“Diane,” she said. “Do not negotiate with him. Do not agree to let them stay one night. Not one. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“A lease dated before you owned the property. Text messages planning to use it to force an eviction. A code obtained through deception. This isn’t a landlord-tenant dispute. Make sure the officer understands that.”
“I think he’s starting to.”
“Good. Call me when you get there. I’ll keep my phone on.”
PART 6
We pulled onto Linden Court at 2:31 in the afternoon.
The yellow moving truck was still in my driveway.
So were two police cruisers.
A small cluster of neighbors stood across the street pretending not to watch. An older man with a golden retriever. A woman holding a toddler on her hip. A teenage boy with a basketball tucked under his arm.
I’d lived there eleven days. I didn’t know any of their names.
