Then Danielle laughed.
Hard.
Aaron waited.
“This is not funny.”
“It is a little funny.”
“She told them I was trespassing.”
“In your yard?”
“Yes.”
Danielle laughed harder.
“She entered the yard herself.”
Now Danielle stopped.
“What?”
“She opened the gate.”
“Did you call police?”
“She already did.”
Another pause.
“Oh.”
“Yes.”
“That is incredible.”
“No.”
“That is objectively incredible.”
Aaron ate another strawberry.
“She got trespassed.”
Danielle became quiet.
“You okay?”
There it was.
Not amused now.
Aaron looked toward the gate.
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
“What part?”
He thought.
“The weapon thing.”
“What weapon thing?”
“She told dispatch she didn’t know whether I had one.”
Danielle’s voice changed.
“She said that?”
“Yes.”
“Did she see anything?”
“No.”
“You were in swim trunks.”
“Yes.”
“Where exactly did she think you hid a weapon?”
Aaron laughed reluctantly.
“That is not the point.”
“I know.”
He stared at the pool.
“I keep thinking about what the responding officers heard before they got here.”
Danielle understood.
The call could have arrived differently.
Suspicious male.
Restricted area.
Possible weapon unknown.
Refusing to leave.
They could have entered with a different level of caution.
Hands positioned differently.
Voices sharper.
One sudden movement interpreted through a story Victoria had already written.
“You recorded everything?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Aaron hated needing that reassurance.
Good.
Camera.
Evidence.
As though relaxing safely required a production system.
Danielle asked:
“Want company?”
“No.”
“That means yes.”
“I’m sitting in the sun.”
“I’ll bring food.”
“I have strawberries.”
“That is not food.”
Twenty-five minutes later she arrived with sandwiches.
The afternoon recovered slowly.
Not completely.
Enough.
Sunday morning, Aaron woke to forty-three messages in the neighborhood app.
He regretted opening it.
Someone had posted:
POLICE INCIDENT AT BROOKS PROPERTY?
The comments were already chaotic.
Was there a trespasser?
Was someone arrested?
Was this about HOA common area?
Was the pool illegally built?
Did Aaron threaten Victoria?
He stared.
The speed at which fiction filled empty space amazed him.
Aaron typed nothing.
Then a new post appeared.
Victoria Caldwell.
CLARIFICATION REGARDING YESTERDAY’S HOA SAFETY RESPONSE
Aaron groaned.