Chapter 4: What Karen Was Really Afraid Of
The next morning, Karen knocked on Mark’s door.
She looked completely different.
No oversized sunglasses.
No sharp voice.
No defensive posture.
Just an exhausted woman standing on the porch with both hands wrapped around the strap of her handbag.
Mark opened the door but did not invite her inside.
Karen stared at him.
“I owe you an explanation.”
Mark waited.
She took a breath.
“Darren used to work for my brother.”
That name again.
Karen explained that her brother had owned a small property-maintenance company before he died.
After his death, several clients had complained about missing packages and unauthorized entries.
Nothing had ever been proven.
Darren had denied everything.
Then Karen had started noticing strange things around her own house.
A gate left open.
A garage light switched on.
A package moved from one side of her porch to another.
She had become convinced someone was watching her.
Mark listened.
“So you thought my camera was part of it?”
Karen nodded.
“I thought it was being used to watch me.”
“But why take it?”
She looked down.
“Because I saw someone near your house three nights ago.”
Mark remembered the recording.
“You saw Darren?”
“I didn’t know who it was then.”
Karen said she had followed the figure.
She had seen the person near Mark’s garage.
Then she had noticed the security camera.
She believed the camera might have recorded the person’s face.
So she decided to remove it.
She admitted that she had not asked Mark.
She had not called the police.
She had taken matters into her own hands.
Mark’s anger remained.
“You could have told me.”
“I know.”
“You trespassed.”
“I know.”
“You damaged my property.”
“I know.”
“And you tried to run away with my camera.”
Karen swallowed.
“I know.”
The admission was quiet.
Then she looked at him.
“But I wasn’t trying to hide what I did.”
Mark raised an eyebrow.
Karen pointed toward his house.
“I was trying to hide what I thought it had recorded.”
That distinction mattered.
Mark let her inside.
They watched the footage together.
Karen recognized the figure near the garage immediately.
“That man.”
Mark paused the image.
The face was blurry, but the clothing was clear.
A dark jacket.
Work boots.
A baseball cap.
Then Karen noticed something else.
A vehicle had passed at exactly the same time.
A white service van.
Its logo was barely visible.
Mark enlarged the frame.
There it was.
The name of Darren’s company.
Karen sat back.
Neither of them spoke.
They had finally connected the pieces.
But one question remained.
Why had Darren been watching Mark’s house?
Mark checked the footage from the following night.
The van appeared again.
This time, it stopped directly outside Karen’s property.
And a person stepped out.
