CHAPTER THREE: SIX MONTHS EARLIER

Mark had installed the doorbell camera after a series of package thefts on the street.
It faced the sidewalk and a narrow strip of the Parkers’ driveway.
During a late autumn storm, the camera stopped working.
Mark assumed water had damaged the housing.
He replaced it and put the old unit in a drawer.
Two weeks later, he learned that several elderly neighbors had missed pension checks and insurance reimbursements.
A postal inspector visited the block and asked whether anyone had retained old cameras or mail-related footage.
Mark handed over the damaged device without expecting it to help.
He had almost forgotten about it when Keene called on Friday.
The inspector said a specialist had recovered part of a recording.
He asked Mark not to open the sealed envelope arriving the next morning until they spoke.
Mark agreed because he believed the evidence concerned stolen mail.
He did not imagine Helen would break his door to reach it.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE EMPTY DRIVEWAY

Six months earlier, Martin Parker had knocked on Mark’s door just after nine at night.
His blue pickup idled at the curb.
He asked whether Mark had seen a gray delivery van parked behind the community clinic.
Mark said he had not.
Martin looked toward his own house before speaking again.
“If anyone asks, I came here about a missing package.”
Mark frowned.
“Are you in trouble?”
Martin gave a tired smile.
“I’m trying not to make someone else pay for mine.”
He left before Mark could ask another question.
At dawn, Helen came to the door and said Martin was gone.
The pickup remained in the driveway, but his jacket and wallet were missing.
The police searched nearby streets and reviewed hospital admissions.
No one found him.
Mark had carried the memory of that brief conversation like a pebble in his shoe.
Now he wondered whether the camera had recorded Martin leaving with someone else.

CHAPTER FIVE: THE SECOND VEHICLE

Ruiz brought a laptop into Mark’s kitchen after the patrol officer secured Helen in the back of his car.
The recovered recording lasted less than four minutes.
Its picture jumped and blurred under streaks of rain.
Mark recognized the Parkers’ porch light and the rear of Martin’s pickup.
At 9:43 p.m., a white medical transport van rolled into view.
A man stepped out wearing a reflective jacket.
He was too far away for his face to be clear.
Martin emerged from the side of the house carrying a dark canvas bag.
He spoke to the driver for several seconds.
Then Helen appeared on the porch.
She did not run after Martin.
She handed him something flat and silver.
The driver opened the van’s side door.
A second passenger moved inside.
Martin climbed into the van willingly.
The van pulled away.
Helen stood in the rain until its lights disappeared.
Mark looked at Keene.
“She told us he walked away alone.”
Keene nodded.
“And she told the police she had been asleep.”