It’s late, I’m cold, but I’m not going anywhere.

I take a breath and exhale. It fogs up the air in front of me as I pull out my phone and check the time. It’s just after one in the morning, and the street is completely deserted. I haven’t seen a single car in at least an hour, and the occupants of the houses around me haven’t so much as stirred.

I’m sitting in my car, the engine turned off, waiting. I’ve been here for an hour already, just watching, making sure there’s nobody nearby to spot me. Across the street and down a bit is the Walker house.

It’s big, gaudy, and an absurd mix of architectural styles. It screams “we have so much money and are tacky about it,” which pretty much sums up their family. The driveway snakes up out of view, through some trees and bushes, and the house sits on top of a hill. There’s a gated fence around the whole property, though that won’t be a problem.

I’m here for one simple reason. I need to take a look at their cars.

I don’t really know what I’m looking for, though. I suspect the Walkers are involved with this somehow, I just don’t know how yet. I plan on doing this for Avery’s family as well, although she says that there wasn’t anything strange back then, no missing cars, no major repairs in the middle of the night. But I know that if one of these two families killed Lucinda Chavez in that accident, then the offending car would have been broken pretty badly. They would have had to get it fixed, and fast. There should be evidence of those repairs.

I just have to find it.

I pull open my car door and slip out. I’m sick of sitting and waiting. Nothing’s changed, it’s time to get this over with. I walk across the street and skirt along the wall, trailing my fingers along the bricks, before stopping in a particularly dark corner. I take one last look around before jumping up, grabbing, the edge, and pulling myself over.

I drop down into a flowerbed. I sit there a second, waiting to see if anything happens, but the place is silent. I head forward through some bushes and skirt up along the driveway.

There are a few cars parked up near the house. There are only a couple of lights on inside, deep inside the house, and I’d bet they’re always on. An exterior light casts a dull yellow glow, and I spot another light that should be on, but isn’t.

Lucky for me. I sneak up toward the cars, coming up to a white sedan first. It’s a newer BMW, I’d guess in the last few years since I don’t recognize it. A quick look around rules it out completely.

Next up is a Mercedes SUV. Again, everything about it looks totally normal. As I move around the side, I spot another car, this one a black truck, parked further up the driveway and under a little covering.

I sneak quickly over toward it, my heart thumping. This truck is clearly older. As I get closer, I spot some potential signs of repair: the paint doesn’t match perfectly, the front fender is slightly loose, the glass on the front right headlight looks clearer than the front left.

Blood rushes to my head. This truck was in a head-on collision at some point that probably wrecked most of the front of it. I crawl down underneath and get a look at the undercarriage. Sure enough, there are welding marks, like someone fixed something in a hurry. But there’s rust forming overtop the welds, which means this didn’t happen recently. Could have been five years ago, though that’s just a total guess.

I get out my phone and take a picture. I go around, get a shot of the license plate, and finish with a few shots of the body. I try and get some details, but it’s hard with the lack of light.

Against my better judgment, I turn on the flash and get some more pictures. I need this, and I’m not walking away without my proof. I pull my dark hood up closer around my face and crawl under the truck again, getting those welding marks as best I can.

As I slide back out, I hear something and freeze. I listen closely and I hear it again, this time even closer.

“Who’s there?”

The voice sends a jolt down my spine. I’m not sure which brother it is, but I don’t care to find out. He’s close by, probably came out the back door.

I don’t hesitate. I turn and sprint away, back down toward the wall.

“Hey!” Whoever it is chases after me.

I run as fast as I can, heart hammering. I can’t let him see my face. I need to get to the wall, jump it, and keep going. I can come back for the car later, I just need to get away.

I slip my phone back into my pocket as I keep going, knees pumping, chest burning. I’m running faster than I’ve ever run in my whole fucking life, and the wall is coming up, faster and faster.

“Stop, asshole!”

I dive at the wall, jumping and hitting it hard. The impact knocks the breath from my lungs, but I grab the lip and pull myself up. I get my legs up just before the Walker brother comes up after me, jumping and trying to grab at my ankle.

I slip down to the other side and land hard. I stumble forward, ankle twist sending sharp pains up my shins, but I don’t stop. I can hear the Walker brother coming after me, trying to get over. I start sprinting again, running hard. I make a sharp left into a little wooded area and keep going until I can’t feel my legs anymore.

Slowly I come to a stop, breathing hard and listening. I don’t hear anyone coming after me. I lean up against a tree, pulling air into my lungs desperately.

That was fucking close. I knew I shouldn’t have used my flash. I pull out my phone and look at the pictures. I risked a lot to get these, and they’re surprisingly good.

I can’t believe my luck. I have a deep suspicion that this truck is the real murder weapon. I’m pretty sure whoever killed Lucinda in that accident was driving this truck, and now I bet the Walkers are too afraid to get rid of it in case someone figures it out. They probably want to control that truck, keep it out of the hands of anyone outside the family.

Well, that was a fucking mistake, because now I have proof that it was them. Not enough obviously, but I’ll take it to Slick and see what he says. I lean back up against the tree, adrenaline coursing through me, and I laugh. I can’t help myself. I just narrowly escaped getting caught, and now I have an important piece of the puzzle.

I feel so alive, it’s almost hard to imagine that I was so dead for so many years.