A FAMILIAR STRANGER
He looked directly at me.
And asked,
"Have we met before?"
For a second, I forgot how to breathe.
Not because of the question itself.
Because of how he asked it.
There was no accusation in his voice. No certainty. No hidden knowledge waiting for my answer to confirm itself. He sounded like a man trying to solve a problem that had followed him for days and had finally become impossible to ignore.
My fingers tightened around the notebook.
I forced myself to answer before the silence became suspicious.
"I don't believe so, Mr. Dallas."
He didn't speak.
He continued looking at me.
The office suddenly felt much smaller than it had a minute earlier.
Behind him, the afternoon sun reflected against the glass buildings across the street. Somewhere below, a siren ec
