Watched: When Road Rage Follows You Home by Kerry Wilkinson

drive onto the laptop and began scrolling through it. He kept checking his watch, knowing he was going to be late, but Esther was grateful he hadn’t run off and left her.
    Charlie was moving through the images so quickly that he almost flicked straight past it. A little before half-past-three that morning, a shadow of someone’s legs passed the front of their driveway. The security light turned on and back off thirty seconds later. Moments after, the shape appeared again, only a dark pair of shoes visible at the top of the screen. The shoes edged along the kerb of the pavement before disappearing onto the driveway next door, out of the camera’s sightline. In night vision mode, there was a green screen of inactivity before everything went black.
    Whoever smashed the camera must have climbed over the fence from next door, edged along the wall of the house until they were directly underneath, and then used something tall enough to hammer it to the ground.
    Esther looked at Charlie, who stared back at her, his face full of concern. ‘Are you going to be okay?’ he whispered.
    She shrugged, trying to sound cheerful. ‘Of course – I’m going to spend some time in the garden today. The first job is to mow the lawn.’
    His eyes narrowed, aware she was putting a brave face on it. ‘I’ll have my phone with me all day. If you need anything, just call. I’ll get another camera later and we’ll fix them higher.’
    Esther shook her head. ‘Don’t bother.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because it’s like a red rag to a bull. If we do things clearly designed to antagonise or catch him out, then he’ll find a way to get to us anyway. We should try to ignore him.’
    The words were easy to say but Esther knew there was no way she could overlook the way they were being targeted. She also knew the security equipment must have cost more than Charlie had claimed and they couldn’t keep spending money. They had a little leeway, but with only his income, it was going to be tight for a while. She also had a creeping sense that Charlie wasn’t entirely convinced that Dougie was responsible for everything, despite what he’d been saying.
    He nodded, checked his watch another time and then kissed her on the forehead. ‘I’ve really got to go. I mean it about calling me, though. Anytime.’
    ‘I will.’
    Esther waited until his car had pulled away and then moved around the house, one window at a time. Rattle the handle, unlock, open, close, relock, rattle the handle, press the glass. Relax for a second and then repeat on the next window. After double-checking the doors, Esther dragged the lawnmower from the cubby next to the back door. At some point they’d need to get a shed to put all of their outdoor things in but it was simply another item on the list of things to sort out.
    The mower was a battered electric one that had been left in her parent’s garage ever since they’d hired a regular gardener almost ten years ago. As part of the move, Esther had repatriated a certain number of odds and ends her mother and father never used but would at least save her and Charlie a bit of money.
    She locked the back door but then realised she had to attach the mower to an extension cord. Esther felt uncomfortable leaving any part of the house unsecure but had little option other than open the kitchen window a sliver, run the cable through, and then lock the handle in place.
    Esther waited on the edge of the lawn, fixated on the tiny crack between the window and the frame. She knew nothing except for perhaps the smallest of insects could fit through, plus she was going to be in the garden anyway. It still bothered her though.
    ‘Silly, silly, silly.’
    Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
    The lawnmower buzzed to life with a low growl and Esther set about taming the forest that was their back garden. She had to stop every couple of minutes to empty the grass and each time she turned towards the house, she couldn’t stop herself from being drawn to