soon, the traffic thinned. Only three vehicles moved between them and the gray sedan with the turtle sticker. At this point, Teller was in no hurry to close the distance. He didn’t want Williams to know he was being tailed.

They’d left the busier four-lane streets and moved into a residential neighborhood with single-family homes and a park with fields for organized sports like baseball and soccer.

The last vehicle between them turned onto a side street.

Williams’s gray sedan slowed in a school zone across from a park. He pulled into a parking area dedicated to the park and stopped.

“Want to stop and talk with him?” Teller asked, slowing as they approached.

“No,” she said. “Drive on by, then turn onto the street flanking the park. I want to know what he’s up to.”

Teller drove past Williams in his parking area to turn onto the road that ran along the side of the park. “Think he’s meeting someone there for nefarious purposes?”

Her lips pressed together, a frown pulling her brow low. “For all we know, he’s stopping to eat a picnic lunch. It is a pretty park.”

Like so many parks in the area, this one was a mix of walking paths through Banyan trees, baseball diamonds and soccer fields for children’s and adults’ sports leagues.

Sachie pointed ahead. “Pull into that parking area by the banyan trees.”

As soon as Teller brought the car to a halt, Sachie jumped out.

Teller hurried to join her as she set off on one of the paths, meandering through the massive trees with their thick canopies of leaves and arrays of aerial roots and prop roots dangling from the branches above.

Sachie moved quickly toward the other parking area, where the gray sedan was parked.

As they neared, Teller spotted Williams seated on a bench eating a sandwich.

Teller chuckled softly. “You called it. He’s having a picnic lunch in the park.

She stopped in the shadow of one of the banyans. “Why here? Why not at a park closer to the halfway house?”

A loud bell rang, drawing Teller’s attention to theschool across from the park, and across from where Williams sat on the park bench.

As children streamed out into the playground surrounded by a chain-link fence, the man lowered the hand with the sandwich and leaned slightly forward.

Sachie moved closer to the man on the bench. “Is he watching the children?”

Teller reached for her hand. “In case he looks this way, he will only think we’re a couple walking through the park. “Do you think he chose this park because it’s across from an elementary school?”

Sachie shivered. “I hope not. It’s too creepy. Makes me want to call him out on it.”

When she started forward, Teller held onto her hand, bringing her to a halt. “Wait.”

She turned toward him and then glanced back at the playground.

A small boy chased a ball to the fence, bent to pick it up and paused. He glanced across the road as if looking for something or someone. Then, he grinned and waved.

Scott Williams waved back. He didn’t leave the bench or go to talk to the little boy but kept his distance.

At the angle they stood observing the man, Teller could see his smile.

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