Chapter 2: The Neighbor Who Watered the Plants
Part 2 ⬇️
The house looked fine.
Not "still being renovated" fine.
Not "fire damage under repair" fine.
Fine fine.
Fresh paint on the front door.
Clean windows.
Flowers in the yard.
My hands were shaking as I pulled over and just stared at it.
There was no scaffolding.
No tarps.
No construction van parked outside.
Nothing.
I sat in my car for a long moment.
Then I got out and knocked on the neighbor's door.
An older woman answered.
She looked at me curiously.
"Hi — I'm sorry to bother you.
I'm Mark's wife.
Judy's daughter-in-law.
I just wanted to ask about the fire at her house."
The woman frowned.
"Fire?
What fire?
There's been no fire, sweetheart.
Judy's house has been perfectly fine.
She left about a month ago with two suitcases.
Said she was going to stay with her son for a while."
The ground felt like it shifted under my feet.
"Two suitcases," I repeated.
"That's right.
Planned, it looked like.
She even asked me to water her plants while she was gone."
I walked back to my car and sat there, unable to move.
There was no fire.
There never was.
Judy had planned this.
Every single part of it.
And Mark —
Did he know?
---
What Kate found out next made everything worse.
The truth behind Judy's plan — and Mark's role in it — is in the full story.
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