“Of course, come on in.” I stepped into the house, and Tessa closed the door. I could only imagine how nervous that made Bennett and Cherri, so I had to just hope that they trusted me. “You know, I do think I recognize you now. Are you one of the higher ups?”
“Yes!” I nodded, thankful for my decision to dye my hair and change my eye contact color. They gave people the impression that they must recognize me, so they assume that they do. “In truth, I oversee several HOAs and yours just happens to be one of them.”
She nodded. “It must be so busy.”
“Tessa, can you not? It’s eight o’clock at night.” He looked at me. “Look, you can tell Al and Melinda over there that our floodlight doesn’t even reach all the way over to their house. They need to calm the fuck down.”
“With all due respect, can I ask why you have such an abrasive light? I saw a squad car outside. Are there issues with break-ins?” I held out my hand toward Detective Alcina’s partner. “Hello, I’m Marjorie. Are you overseeing this case? Do you have a card?”
The man’s eyes got a little wider. “Oh, uh, no. I’m Cado’s partner, Joel Plattman. I do have a card, though.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out a small white card and handed it to me with a wink. “Call me anytime.”
“Are you serious right now?” Detective Alcina asked him before shoving him away. “Look. If you’re just here to flirt with my partner and drag my wife into some unnecessary conversation, you can leave.”
“I apologize. I was unaware that you are an officer yourself,” I replied. “So I can’t imagine crime is the issue, then.”
“The issue is that I wanted to install a floodlight on the front of my own goddamn home, so I did.”
“Cado,” Tessa grumbled. “Behave. Just…” She waved her hand in the direction of the dining room, where Rayna was sitting at the table and watching the interaction instead of working on her homework. “Didn’t you and Joel have some work to discuss. Go do that, and I’ll finish speaking with Marjorie and get her on her way. I’m certain she doesn’t want to be here anymore than we want her here.”
Detective Alcina sucked his teeth at me. “Let’s go, Joel.” They slunk into the dining room, where Detective Alcina briefly stopped to bark, “Homework,” at Rayna before continuing through a swinging door and out of sight.
Tessa motioned me to sit down on one of the couches, which was good placement so that Bennett and Cherri could see that I was okay. I sat down, and she sat down in the chair opposite me, folding her hands into her lap. “You know, the whole situation with the floodlight has just gotten way out of hand.” She leaned in. “I didn’t even want him to install the damn thing.”
“Well, listen. Obviously, your home is your home, but we do have regulations that afford your neighbors comfort in their homes, just as much as you are afforded comfort in yours.”
Tessa nodded. “Of course.”
Getting a sense for Detective Alcina’s bad temper set off alarm bells in my mind. I could see him attacking his neighbors for a complaint they never made, unintentionally tipping my hand. “I didn’t think it was the time to share, but it wasn’t actually your neighbors across the street who complained. Your HOA head received complaints from adifferenthousehold this time.”
“Oh boy,” Tessa replied. “Do we have to take it down?”
“Well, in truth, I don’t know that the floodlight should be bothering your neighbors as much as they’re claiming, which is why I came to speak with you myself. Is there any reason why your neighbors wouldn’t want you in this neighborhood?” I asked.
Tessa looked over her shoulder at Rayna, but she was actually focusing on her homework, so she turned back to me and leaned in a little. “Well, my husband just received a new position at work, and it hasn’t attracted the best attention.”
“What do you mean, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“He’s a detective and was recently asked to head up a new investigation. Obviously, I can’t discuss the particulars, but both those who he’s investigating and some of the other detectives he’s heading all have a bone to pick. Several of the detectives think they were entitled to the position. We’ve gotten some driveby honkers, garbage left on our doorstep, threats, the works. I imagine the neighborhood probably doesn’t like having cops around, in general.”
“Do you have any names? We can add them to our list of people to look out for. Plus, we can have a paper trail in case anything more serious happens down the road.”
“Oh, that’d be wonderful!” Tessa stood up, grabbed a piece of notebook paper, and scribbled down several names before handing it over to me. “As for the floodlight?”
I shrugged. “I’d consider taking it down, simply for your own peace of mind. You aren’t required to since the light isn’t in violation of any of our bylaws, but it gives them ammunition.”
“You know, I’ve tried explaining that to Cado, but he just doesn’t want to listen.” She grinned. “Well, as long as there are no fines or anything.”
“No. I really just came to see if I could figure out what all the fuss is about. It isn’t every day that a floodlight makes it all the way up the ladder.”
“I imagine so,” Tessa said with a laugh.
I stood up. “Well, this has been very helpful. If you have any additional problems, just refer to your HOA rep, and they’ll be sure to help you out.”
Tessa stood up as well. “That’s wonderful. Tomorrow, while Cado is at work, I’ll take the damn light down. It’s not worth all the trouble.” Tessa walked me over to the door and opened it to let me out. “Thank you so much, Marjorie.”
“You’re welcome.” I started out, but then stopped and turned. “Oh, one last thing, and this is kind of unprofessional, so I apologize.”
Tessa tilted her head. “Okay?”
