Our hot tub had been sitting covered and almost untouched for nearly four months when our neighbor, Lisa, appeared at the front door and asked us to keep the noise down.
At first, I thought I had misunderstood her.
My husband, Tom, and I hadn’t even been home the previous Sunday. We had driven three hours away to visit his parents for the weekend.
So there had been no music coming from our backyard.
No people laughing.
No late-night gathering.
Nothing.
“Are you sure it was coming from our house?” I asked.
Lisa hesitated.
“I mean, it sounded like it was coming from this direction. Loud music, people talking… Honestly, Charlotte, it’s been happening for months. Maybe close to a year. I didn’t want to complain, but it’s getting frustrating.”
Nearly a year?
I thanked her for letting me know and slowly closed the door.
Then I stood alone in the hallway trying to understand how our backyard could have been noisy while we weren’t even home.
Tom and I had bought the house four years earlier after months of searching.
The backyard had been what convinced us.
It was spacious, lined with mature trees, and came with a beautiful hot tub the previous owners had installed.
The first two years, we used it constantly.
Friday nights.
Quiet evenings after stressful days.
Sometimes we sat outside after dinner with a bottle of wine between us.
Then life became busier.
I took a job that required me to travel roughly two weekends every month.
One of Tom’s coworkers went on extended medical leave, leaving him with an enormous workload.
By the time he came home each evening, even relaxing felt like something else he had to schedule.
We kept telling ourselves we would start using the hot tub again once things calmed down.
They never did.
So it remained covered.
At least, that was what we thought.
After Lisa’s visit, one question wouldn’t leave my mind.
If we hadn’t been using it…
who had?
The following weekend, Tom installed a camera.
It wasn’t obvious.
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.
