Grabbing my laptop, I go to the garage, open the big door, and turn on my streaming radio. Once my country-rock playlist starts playing through the speakers, I begin to ease from the tension building inside me. I can see her house and anything that may go on the entire street. Until I have answers I will be on alert.
With the computer set up on my work bench, I use my roll up stool to settle in.
First search, Josie Jubilee Schneider. Start with the things I already know on my own. Sure, part of me wondered if I needed to look into her before she moved in. However, I prefer to give some people the benefit of the doubt. Not many get this pass from me. But there is this innocence to her that tells me she didn’t move here to bring problems my way.
The internet is full of information, but the dark web gives even more. Things that shouldn’t ever be out there.
Married twice. Maiden name Dunne. First marriage she was eighteen.
Interesting.
First husband, Jonah Matthew Schneider. Killed in action.
Well, that explains how she got from Arkansas to North Carolina. I keep reading. She has a small family. A sister in California, a cousin, and a grandfather seems to be her only family interaction scanning her social media accounts. She has the right settings to block strangers from seeing her profiles and location.
I’m impressed.
Yes, I have the software to see more than the average person. She can’t hide anything from me, not that she knows she has made my radar. I bounce between state and federal databases along with her social media accounts.
It’s important to know my neighbor, that’s my justification for this. Granted, I have certainly fallen down a rabbit hole of personal information. This is more than a credit score and background screening, and I can’t stop myself from continuing to read on.
They were in homecoming court together. How cute. Good for her and him.
Popping the top off my beer, I take a long pull reading through everything. She does have parents but the communication with them seems to be hit and miss. They don’t have any social media and aren’t included in any pictures from family members.
Looking at the dates, Justice never met Jonah.
Two years after losing her husband, insert new man into two pictures, by year three of being a widow, she is at the courthouse marrying the new man.
Brett Rothrock.
Medically retired from the Army.
He served with her first husband’s unit.
Interesting, she didn’t take his last name.
Married one year before the first incident report.
The burn builds in the pit of my stomach as I read. I know these reports all too well. Instantly, I want to squeeze the life from this man’s body.
I look to my garage ceiling as if some miracle would come down to calm me.
When I drop my head, I read more. Twelve reports in total before it seems Josie took Justice on her own version of the run. While she hasn’t tried to completely disappear, she did leave Brett and move around.
Dammit.
Women are the most vulnerable during the initial separation. Until a court order is in place dividing all assets and defining contact, she is at a greater risk for him to push the limits.
I don’t like this. Not at all.
A noise in the quiet of the night gets my attention. From where I sit at the edge of my garage, I can see movement outside of her house while she can’t see me.
She’s moving to check her car is locked. She studies the windshield, satisfied there isn’t something there, she moves to check the side door and then around back in what I assume is to check that door. What sticks out to me, more than anything, is when she begins to check the windows. I applaud the attention to detail, but I worry about what has made her this diligent in securing her home.
One by one, she goes by each window pushing up on them making sure they don’t move.
Whatever happened this afternoon, rattled her. I don’t like this at all. No woman should live like this ever.
