Chapter 5 - A Shadow in the Night
As Officer Chen predicted, Patricia posted bail. She was released on a Thursday evening.
The notification pinged on my phone via the victim alert system, sending a cold spike of dread through my veins. She was out.
That night, the storm came. Rain lashed against the windows, and thunder rattled the glass. Sophie was sleeping in my bed; I couldn't bring myself to let her sleep alone in her room, and she didn't want to either.
Around 2:00 AM, my phone buzzed. It wasn't a text. It was a notification from my security app.
Motion detected at Back Gate.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I gently slid out of bed, careful not to wake Sophie. I grabbed the heavy flashlight from my nightstand and opened the security app on my phone, pulling up the live feed of the backyard.
Through the sheeting rain, the infrared camera showed a figure.
They were wearing a heavy raincoat with the hood pulled up, standing right by the gate I had locked just hours before. The figure was trying the latch, shaking it, trying to find a way in.
Then, the person turned toward the house. The floodlight snapped on, illuminating the yard in brilliant, stark white light.
Under the hood, the face was revealed.
It wasn't Patricia. It was a man. He looked to be in his late twenties, thin, with a nervous, twitching demeanor. He realized the camera was on him, looked directly into the lens, cursed, and ran back toward the alleyway.
I didn't hesitate. I dialed the police and then called Sarah.
"Someone is trying to break into my house," I told the dispatcher. "I have them on camera. They just fled down the alley."
Within five minutes, two patrol cars arrived. They searched the alley but found no one. However, they took the footage from my security system.
The next morning, Sarah arrived at my house with a look of grim determination.
"We identified the man on the camera," Sarah said, sitting at my kitchen table. "His name is Marcus Miller. He's a paralegal at a low-end law firm in town. Do you know who owns that firm, David?"
I shook my head.
"Patricia's brother, Arthur Vance. He’s a retired attorney who still keeps an office there. Patricia didn't act alone. She used her family's legal connections to draft those forged documents, and now they are trying to intimidate you. Marcus was likely sent to find anything they could use against you—or worse, to see if they could get into the house."
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My blood ran cold. "They are stalking us."
"They are desperate," Sarah corrected. "Patricia knows that if this goes to trial, she is going to prison. She is trying to find leverage to force you to drop the charges or agree to a custody compromise. But we are not going to compromise. We are going to destroy them in court."
