I had told them there was an unauthorized person inside my workshop, that property had been damaged, and that I had security footage.
They were already on their way.
Karen did not know that yet.
She started pounding on the metal door.
“Open this immediately!”
I lowered my welding hood.
Then I put two small welds on my own steel door hardware so nobody could simply raise the bay door and rearrange the shop before deputies documented what had happened.
The sound lasted only seconds.
When I stopped, the workshop became quiet again.
Then Karen shouted from outside.
“You welded my car in there!”
“No,” I called back.
“I welded my door shut.”
There was a long silence.
“You can’t keep my Mercedes!”
“I’m not keeping anything.
Deputies are coming.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
That was when Emma called.
“Dad?”
“I’m okay.”
“I saw what you did.”
“I figured you would.”
“Was that legal?”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
“I welded my own door, Em.”
“That is an extremely dad answer.”
“Stay inside until the deputies arrive.”
“Okay.”
Then her voice softened.
“Is Ryan’s tractor bad?”
I looked at the broken wheel on the table.
“We can fix metal.”
It was the only answer I could give without my voice changing.
Outside, Karen was already making phone calls.
I could hear pieces through the steel door.
“He has unlawfully detained my vehicle.”
Pause.
“No, I am not exaggerating.”
Another pause.
“I was performing an official inspection.”
That phrase made me look up at camera two.
Official inspection.
Good.
She had just repeated the claim while six cameras were preserving evidence of how she had entered, what she had touched, what she had broken, and what she had said.
A few minutes later, two county deputies pulled into the drive.
I went outside through the separate personnel door.
Karen reached them first.
Of course she did.
“This man has barricaded my vehicle inside his building,” she said.
“I want him arrested.”
One deputy looked at me.
“Your vehicle is inside his workshop?”
“Yes.”
“How did it get there?”
