Chapter 5 - The TruckI turned around and went inside. She followed without being invited.

"Pull up the footage."

"I'm trying."

I opened the security app and scrolled backward through the night. Until then, the most exciting things my cameras had recorded were delivery drivers, squirrels, and a neighborhood cat.

Then I reached 2:14 a.m. Motion appeared near the edge of the screen. A pickup truck slowly came into view. I paused.

Corinne leaned closer. "Who is that?"

"I don't know."

The truck stopped in front of her house. A man got out. Then another man climbed from the passenger side. They walked to the back of the truck and started unloading buckets. Corinne suddenly stopped breathing normally.

One man carried paint toward her driveway. The other followed with rollers.

I looked at her. "You know them."

"No."

"You do."

"I said I don't."

On the screen, the two men began painting Corinne's car — quickly, methodically. One worked the driver's side, the other the passenger side. Windows first, then doors, hood, trunk.

Corinne stared at the phone. "This is insane."

Then something happened that neither of us expected. A third person stepped out of the pickup truck. A woman. She stood under a streetlight long enough for the camera to catch her face.

Corinne made a strange choking sound. "Oh my God."

"Who is that?"

She didn't answer. On the footage, the woman pulled out her phone and recorded the men painting Corinne's car. Then she started walking toward my house.

My stomach tightened. "Why is she coming over here?"

Corinne actually stepped backward. I kept watching. The woman stopped at the edge of my driveway, then pointed toward my ruined pink car. One of the men walked over and examined it. They spoke for a moment — no audio, but the woman's body language made it obvious she was furious. Then she turned and pointed toward Corinne's house.

I paused the video. "Corinne. Who is that woman?"

She swallowed. "My sister."

"Your sister?"

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She sank into one of my kitchen chairs. The rage had disappeared. So had the smug attitude I'd gotten used to seeing. For the first time in almost a year, Corinne looked scared.

"Her name is Sabine."