Just a quick look

Grace parked up in the same spot that you had been in before, further down the street but still within view so you could see if anyone came in or out of the front door. You also did one final check to confirm your father hadn’t moved on the KDK and relayed that information to Grace and Emma, the fake tracking app story still explaining away your knowledge perfectly.

You didn’t know exactly what you had planned but without your father here it felt like you could be a bit bolder in your approach if you wanted to, even if it did make you more nervous.

“I’m thinking of knocking on the door and just speaking with her” you said, your words coming out when you saw the house again.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea but…” Grace replied, warning you against it but still knowing the choice was yours to make.

“I know that logically but…Just the way she looked when he left earlier made it look like she wasn’t happy with her situation either” you said, knowing a bit more than you could tell Grace about your father’s current drinking situation.

Grace pursed her lips before looking back at the house and you were sure she had seen the same thing as you earlier when the woman hadn’t reacted well to him.

“Would you want to go alone or do you bring someone with you?” Emma asked, making you give the question some thought.

As much as Grace or maybe Mom might disagree with you, you did want to help this mystery woman if she was in a similar situation. Potentially worse if she had just had a kid and your father was already off trying to ruin someone else's life. But even with your desire to help, the best way you saw of keeping an eye on the house would be to add her as a subject to let you spy on her.

It would also let you effectively double the time spying on the home if the both of them were there and you could keep checking in multiple times a day if you needed to continue watching after the first 10 minute time window was up.

To get that to work however would require you to touch her for the registration and that meant getting inside to do so. All three of you turning up at the door might spook her and lead to a tense conversation at the door if she didn’t invite you in.

You could imagine that scenario if Grace came with you as it seemed like she was gonna be protective over you even if she didn’t mean to be, her motherly energy most likely setting the mood.

“Would you want to come?” you asked Emma, knowing her presence would most likely not hurt your chances. Probably help them in all likelihood.

Just from an outside perspective, she was probably more likely to invite a couple into her home than a young man on his own, and the KDK wouldn’t give you any help getting in the door until the registration was complete.

“I don’t mind either way but… I guess I am curious to see what it’s like in there.” Emma responded, leaving the decision up to you.

You took a bit more time to decide before giving a nod for Emma to join you, turning back to Grace to give her your thoughts about how it would appear before trying to hype her up when you saw her looking guilty.

“Honestly, I think it would be better if one of us stayed out here anyway. Having a lookout in case he comes home is needed you can call Emma if you see anything. Plus, on the off chance we get stuck in a conversation, you can always come in and rescue us if you think we have been in there too long or if Emma sends you a message” you explained, knowing Grace would prefer to be there alongside you but giving her enough of a reason to stay behind.

“Okay fine, but you two are having some extra spy gear thrown on you before you go in so I can record and hear what’s going on” Grace replied, with you not even realising that was something she had prepared in the bag of tricks she had.

You passed the bag forward that had been at the side of the other footwell and let her take a look through it, passing something different to you and Emma.

“Okay so Max you have the listening device and sweetie you have the recorder, we can’t do both on the same thing with these ones so try and stick together to pick up the same thing” Grace said, giving you a basic rundown of how they worked before making sure they worked and that they weren’t visible under your clothes.

With that out of the way, there was nothing stopping you from leaving the car but your hand hesitated on the handle for a moment, psyching yourself up before you actually moved to step out of the car.

Emma quickly joined you and while you wanted to talk about some specifics with her, Grace now had the ability to listen in so you didn’t have the privacy you needed. Instead, you just pulled out your phone and brought up the KDK with a knowing tilt of your head towards the house and that seemed to be enough for her to get the gist.

You didn’t want to look too suspicious as you walked up to the house but you couldn’t help but slow down as you entered the yard to try and spot anything out of the ordinary.

As far as you could tell it looked like an average suburban home that didn’t look any different from the rest on the street.

“You ready?” Emma asked as you made it to the front of the house.

You weren’t, but you saw no point in giving a negative answer after you had come this far in making your way here.

“...As ready as I can be” you replied, taking a second to **** yourself to calm down before you knocked on the door.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as you listened out for any sign of life on the other side of the door. Emma stood at the side of you and reached out her hand to hold yours, calming you down when you didn’t realise how on edge you were. You couldn’t explain why this was making you nervous but just the thought of this meeting was enough to get your pulse racing.

Eventually, you heard the sounds of footsteps getting closer and the door opened to reveal the same woman you had seen earlier, this time without a baby in her arms.

“Hi…can I help you?” She asked, not recognising you which you took as a good sign.