A woman with a camera was standing near the curb, taking photos of the empty concrete slab where the house used to be.

My phone buzzed in the cup holder.

It was an email notification from a local news address.

I pulled over to the side of the road and opened the message.

The email was from Jessica Vance, a senior investigative reporter at the *Austin Statesman*.

The subject line was simple: *URGENT: Property dispute and modular home removal on Ridgeview Drive.*

I tapped the screen to open the message.

“Who is it, Mom?” Chloe asked, leaning over the center console to look.

“The local press,” I said.

The woman with the camera looked up from her viewfinder and spotted my station wagon parked near the curb.

She began walking toward us, her heavy boots clicking on the asphalt.

I rolled my window up halfway.

“Are you Alexandra Miller?” she asked, stopping a few feet away.

“I am,” I said.

“I’m with the *Statesman*,” she said, holding up a press badge. “We received a tip about a property dispute involving a fully assembled modular home being dismantled and moved overnight.”