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Echo sped off, nearly colliding with Floyd’s pickup truck as he was pulling in. He slid out of the driver’s seat, scratching his head with a puzzled expression on his face. “Echo was in a hurry.”

“To either get away from here or try to find the guy who showed up on our doorstep looking for her.”

“Someone came all the way out here looking for Echo? Was it one of the farm’s employees?”

“I don’t think so. Gloria took a picture of him.” Liz pulled up the picture her sister had texted to her and handed her husband the phone.

Floyd studied the photo. “Never seen him before in my life. I’m gonna go get cleaned up.” He gave his wife a quick kiss and headed inside the RV to shower. He was gone a long time and Liz finally went inside to check on him. She found him standing near the rear window, the one overlooking the cornfield. “What are you doing?”

“Wondering what happened.” Floyd pointed to the window and what appeared to be pry marks. “Did you lock yourself out and try to get in through the window?”

“No. Maybe it was like that when you brought this beauty home,” she joked.

Floyd picked at the pry mark with the tip of his fingernail. “The dealer and I conducted a thorough walk-through of the unit. This window wasn’t damaged when I took it off the lot.”

Liz shifted her gaze to her nosy neighbor’s house directly across from them. “Christi spends a lot of time wandering around our property. Maybe she knows something about it.” She exited the RV and crossed the road.

The echo of jazz music wafted through her neighbor’s open windows. “Dun, dun, dun, dunna. ”

Liz rapped loudly on the front door.

The singing grew louder. “…to find the one who meant the most to me. How could you think it was a mystery?” The pitch leveled up an octave, and Liz winced.

She clutched her fists and pounded, this time using both hands. “Is anyone home?”

The singing stopped. Hurried, muffled steps ensued. The door flew open and Christi appeared. “Oh. Hello, Liz.”

“Hello, Christi. I’m sorry to bother you. Floyd and I just noticed pry marks on the corner of one of our RV’s windows.”

Her neighbor’s eyes grew round as saucers. “Someone tried breaking into your camper?”

“It appears so, and since you have a bird’s-eye view of the house and our RV, I thought perhaps you may have noticed something. ”

Christi cast a concerned look over Liz’s shoulder. “I haven’t, but we can check my cameras.”

“If you don’t mind.”

“We’ll look right now.” Christi motioned Liz inside. “I’m cleaning house. Don’t mind the mess.”

Liz followed her neighbor down the narrow hall, casually gazing to her left into the living room. She slowed, doing a double take when she spotted a trio of telescopes in front of the window, all facing out.

“Those are my telescopes. They’re great for birdwatching.”

“And spying on your neighbor,” Liz whispered under her breath.

“As I mentioned before, my husband Darren travels a lot. You can never be too careful.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Liz continued following the woman down the hall to a room near the back.

“It’s a little cozy in here.” Christi slid a folding chair against the wall and squeezed in behind a desk filled with electrical equipment. A soft hum was accompanied by an array of blinking lights.

Liz said the first thing that popped into her head. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Ruth Carpenter, would you?”

“Ruth Carpenter?”

“Ruth recently retired from her position as Belhaven’s postmaster. She’s the queen of surveillance.”

“I remember her. She worked at the post office for many years. I don’t recall us ever discussing surveillance stuff.” Christi adjusted the computer monitor and tapped the keyboard. A grainy image of her front yard appeared.

Liz leaned in. “I bet you don’t miss much between this and your telescopes.”

“My telescopes are for birdwatching.” Christi clicked on the sidebar and switched screens. “Do you have any idea how long the window has been like that? ”

“Nope.”

“Perhaps it was damaged before you brought it home.”

“Floyd and the dealer did a walk-through before he took it off the lot. He said it wasn’t there when he picked it up.”

“I see.” Christi began humming under her breath as she flipped from screen to screen and Liz got the distinct impression the woman had done it many times…on a daily basis even.

She clicked back and forth at lightning speed. Liz started to feel queasy and looked away. Her eyes were drawn to a framed photo of her neighbor. It was a newspaper clipping with a caption beneath it.

Local woman organizes Montbay County neighborhood watch and catches the red kettle bandit on the first day.

The story went on to say Christi had enlisted the help of a small army of volunteers to monitor the Salvation Army’s kettle after a string of thefts .

Christi popped out of her chair. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“I…yes. Are you still in charge of the neighborhood watch?”

“I am.” Christi straightened her shoulders. “We don’t meet often, only once a month. Are you interested in joining?”

“No.” Liz cut her off and promptly apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m busy with the renovations. I don’t think I could fit it into my schedule right now.”

“My cameras didn’t catch anything,” Christi said.

Liz followed her neighbor out of the house and to the front porch. “Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to check for me.”

She headed home and found Floyd checking the RV’s exterior. “Christi’s twenty cameras didn’t catch anyone.”

“Twenty cameras?” Floyd lifted a brow .

“Twenty might be an exaggeration, but there were at least five for sure.”

“I found some prints.” Floyd showed Liz a set of footprints directly below the damaged window frame.

“Maybe it was someone Lucy and Margaret had come out here to quote one of our projects.”

“I reckon they could’ve been looking for a porta potty. We have one delivering first thing in the morning.”

Liz curled her lip. “You ordered a temporary toilet?”

“We can’t have the workers tinkling in the weeds,” Floyd joked.

Liz’s eyes widened in horror. “I never gave it a thought.”

“It will be here tomorrow. I figured we could put it over by the corncrib, away from the house and RV. ”

“Yes. Yes, that would be an appropriate location.”

Floyd pointed out that the tracks stopped near each window. “Someone was looking inside here. Are you still keeping an eye on the place with the hairy scary rabbit you bought from Ruth?”

“It’s out of season, so I put it away.” Liz had given up on monitoring the app and placed Sunny the Easter bunny in the hall closet. “Ruth’s still working on the surveillance wagon I ordered. She’s having trouble getting parts.”

“It’s possible someone’s casing the joint, looking to steal building materials. We’ll have to keep our eyes and ears open and a handgun nearby.” Floyd headed to the barn while Liz returned to the house to jot down additional notes about the home’s renovations.

Despite Lucy and Margaret’s assurance the project wouldn’t drag out, Liz was concerned her dream home wouldn’t be ready in time for her to host the Christmas gala she envisioned .

Wintering in an RV wasn’t something she was looking forward to. Forced to prioritize, she was pushing to have the master suite completed before the first snowflake hit the ground.

The door slammed, and Floyd appeared. “I’m running over to the farm. Do you need anything?”

“I’m good.”

Floyd promised he wouldn’t be long and Liz headed back to the RV to start dinner. She assembled grilled cheese sandwiches, something she was confident she could handle, and placed them in the heated frying pan.

Duchess, her small pup, circled Liz’s feet and let out a low whine.

“Do you need to go out?” She turned the gas burner on low and followed the pup down the steps.

They meandered to the side yard and inspected the flower bed, which is where they were when Floyd returned.

Beep. Beep. The smoke alarm, coming from the direction of the RV, blared loudly.

“Crud!” Liz flew down the driveway and ran inside. She snatched the frying pan from the burner and ran back out.

Floyd caught up with her. “What is that?”

“What was it,” Liz corrected. “It was dinner. Our grilled cheese sandwiches are burnt toast.”

“They might be salvageable.” Using the tips of his fingers, Floyd plucked the sandwich from the pan and tapped the top. “I think we can scrape this off. What happened?”

“I forgot about them.” Liz glumly eyed the charred sandwiches. “I guess it’s frozen dinners for us again. I’m a terrible cook.”

“At least you tried.” Floyd took a tentative bite. A charred chunk fell to the ground.

Duchess scampered over. She took one whiff, turned her nose up, and trotted off .

“Even Duchess won’t touch it.”

Back inside, Floyd opened the windows to air it out while Liz grabbed the frozen meals from the freezer.

Echo’s car appeared. She tooted the horn, but didn’t slow as she continued driving toward her place.

“How is she doing at the farm?” Liz asked.

“She’s a hard worker. Echo got a tad upset when I told her I couldn’t keep paying her under the table and was planning on putting her on the payroll.”

“Really?”

“I told her it would help build her credit, but she didn’t seem to care.”

“I was hoping she would show more interest in getting her foot in the door at the sheriff’s department. It’s almost as if she doesn’t want a steady job or paycheck. ”

“She might be content working at the farm, but she will have to go on the payroll.”

The couple finished warming their food and settled in to watch television while they ate. Liz flipped through the channels and stopped when she found the local evening news.

A headline flashed across the top of the screen, and a local reporter appeared. “Montbay County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the vicious attack of a man who was found steps away from the Lake Terrace public boat ramp. We have a reporter on his way to the scene and will update you as soon as we have more information.”

A picture of a van flashed on the screen and Liz nearly hit the floor.