They had never hit it off with their new neighbours.
It was quite common to hear them shouting at each other during the evening. They seemed to be all smiles when she met them in the street, but she knew it was just a front. In the main, she and her husband had as little as possible to do with them. That all changed, especially for her, the day the husband from next door came ringing her doorbell. It came about because she had put in an online order for an item she hadn’t managed to buy locally. She had been out on the morning the parcel was delivered. When she got back she found it sitting by the front door. She was quite excited because the item in question was a particular hair shampoo and conditioner that she liked. It always left a wonderful fragrance. For some strange reason local shops had none in stock.
If this was her order, it had been thoroughly padded. It was larger than she was expecting, but she took it inside with the intention of using the shampoo right there and then. She would make a cup of tea first, then take it into the shower, thoroughly wash out the old product and use the one she liked.
Once she was settled with her tea, she tore off the outer wrappings. It was a cardboard box, she opened it and there were a number of items, tightly packed with bubble wrap. There was nothing that looked like a bottle of shampoo. She had always leaned heavily towards curiosity and today would be no different. She began unwrapping things. She found a small box containing a hypodermic needle, a very small bottle that had no label, probably poison, she thought, a large roll of extra wide masking tape, and a square package containing a large folded plastic drop sheet.
Although she had her suspicions, she went looking for the address label. There it was, it was hard to read but it said number nineteen, not seventeen. This had been meant for their noisy neighbour. It had never been part of her relationship with her husband to keep things from him, but this time it would be different. At least, this would be the case for the time being. She went out again and returned having safely disposed of all items.
As expected, on the following morning, soon after her husband had left for work, the doorbell rang. She opened it to find him standing there smiling nicely.
“Ah! Good morning,” he started, “I was wondering if my package was delivered to you by mistake.”
She stepped forward and glanced at both sides of the front mat.
She said, “No. Sorry,” and closed the door.