Page 16 of Exposé

Oops.

Stranger danger.

A few homes down, an older woman sat on her porch across the street from the ransacked home, her eyes overlooking the children as she flipped through a magazine in her lap.

My feet picked up pace until I reached the bottom of her wooden porch. "Good afternoon, ma'am. How are you?"

"I'm not interested in whatever you're selling, and I already know all about Our Lord and Savior."

The older woman raised the cooking magazine she had in her hands, hiding her round, weathered face.

"Oh, I'm not selling anything." I dug into my pocket and flashed her my credentials. "I'm Ava, I work forThe Riverfield Chronicle."

The woman peeked over her magazine, and a soft smile appeared as she lowered it. "Sorry. We have people coming through here selling us rug cleaner and solar on a daily basis as though we could afford such a thing here."

"I understand." I twisted my lips into a smile.

"People don't care about our little part of the city.” Her fingers traced the cover of the magazine resting in her lap. “What are you reporting on?"

I pointed to the house across the street. "I was here four nights ago when the police came to that house and arrested some men." I paused and squinted as I glanced across the street. "I was hoping you might shine some light on the situation."

Her brows crinkled together, accentuating the deep-set wrinkles on her forehead. "Like what?"

I pulled out my mini notebook. "Have you noticed any suspicious activities or behaviors around the house or neighborhood?

Her gray hair swayed around her shoulder, and she bobbed her head. "You see where we live." Her hand gestured to the surrounding area. "Everything is suspicious."

I rolled my lips as I scribbled on my paper. "What about someone out of place? Someone who you hadn't seen before?"

She barked out a laugh. "They were drug dealers. We didn't recognize half of the vehicles or people walking up and down this street."

My nostrils flared as I inhaled a breath, my questions running into a sturdy wall.

Dammit.

"So you knew they were drug dealers?"

She laughed. "Honey, of course we did. There isn't much going on in this neighborhood that doesn't get noted."

"But—"

"For instance." She pointed behind me. "This black SUV."

My gaze darted over my shoulder.

A blacked-out SUV drove down the road, parting the children like Moses to the Red Sea.

"It cruises down this street three times a week. It's got no plates, and it doesn't stop."

The SUV turned down the next left-hand street and disappeared as it passed the second house.

"You don't call it in?"

"Pfft."Her brows furrowed tighter. "The police don't care about us." She shrugged. "Besides, he don't do any harm, so why bother?"

"What if he's up to no good, though? He could be scoping out a place to rob or worse."

She raised a brow and leaned forward. "You're not from around here, so I'll give you a little grace." She pointed toward the street the SUV drove down. "People in vehicles like that don't need to rob people like us. They already do that in the form of taxes and policy making."

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