At that moment, the rain sound on the other end of the call briefly faded, as if someone had covered the receiver.
When the woman spoke again, her voice sounded slightly off.
“Ah, I’m waiting for someone downstairs and happened to notice your car window was open. You didn’t come down for so long, so I thought I’d remind you again.”
Then a man’s voice chimed in.
“Oh, so you’re standing here. No wonder I didn’t see you earlier. You’ve been waiting a while, haven’t you? Let’s go.”
I stayed quiet, listening to the distant sounds of footsteps approaching on their end of the line.
Just then, a message came from the property management, saying they were on their way to check the situation.
Relief began to settle over me.
The woman on the phone was saying her goodbyes.
“I’ll leave now, but don’t forget to close your window.”
“Got it, thank you,” I replied.
Maybe it really was just a misunderstanding.
After hanging up, I called the property management office to confirm.
But no one picked up.
I tried a private number for a manager I knew there.
He answered quickly, “I’m here now. The window really is open—it’s already wet inside. Come down and take a look.”
I laughed at myself for overthinking.
Maybe the woman was genuinely trying to help.
“All right, wait for me there. I’ll come down now.”
Just as I reached for the door, my phone rang again.
It was the property management office’s landline.
“Hello? Ma’am, you called earlier—what’s the issue?”
I smiled. “Oh, it’s nothing. I think I left my car window open, but I already asked Wayne to check for me.”
There was a brief silence on the other end before the voice asked, “Ma’am, by Wayne, do you mean Wayne Shenton?”
“Yes, him,” I replied, puzzled. “He’s waiting for me by the car.”
“Ma’am,” the voice said slowly, “Wayne resigned last week.”
