Chapter 1: The Sign on the Windshield
Karen slapped the FOR SALE notice onto the dark-blue pickup’s windshield so hard that the paper snapped against the glass.
“That truck is gone—whether you like it or not!”
Daniel Mercer came out of his garage just in time to see her palms flatten against the notice. He was wearing the navy work shirt he had spent the afternoon repairing the truck in, his hands still marked with grease.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He ripped the paper from the windshield.
Karen reached for it immediately, her cobalt-blue cardigan pulling tight across her broad shoulders as she stepped into his space.
“I’m enforcing the rules!”
“You don’t own my driveway.”
“I don’t have to! The HOA does!”
Daniel stared at her for a moment, then walked to the front of the truck and pulled the hood open.
Underneath were mechanic’s gloves, sockets, a replacement alternator, and a battery charger humming quietly beside the engine.
“I’m repairing it,” he said. “You knew that.”
Karen’s expression changed for half a second.
Then she recovered.
“It has been sitting here for weeks.”
Daniel held up the torn notice.
“Then why did you put this on my truck today?”
Karen opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then her eyes hardened.
“Because if I don’t control this neighborhood… who will?”
She snatched the torn paper from his hand and marched toward the sidewalk.
Daniel watched her go, more confused than angry.
Until he noticed something beneath the paper she had removed.
A small rectangular sticker was stuck to the lower corner of the windshield.
It was partly covered by old adhesive, but the handwriting was unmistakable.
June 14 — 8:10 a.m.
Daniel frowned.
He had never written that date.
He pulled the sticker free.
There was another beneath it.
June 21 — 7:45 a.m.
And another.
Someone had been recording when his truck was parked outside.
Daniel stood there with the stickers in his hand, suddenly realizing that Karen’s complaint about an “abandoned vehicle” might not have started with the HOA at all.
It might have started with her watching him.
