[Elena's POV]

The east garden ran along the oldest section of the estate wall, where the stone had settled unevenly over decades and the ivy had grown thick enough to obscure the top.

I found the ladder propped against the wall near the potting shed. It had been there all week. I'd walked past it four times without registering it as anything useful.

I registered it now.

I moved it quietly to the least visible section of the wall, the corner where the security camera had a blind spot I'd noticed ...