She closed the screen when she saw the folder under my arm.
I asked why she looked worried.
She said she had received a message from a woman claiming to be a neighborhood safety volunteer.
The woman wanted to know whether I ever became angry inside the house.
Sophie had not replied.
I asked her to save the message and block the account.
She looked relieved when I told her that she did not owe strangers information about our family.
The message unsettled me more than the broken glass.
Karen had started pulling my daughter into a dispute that should never have reached her.
I called Mara and forwarded the screenshot.
She told me not to engage with the sender while she reviewed the account details.
That evening, I moved the boxes of my late wife’s photographs from the downstairs closet to Sophie’s room.
I did not want another shattered window to destroy the things we could never replace.
Sophie helped me carry the final box upstairs.
She paused when she found a photograph of her mother painting the front door blue.
The picture showed Ellen standing on a ladder with a streak of paint across her cheek.
Sophie smiled before the expression disappeared.
She said the house had not felt safe since Karen started coming over.
I sat beside her on the floor and told her that safety was more than locked doors.
It also meant knowing that someone would listen when she said she was frightened.
She leaned against my shoulder and stayed there until the hallway light came on.
The next morning, Ben knocked on my door carrying a folded survey map.
He owned the small landscaping company that maintained several properties on our street.
He had found the map inside a folder left behind by a contractor who had stopped working for Karen.
The drawing marked a narrow strip of land behind my garage.
A red line crossed the boundary between my lot and the vacant parcel owned by a development company.
Ben explained that Karen had asked the contractor to photograph my rear fence and measure the distance to the alley.
She had described the work as preparation for a drainage improvement project.
Ben said the contractor became suspicious when Karen insisted that the measurements remain confidential.
I asked whether the contractor would speak to Mara.
Ben said the man had already agreed.
His name was Luis Ortega, and he had kept the original work order.
