For half a second, I wondered whether she'd finally noticed the tiny light.
She shrugged and turned away.
I pressed the microphone button.
‘Having fun?’
The backyard went almost completely still.
Heads turned toward the camera.
The woman beside the pool stared straight at it.
‘You complained about this pool for weeks,’ I said. ‘And now you're throwing a party in it while we're gone?’
Nobody laughed anymore.
One man grabbed his towel.
Someone whispered, ‘Oh, no.’
But the neighbor who had caused us the most trouble stepped closer to the camera instead of leaving.
She folded her arms.
‘It's the Fourth of July,’ she snapped. ‘We're not hurting anything.’
That sentence told me everything.
She still thought she was in control.
She still thought the worst thing that could happen was an angry homeowner yelling through a camera.
Then a wash of blue light flickered across the far side of my fence.
Her expression changed.
The gate latch clicked.