Part 4: The Porch
A week later, the driveway camera lit up.
A rental car rolled in. Richard and Martha stepped out. Martha looked at the pine trees like they offended her. Richard looked at my house like he was already pricing the resale.
I met them in the driveway.
“Evelyn,” Richard said, already annoyed. “Carter told us this was arranged.”
“It wasn’t,” I said. “You’re not staying here.”
Martha stiffened. Richard stepped closer.
“We’re family,” he said. “You’ve got four bedrooms and one person. This is selfish.”
I let him finish. Fraud always talks too much when it thinks it’s safe.
Then I told them to leave before I called the sheriff.
They drove off angry. I downloaded the footage and saved it.
A week later, another alert hit while I was sitting in a dentist’s waiting room.
This time it was Carter.
He used a copied key to open my front door and walked in with a couple holding a clipboard and measuring tape.
He wasn’t moving his parents in.
He was showing my house.
That was the truth. His parents were just the opening move. He wanted a legal foothold so he could force a sale, refinance the place, or use it to plug the hole he’d dug for himself.
I left the dentist, got in my car, and called Sarah.
“Meet me halfway,” I said. “Alone.”
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