Page 11 of Mike

Tim moved to a spot where there was a small break in the leaves, pointing upward. Mike saw the reflection off the lens and swore. “Dammit.”

“You want me to go up and get it?” Tim asked, looking eager.

“No. I don’t want you touching it. I’m going to call the forensics guy on our team and have him check it out.”

“Smart move, Dad,” Dilly praised sagely. “That way you won’t disturb any evidence.”

Dilly was addicted to crime-drama podcasts, and as much as her input normally amused Mike, this was no laughing matter.

“Stay right here with me while I make my call,” he told his kids. His head stayed on a swivel, examining every corner of his property and beyond for movement of any kind. Mike didn’t like having to exercise this kind of caution in his own yard. Not one bit. But his gut, after an intense perusal, settled a little. He didn’t get the feeling there was anyone in the woods; at least not at this time. If he thought for a moment there was an immediate threat, he’d make Tim and Dilly head for his truck.

Mike dialed his teammate. “Welker. It’s Mike.”

“Hey LT. What’s up?”

“I need you at my property, stat.”

“Any reason?”

Mike heard movement, and knew Welker was already heading out.

“Tim found a surveillance camera up a tree, pointed at my house. It’s not mine.”

Welker grunted. “Don’t touch it.”

Mike scoffed. “I know that.”

“Sorry, LT. Of course you do. It’s just I’m a little rattled that someone would be spying on you. Any clue who it might be?”

“None, whatsoever, except…” Should he tell Welk he suspected he’d been being watched over the past few days? Mike looked at his children’s expectant faces, and… No. He didn’t want them worrying. He’d tell Welker in private when the man got here, and together they could review the video Mike had taken from his truck. “We’ll talk after you arrive.” Mike changed gears. “I’m going to have a look around the rest of the yard and see if there’s anything else I should be concerned with.”

“Right,” Welker responded. “Be careful.”

Oh, he would.

And when he found out who was messing with him?

There’d be hell to pay.

CHAPTER FIVE

Right before the start of her shift, the motion sensor on Joelle’s cameras once again alerted her to movement in Mike’s yard.

Just an hour earlier it had also beeped, and when she pulled up the live footage, she’d seen two teenage boys messing with a drone. When it had become lodged in a branch near her spy-cam’s hidey-hole, she’d held her breath, hoping they didn’t spot it. She’d watched as they’d extricated their machine from the tree, then given a sigh of relief as they’d walked away. It looked like she’d gotten lucky.

Her alarm had pinged three more times shortly after that. Once when one of the boys she’d seen left the premises to presumably head home, and the next signaled the arrival of what had to be Mike’s daughter. The final alert had been when Mike himself arrived home with the bunch of groceries she’d seen him buy a few hours earlier.

Joe had grinned, thinking it was a good thing he hadn’t picked up that fake ice cream he’d erroneously thrown in his cart. The kids would have had a fit over that.

After all the activity on her phone, a lack of anything thereafter left Joe free to get ready for work.

She was in the shower when she heard her phone ping once more. Feeling no urgency to check—it was probably the kids in the yard again—she finished with her ablutions and dried off before she checked the latest update.

Frippin’, frackin’, shnitt.

Joelle wanted to scream. She couldn’t believe it. The young man and his buddy had spotted her camera, and now it was Mike’s face she saw down below its perch, angrily looking up at her device.

She watched closely, expecting him to climb the tree and disable it, but when he shook his head and walked away, making the rounds of his yard with his kids following, she grunted. She knew what he was up to. The smart man was looking for additional surveillance apparatus, and he certainly wouldn’t miss camera number two.

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