But how?
The Sanchez backyard had a privacy fence, and in a tight-knit suburb, a lurking stranger would have been noticed.
How indeed.
Twenty minutes later, he was driving through the Sanchez neighborhood, trying to piece it together.
Her parents’ house was quiet, apparently no one at home. There were, however, others out and about. A woman jogging on the sidewalk; an elderly man pruning the bushes in his front yard. A man pulling out of his driveway, heading somewhere.
Colin turned at the corner, then turned again, heading down the street that ran parallel to the Sanchezes’ street, backyards bumping up against each other.
The neighborhood was bustling, the kind of community where people probably watched out for each other.
Lester definitely would have been noticed.
Unless…
He slowed the car as he approached the houses that backed up to the Sanchez place, and the answer became clear.
The house directly behind Maria’s parents’ home was for sale.
More than that, it appeared to be vacant.
Maria was reserved when he picked her up from work that evening, and their conversation was desultory. It was clear that she wanted to avoid talking about Lester or Margolis.
She wanted to spend the night at her parents’, so he drove her home and waited outside while she packed an overnight bag. Next, he drove her to pick up her car at the tire shop, waiting until Maria was on her way before finally exiting the parking lot. He’d wanted to follow her, but thinking it would only make her more nervous, he asked her instead to text him when she reached her parents’ place. Fifteen minutes later, she let him know that she’d arrived.
Though she said nothing, he guessed she’d spent the drive to her parents’ house repeatedly glancing in the rearview mirror, wondering if Lester was following her.
Colin waited until after midnight to return to the neighborhood, his mind on Lester Manning.
Dressed in black, he’d parked a few blocks away and approached the vacant house. In his backpack he carried a small flashlight, a couple of screwdrivers, and a small crowbar. Still, if Lester had been inside the house multiple times – and unless he was an expert in picking locks or had a key – then Colin guessed he’d be able to get in through the same window or door that Lester had used. The entry point might still be unlocked; unless the Realtor had noticed it, there would have been no way for Lester to relock it once he’d left.
Colin just had to find it.
And if Lester happened to be there tonight, having realized that Maria wasn’t at her condo?
As much as Colin itched to exact punishment, he’d call Margolis. Maybe they could charge Lester with trespassing, maybe even breaking and entering, in addition to stalking.
The street was quiet and empty. On either side of him, through gaps in the curtains of the nearby houses, he saw the occasional television flickering, but he suspected most people had turned in for the night.
He reached the vacant house and a quick check of the front door showed a lockbox on the doorknob, courtesy of the Realtor. There were no partially open windows on the porch, nor any pry marks. He went around to the side of the house and noiselessly hoisted himself over the fence, into the backyard. With the flashlight, he inspected the windows one by one, hunting for a small gap or pry marks.
It wasn’t until he reached the opposite side of the house that he found it.
A bedroom window, five feet up, nearly but not fully closed. Pry marks on the frame, no doubt used to take off the screen. Easy for Colin to climb through, despite the distance from the ground, but for Lester? He scanned the yard and spotted an old plastic picnic table set, made for children. Based on four imprints of flattened, yellowing grass, the table from the set had been moved recently.
Bingo.
Using the screwdriver, he popped the screen off, then wedged the window open a bit farther before pushing it wide with his hands.
With a quick jump and climb, he was inside.
He walked through the darkened house, observing that the floor plan was similar to Maria’s parents’ house, with windows in the kitchen and a family room offering an unobstructed view of the Sanchezes’ back porch. But the view was almost too perfect, facing both ways, and Colin knew that Lester wouldn’t have wanted to be spotted.
Which left only one possibility.
Colin traversed the short hallway, turning into the only bedroom on the rear side of the house. Unlike the ones in the kitchen and family room, the window that offered a view of the Sanchezes’ back porch had curtains. Turning his flashlight on, he scanned the pile carpet.
Indentations near the window. Footprints.
Lester Manning had been here.
And there was also the chance that he might return.
It wasn’t until he was driving home that Colin realized he’d overlooked something important.
Where had Lester parked?
It struck him as unlikely that he would have parked in the driveway of the vacant house, or on the street in front of someone’s home. It was too noticeable, especially since many people wanted to park their own cars in front of their houses. At the same time, Lester probably wouldn’t have wanted to park too far away.
Turning around, Colin drove back through the neighborhood, not sure what he hoped to find, until he came upon a park that included a grassy field, a jungle gym, and benches stationed beneath oak trees. On the opposite side of the street, ten or twelve cars were lined up; adjacent to the park were seven more. The lateness of the hour suggested that they belonged to the people who lived across the street, owners with multiple cars and nowhere else to park.
However, another car here would be more likely to go unnoticed – ideal for Lester – and he was sure he was right. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he snapped photos of the cars, along with their license plates. He wanted to know which ones belonged. And as he did, his thoughts began to coalesce.