“Does the forest line your neighbors’ backyards as well?” Tara asked.

“Mhm…the trail only runs by my property though.”

Again, she traced the trees along the side of her house with her finger, but then she stopped a moment when she heard one of her kids yell out in frustration. Her eyes darted across the front lawn to where her children were now arguing. She tried to ignore it, but it was soon clear it was only escalating and she asked Tara and Warren to give her a moment as she walked off the porch.

When she was out of earshot, Tara spoke to Warren.

“Anyone from these houses would have easy enough access to the trail,” she said, and Warren nodded.

They both knew all it would take for a neighbor to access the trail would be to trudge through a few yards of the forest that they could enter right through their backyard.

The woman walked back over to them. “Sorry about that,” she sighed.

But Tara didn’t skip a beat. “Do you get along with your neighbors?”

The woman looked down toward the other houses, pondering the thought.

“Yeah, we get along with mostly everyone,” she said, her eyes continuing to scan the other homes.

The word almost stuck in Tara’s mind like a splinter. She knew she was on the verge of something.

“Is there anyone you don’t get along with?” she questioned.

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. “Just some grump down the street.” She shrugged.

“Why’s that?” Tara asked.

She rolled her eyes again. “He’s just always walking through my yard to get to the trail.” She shook her head at the thought. “I don’t really like people doing that, but he seems to think he has some right to access it this way.”

Tara knew something of importance was just a few words away.

“Did it ever result in an argument?” she asked.

“Mhm.” The woman nodded. “He wouldn’t get off my property—he said people like me didn’t deserve to live here. He even went as far as to threaten my life—said I didn’t deserve to live, which I felt was a huge overreaction.” She shook her head at the thought. “It was this whole big thing a couple months ago. The cops came and everything.”

“Has he been through your property since?”

She shook her head with relief. “He’s not allowed to anymore. We have a restraining order since he threatened me.”

At her words, Tara shared a quick glance with Warren, and she knew he thought it too—maybe the altercation took him over the edge.

“Have you seen him since?” Tara asked.

But the woman only shook her head again. As far as she knew, the restraining order had kept him away.

Tara asked her where he lived, and after she gave them directions, Tara and Warren stepped off the porch.

***

Tara and Warren stood on the porch of the man’s house. Tara lifted her fist and knocked on the door—it was the second time she had done so—and again they waited as Tara rested her hand upon her gun on her hip.