A technician arrived Monday afternoon.
He examined the router.
Cameras.
Power logs.
Local storage.
Then he said something the homeowner did not expect.
"These cameras didn't lose power."
The homeowner leaned forward.
"What?"
"They were disabled."
"Remotely?"
"Looks that way."
"By who?"
"I can't tell from here."
The technician opened a diagnostic page.
"Somebody accessed the administrative interface and disabled recording."
The homeowner stared.
"Can you trace it?"
"Maybe."
"Do it."
The technician spent another hour examining logs.
Then he frowned.
"What?"
"Access came from inside your network."
"Impossible."
"Not necessarily."
He pointed toward the screen.
"Could be spoofing."
"Could be somebody connected to your Wi-Fi."
"Could be an old authorized device."
The homeowner thought.
"Can you see device identity?"
"Partial."
A sequence appeared.
The technician copied it.
The homeowner looked.
The prefix belonged to a device manufacturer commonly used in neighborhood security hubs.
"Does that mean anything?"
The technician hesitated.
"It looks like access came through a management bridge."
"What management bridge?"
"The type used when home systems are temporarily paired with larger property-management networks."
The homeowner's stomach tightened.
"Like an HOA security system?"
"Potentially."
The technician looked at him.
"But don't jump to conclusions."
The homeowner almost laughed.
He had heard that phrase before.
He paid for a complete security reset.
New passwords.
New router.
Separate camera network.
Local encrypted storage.
Physical recording backup.
The technician added one more recommendation.
"Put a camera where people won't expect."
The homeowner did.
He bought a small battery-powered camera disguised inside a weatherproof patio sensor.
It faced the rear fence.
No visible status light.
No Wi-Fi connection.
Local memory only.
Then he waited.
Tuesday night passed.
Nothing.
Wednesday.
Nothing.
Thursday morning, bag number eleven appeared.
The main cameras showed another outage.
The hidden camera did not.
The homeowner almost ran outside barefoot.
He removed the storage card.
Opened the footage.
2:23 a.m.
The backyard appeared empty.
Then a shape moved behind the fence.
A figure appeared.
Not climbing.
The rear gate opened.
The homeowner froze.
Someone had a key.
The figure wore dark clothing.
Baseball cap.
Face partly covered.