“What exactly do you think happened here?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You think I broke into a house using a key?”
“I’m trying to establish who belongs at the residence.”
Naomi nodded toward Margaret.
“Did you ask her for identification?”
Lawson glanced over.
“She’s the caller.”
“That was not my question.”
He shifted his stance.
Margaret said, “Officer, you don’t need to let her turn this around.”
Naomi looked at her.
That was when Margaret repeated that the homeowner was a military officer.
Naomi answered, “Yes. My husband.”
Margaret laughed.
The doorbell camera caught it perfectly.
Lawson looked uncomfortable.
“You’re saying Colonel Bennett is your husband?”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed.
Margaret had apparently already supplied Daniel’s rank.
“Yes.”
“Full name?”
Naomi stared at him.
“Daniel Christopher Bennett.”
“What unit?”
The question stunned her more than everything else.
“You want me to prove my marriage by reciting my husband’s military résumé?”
“I’m trying to verify your story.”
“My story?”
Lawson said he meant her statement.
Naomi looked directly into the doorbell camera without intending to. That accidental glance would later appear in thousands of social-media thumbnails.
She turned back.
“I am standing outside the house where I sleep every night, and somehow I’m the person whose story needs verifying.”
Lawson told her not to escalate the situation.
That sentence nearly ended her patience.
“I called nobody.”
“I accused nobody.”
“I walked outside my own house.”
She pointed toward Margaret.
“She brought you here.”
Margaret crossed her arms.
“Because something looked wrong.”
Naomi looked at her.
“What looked wrong?”
Margaret hesitated.
“The situation.”
“What situation?”
“You walking around the side of the house.”
“My house.”
“You keep saying that.”
Naomi laughed again.
Lawson stepped closer and told both women to calm down.
Then the front door opened.