She walked next door as briskly as her arthritis allowed and asked for her filters. Linda first acted confused. Then she claimed she had been about to bring them over, and finally said she must have thought the box was hers.
Eleanor pointed out that Linda had walked right past her own house to take it, and that this had now happened four times. Linda folded her arms and told her that, at her age, she should not get so upset over cardboard boxes.
The remark stung. It was not being called old that bothered Eleanor. It was the suggestion that age made her foolish, as if Linda could deny what the video clearly showed.
Linda finally handed over the filters and shut the door in her face.
Why One Video Did Not Feel Like Enough
That evening, Michael urged his grandmother to call the police. Eleanor worried that Linda would simply call it a misunderstanding, since the video showed only one package.
She wanted proof that a neighbor stealing packages could not talk her way out of. Michael recognized her thoughtful silence immediately. He objected to her idea at first, then helped make it better.
Together, they bought a small battery-powered tracker, activated it, and tested it. They sealed it inside a plain gift box and placed that inside a shipping carton addressed to Eleanor. They added one inexpensive household item so the delivery was legitimate.
The Final Box and the Backyard Discovery
On Thursday afternoon, the driver left the parcel at Eleanor’s door. Four minutes later, Linda took it. Michael arrived about 20 minutes after Eleanor called him.
The tracker showed the box inside Linda’s house, then moving toward the backyard and stopping near the back fence. Michael did not want his grandmother involved, but Eleanor grabbed her cane and reminded him she had been dealing with people far longer than he had been alive.
They never stepped onto Linda’s property. Instead, they walked along the public sidewalk beside her wooden fence, and Michael peered through a narrow gap. His expression changed, and he stepped aside so Eleanor could look.
