Chapter 1: The Paint, The Police, and the Letters Nobody Was Supposed to See
My neighbor dumped a bucket of paint over my car at 2 a.m.
— by breakfast, three police cars were outside her house.
My neighbor Linda and I had been fighting over my driveway for six months.
She insisted the space beside my garage was "basically shared" and constantly parked there.
Last week, I finally had her SUV towed.
She stood on her porch screaming.
"You'll regret this!"
At 2:13 a.m., I woke to a loud metallic clang.
I peered through my bedroom window...
and saw Linda rushing across my lawn.
Beside my car was an empty bucket.
My white SUV was covered in bright red paint.
By the time I got outside, she was gone.
I had no camera facing the driveway.
No witnesses.
Nothing that proved it was her.
At 7:20 the next morning, someone pounded on my door.
I expected Linda.
Instead, there were three police cars outside her house.
Two officers were searching her garage.
Linda stood barefoot on the lawn in her pajamas, shouting:
"I didn't do anything!"
Then one officer walked toward me.
"Ma'am, is the damaged vehicle yours?"
"Yes."
He stared at the red paint.
"Don't wash it."
"Why?"
Before he could answer, another officer emerged from Linda's garage carrying a half-empty paint can.
I almost laughed.
"Well, I guess there's my proof."
But neither officer smiled.
The older one looked at me strangely.
"This isn't about your car."
He asked when I'd bought it.
"Three years ago.
Why?"
He moved around the SUV, then crouched near the rear bumper.
The paint had dissolved part of an old white coating I'd never noticed.
Underneath it...
were several scratched letters.
The officer wiped them carefully.
Then his radio crackled.
He read the letters again and immediately stood.
"Get her away from the vehicle."
My stomach dropped.
"What's going on?"
---
May you like
What is hiding under that paint — and why did the officer go pale the moment he read those letters?
Comment **"NEXT"** if you want Part 2 in the comments.
