I shot back, "It's my garage. Why can't I have it opened?"

"But I paid to install that lock!" Beryl's voice climbed several notches. "I spent four thousand dollars on that lock. What gives you the right to break it?"

I stared at her, stunned.

Four thousand dollars?

I'd seen the same model online. Three hundred, tops.

"Mrs. Chavez." I kept my voice even. "This is my garage. You changed the lock without my permission. I haven't even come after you for that, and you think you're the one with a grievance?"

"You're really going to stand there and ask me what right I have?"

"Who says I didn't have your permission?" Beryl craned her neck forward. "You agreed to lend me the garage yourself. Of course I changed the lock. If something went missing, who'd be on the hook for that?"

I frowned. "I said you could borrow it for two days. You changed the lock and then wouldn't answer your phone. How is that reasonable?"

"I didn't see any calls."

Beryl turned her face away.

"I sent you messages and called you. You didn't pick up."

"I can't read, so I don't understand messages. And my phone was charging inside. I didn't hear it."

I wasn't about to waste more breath arguing. "Fine. Well, now you know. I'm having this lock opened."

"No, you're not." Beryl planted herself in front of the garage door, blocking Eddie. "I paid for that lock. Nobody touches it."

"This garage is mine."

"You lent it to me!"

"I lent it to you to park for two days. Not to change the lock."

"Two days? You said two years!"

Beryl's voice got even louder.

I stood there, completely floored.

Two years?

When had I ever said two years?

While we were locked in this standoff, the elevator opened and two more people walked over.

One was Damian Vance, the property management manager. The other was the security guard from earlier.

Damian approached with a practiced smile. "Ladies, ladies, let's all calm down. You're neighbors. Whatever the issue is, I'm sure we can talk it out."

"Mrs. Chavez, take a breath. We'll sort this out nice and easy."

"And Ms. Simmons, you're one of our residents too. You see each other every day. No need to let things get this heated."

Beryl curled her lip. "Perfect timing, Manager Vance. You tell me who's in the right here."

"This little girl lent me her garage, and I just spent four thousand dollars putting in a new lock."

"Now she wants to hire someone to break it open. Does that sound fair to you?"

Damian turned to me.

I walked him through the whole thing:

Beryl had asked to borrow the garage for two days. I agreed and gave her the passcode.

Three days later, I came back to find the lock replaced, couldn't reach her, and property management wouldn't do anything about it.

So I called a locksmith.

After hearing me out, Damian turned to Beryl. "Mrs. Chavez, the garage does belong to her. You probably should have given her a heads-up before changing the lock..."

"A heads-up for what?" Beryl cut him off. "She lent me the garage. It's mine to use. What's wrong with me putting in a lock?"

"I've got all my stuff stored in there. If anything goes missing, who's going to pay for it?"

Damian faltered, caught off guard. He let out a thin laugh.

Then he turned back to me. "Ms. Simmons, how about this: hold off on the locksmith for now, and let me go back and check the records."

"Once I confirm who the garage belongs to, then we can—"

"Confirm who it belongs to?" I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing. "The title deed is in my name. I bought the garage. What exactly is there to check?"

I pulled out my phone, brought up the purchase contract and payment records, and held the screen up for all of them to see.

"Right there. I paid fifty thousand dollars for this garage. Cash."

"Plus fifty thousand in renovations. That's three hundred and seventy thousand total."

Beryl didn't even glance at the phone screen. She turned her face away.

Manager Vance looked, but only for a second before shifting his gaze elsewhere. "Ms. Simmons, the garage is yours, sure."

"But you did agree to lend it to Mrs. Chavez. That's also a fact."

I stared at him for two full seconds.

The man kept saying he was here to mediate, but every word out of his mouth was designed to muddy the waters.

I ignored him and turned to the locksmith. "Go ahead. Open it."

Eddie Pratt had barely reached for his tools when Beryl charged forward and threw herself against the garage door, her entire back pressed flat against it.

She spread both arms wide like a hen guarding her chicks. "I dare anyone to touch this!"

"I paid to install this lock! Anyone who lays a finger on it answers to me!"

Vance stepped in again, wearing that same placating smile.

"Ms. Simmons, look at the state Mrs. Chavez is in. If you force the lock open and something happens, it's going to be a headache for everyone."

"Let me talk her down first. You take a breather too, and we'll sort this out tomorrow. How's that sound?"

"Tomorrow?" I wasn't having it. "My car has nowhere to park tonight, and you want me to wait until tomorrow?"

"Just park outside for now. There are temporary spots out front, aren't there?"

"Temporary spots are six dollars an hour," I shot back. "You covering that?"

Vance's smile locked up. He had nothing to say.

That was when Beryl pulled out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, then held it up and played a voice message for both of us.

It was from our conversation that day.

"Alison, sweetie, you're lending me this garage for two years. Don't worry, I won't get it dirty."

Her accent was thick. In her mouth, "years" and "days" sounded almost identical.

It hit me all at once.

When she'd sent that message, she had slurred the words on purpose.

After the recording ended, Vance's whole demeanor shifted.

He turned to face me, and the look in his eyes was no longer that of a neutral mediator sizing up both parties.

"Ms. Simmons, you see? In this recording, you clearly agreed. The garage was lent to Mrs. Chavez, she said two years, and you didn't object."

"She's already installed a new lock and moved her things in. For you to suddenly come in and force the lock open, that's not really appropriate, is it?"

"I never agreed to two years," I said flatly. "I agreed to two days."

"Listen to the recording. Just listen." Vance pointed at the phone. "It's perfectly clear. Whether it's two years or one year, she asked, you gave her the passcode, and usage has already been established. That's just reality."

I almost laughed from the sheer absurdity. I held my temper by a thread. "Manager Vance, let me ask you one question."

"I paid three hundred and seventy thousand dollars for this garage. You think I'd just hand it over to someone else for two years? Does that make any sense to you?"

"She's not family. She's not a friend. She's just the neighbor one floor below me. Not a single dollar in rent. You honestly think a rational person would do something like that?"

Vance's mouth opened, then closed. He had no answer.

I kept going. "You're the property manager. You know better than anyone whose name is on this garage."

"She says she changed the lock, so it's her lock. She says two years, so it's two years. And you, the property manager, don't bother to verify a single thing. You hear one recording and you pick a side. You're really something, you know that?"

The color drained from Vance's face. The corner of his mouth twitched.

But just as quickly, he forced that smile back into place. "Ms. Simmons, let's not get emotional. I'm not picking sides. I'm simply going by the information available..."

"What information? You didn't look at the title deed. You didn't look at the contract."

"My property gets taken over, I come to property management, and property management does nothing."

"Now I've got a locksmith here, and suddenly you jump in to tell me it's not appropriate?"

Manager Vance went quiet.

After a long pause, he put on a warm smile. "How about this, Alison? See if this works for you."

"Give Mrs. Chavez a few days to sort things out. Property management will oversee the whole thing, make sure the garage lock gets restored to how it was. What do you say?"

His tone was gentle, earnest even, like a mediator who genuinely had everyone's best interests at heart.

But I caught the look he snuck Beryl when he thought I wasn't watching.

Beryl had been holding her ground with her chin jutted out, but after that glance, she dialed it back a notch and kept her mouth shut.

I hesitated.

Honestly, I knew exactly what that look meant.

But I also knew that if I pushed this any further tonight, calling the cops would only get me a mediation session at best.

Property management would keep playing both sides, Beryl would throw a fit and drag things out until midnight, and my car still wouldn't be in that garage.

"Fine. Three days. She has three days to restore the lock and clear everything out of my garage."

Damian nodded eagerly. "Absolutely, absolutely. Property management will supervise the entire process. You have my word."

Beryl shot me a glare so venomous you'd think I owed her money.

She fished her phone out of her pocket, scrolled through it, and grudgingly rattled off a string of numbers.

I punched in the code. The screen lit up, and the lock clicked open.

Beryl didn't say another word. She turned and walked off.

Damian flashed me a smile. "Don't you worry, Alison. I'll handle this personally."

Then he left with the security guard in tow.

I turned to the locksmith.

"Eddie, I'm sorry you came out here for nothing."

"No worries, no worries."

He waved me off and bent down to pack up his toolbox.

I opened my phone and transferred him the $260 we'd agreed on.

He blinked. "I didn't even open the lock..."

"You made the trip out here and I wasted your time. It's only fair."

He looked at me for a second, then accepted the payment.

Then he lowered his voice.

"Alison, let me be straight with you. That old lady just now? She's not someone you want to take lightly. Watch yourself."

I told him I would, and thanked him.

He nodded, climbed onto his scooter, and rode off.

I pulled my car into the garage.

The headlights swept across the interior, and I froze.

The epoxy floor I'd had installed was still there. The motion-sensor lights I'd put in still worked. The wall-mounted shelving was still in place.

But everything on those shelves had changed.

The cases of water I'd stored up there were gone.

The folding chair in the corner was gone.

My toolbox was gone.

Even the two spare rain jackets I'd hung on the wall were gone.

In their place, the shelves were loaded with bags of rice, a jug of cooking oil, a beat-up rice cooker, and a few plastic bags stuffed with potatoes and onions.

I stood in the middle of the garage and looked around.

This wasn't my garage anymore.

The shell was still mine, technically. But everything inside it had been swapped out.

Then I remembered the camera.

Last year, when I'd renovated the garage, I'd paid to have a hidden one installed in the corner, the kind that synced to my phone.

I opened the surveillance app and scrolled back to the footage from three days ago.

There was Beryl, walking into the garage with two men.

Both wore gray work coveralls. Movers she'd hired, most likely.

She stood in front of the shelving unit, pointing and directing.

The two men pulled everything off the shelves, every last item, and carried it all out.

Once they were done, Beryl led them back in with a load of her own things.