I thought I was protecting my widowed mother when I followed the young man she’d hired. What I discovered wasn’t what I feared, but it changed how I saw her.
I followed the black SUV for almost 15 minutes.
Every rational part of me knew this was a terrible idea.
I was alone. I had no idea who the driver was. And Tyler, the 25-year-old pool cleaner I had just watched buy plywood, a crowbar, and a glass cutter, was sitting beside him.
Still, all I could think about was Mom.
Seventy years old.
Living alone.
Trusting a man she had known for three weeks.
The SUV turned into the older industrial part of town and pulled into a small construction company.
HALE RESTORATION.
I parked across the street.
Tyler climbed out with the older man who had been driving. He looked around 60, with gray hair and a button-down shirt.
They unloaded the plywood.
Then Tyler looked directly across the street.
At me.
I ducked.
Which was pointless because I was sitting in a bright red car.
A few seconds later, someone knocked on my window.
I screamed.
Tyler jumped back.
“What the hell?”
I lowered the window two inches.
“Stay away from me.”
He stared at me.
“You followed us?”
“You ran away from me!”
“You came pounding on the window!”
“Because I saw you buy a crowbar and a glass cutter after measuring my mother’s basement window!”
The older man crossed the street.
“Tyler?”
Tyler rubbed his face.
“This is Mrs. Bennett’s daughter.”
The man looked at me.
“Oh.”
I didn’t like that “oh.”
“You know my mother?”
“My name is Robert. I’m a contractor.”
“I don’t care what you do. If you’re planning something involving my mother’s house, I’m calling the police.”
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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