Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN ON THE PORCH Thursday evening arrived beneath a darkening sky.
Rain clouds gathered over the neighborhood.
David and Leah sat on the couch watching a comedy neither of them was really following.
Then—
DING.
The motion alert sounded.
David froze.
Leah looked at him.
"David?"
He opened the camera feed.
His blood went cold.
His mother stood on the porch.
She wasn't knocking.
She wasn't calling.
She simply stood there.
Motionless.
Looking directly into the camera.
Leah whispered:
"How did she know where the camera was?"
David didn't answer.
His mother slowly raised one hand.
She was holding a small brown paper package.
David activated the speaker.
"Leave the property immediately."
His mother's expression didn't change.
"If you don't leave, I'm calling the police."
Still nothing.
Then she placed the package on the welcome mat.
She leaned toward the camera.
Her lips moved.
The microphone captured only static.
Then she walked away.
David waited twenty minutes.
He opened the door with a baseball bat in one hand and kitchen tongs in the other.
Leah stayed several feet behind him.
"Don't touch it."
"I won't."
He carefully lifted the package.
Inside was a baby blanket.
Beautiful.
Soft.
Hand-knitted.
For one second, it looked innocent.
Almost loving.
Then David saw something caught between the folds.
A dried green leaf.
His stomach tightened.
He photographed everything.
Then placed the evidence inside a lockbox.
Leah stared at him.
"Why would she bring this?"
David looked at the blanket.
"I don't know."
But he did know one thing.
This wasn't a gift.
It was a message.
His mother wanted them to know she could still reach their home.
She wanted them afraid.
David called the police.
While he waited, he looked through the front window.
Across the street, a black sedan slowly pulled away.
He recognized it.
His mother wasn't asking for forgiveness.
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She was reminding him that she still believed he belonged to her.
And she wasn't going to surrender him quietly.
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