At first I assumed it belonged to a visitor.
Then it returned.
Late evening.
Different days.
Usually parked across the street.
One man inside.
Dark shirt.
Sometimes a black vest.
Mark noticed too.
“You got security now?”
“No.”
“That guy has been sitting there twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
“Who is he?”
I took a picture through the window.
“Let’s find out.”
The SUV belonged to a small private security company contracted by Cedar Grove.
I researched them.
Licensed for patrol.
Parking enforcement.
Common area security.
Nothing I found suggested they had authority to enter houses or seize keys.
The driver’s name, I learned later, was Darren Cole.
Darren was thirty seven.
Former nightclub security.
Some private security experience.
No law enforcement authority.
No police commission.
No reason whatsoever to be watching my porch.
The next afternoon, I walked outside while he was parked across the street.
I stayed on my property.
