Skip to content He mounted a small unit beneath the garage overhang where it had a clear view of both the hot tub and the gate leading from our backyard into the alley.
The gate had been installed by the previous owners for deliveries.
It only had a simple latch that could be opened from either side.
We had never considered it a security problem.
Until now.
The next Friday, Tom and I made a show of leaving town.
We carried luggage to the car.
Loaded everything where anyone nearby could see.
Then drove away.
Instead of traveling far, we checked into a hotel about forty minutes from home.
Saturday evening, Tom opened the camera feed on his laptop.
For nearly two hours, nothing happened.
Our backyard remained dark and silent.
I was beginning to think Lisa had been mistaken.
Then the gate opened.
One person stepped inside.
Then another.
Then two more.
They didn’t move cautiously.
They walked through our yard with the relaxed confidence of people who had done it many times before.
One person immediately removed the hot tub cover.
Another set down an insulated bag full of drinks and snacks.
Someone connected a phone to a portable speaker.
Music began playing.
Then all four climbed into our hot tub.
Tom and I sat completely still on the hotel bed.
Eventually, one of the people moved close enough to the camera for me to recognize his face.
Jim.
Our next-door neighbor.
The same Jim who had waved at us from his driveway every week for four years.
The same Jim who had borrowed Tom’s socket wrench the previous summer and politely returned it.
Then I recognized the woman beside him.
Lisa.
The woman who had knocked on our door and complained about the noise.