Chapter 16

He arrived home close to noon, parking in the driveway since he and Steve had plans for the afternoon. As he got out of the car, he spotted a man he’d never seen before walking down the street carrying two overloaded plastic grocery bags. He was probably in his late twenties, Gary estimated, tall, slender, and good-looking, with dark brown, sun-streaked hair. He wondered if he was the man who had bought the old Forsberg place.

His question was answered when the man juggled the bags so he could open the front gate and then disappeared into the yard, closing it behind him.

“Well, maybe I should say, I presume it was him,” he said to Steve a few minutes later, after telling him about the man. “Given how reclusive the owner seems to be, somehow I doubt the guy was a salesman, or even a friend, especially since it was obvious he’d been grocery shopping.”