Margaret Thought Ryan’s Red Sneakers Proved He Was the Porch Thief — Then Walter Zoomed In on the Hoodie and Saw the Detail That Cleared His Name
Chapter 4 — The Car Across the Street
Walter moved the recording backward.
A dark blue sedan pulled into view.
It stopped across from Margaret’s house.
The passenger door opened.
The hooded teenager stepped out.
He walked toward the porch.
Picked up the package.
Then returned to the car.
The vehicle drove away.
Margaret stared.
“So somebody else was involved.”
Walter nodded.
Ryan leaned toward the screen.
“Can you see the plate?”
Not clearly.
A tree blocked the first half.
But the last two characters were visible.
4K.
Walter wrote them down.
Margaret immediately reached for her phone.
“I’m calling Lucas’s parents.”
Walter stopped her.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because fifteen minutes ago you were ready to accuse Ryan based on red shoes.”
Margaret looked embarrassed.
Walter continued.
“We’re not repeating that with another teenager.”
“We have evidence pointing toward St. Andrew’s and possibly number seventeen.”
“We do not yet know exactly who is under the hood.”
Ryan nodded.
Margaret lowered the phone.
“Then what?”
“We collect what we have.”
Margaret had already made an online report after the second missing package.
Walter suggested updating it with the footage.
They saved all three videos.
The delivery times.
The theft times.
The school emblem.
The number.
The vehicle.
And the visible portion of the license plate.
Ryan remained unusually quiet.
Walter looked toward him.
“What?”
Ryan hesitated.
“I saw Lucas near here last week.”
Margaret immediately turned.
“When?”
“After school.”
“He was walking with another guy.”
Walter asked:
“Did you see him take anything?”
“No.”
“Then that’s all we know.”
Ryan nodded.
Then something occurred to him.
“Wait.”
He searched his messages.
A week earlier, Lucas had sent Ryan a strange question.
At the time Ryan had ignored it.
Now the message looked completely different.
