Field Notes: The Rooms Upstairs

The Request

Every now and then, something comes across my inbox that makes me pause and take a closer look.

The email came in late at night. A man wrote that he had “a couple people occupying two rooms” in his house against his will. He wanted them out, “by any means necessary.”

That phrase always gives me pause. It can mean anything from I’m frustrated to I’m about to do something that ends with blue lights in the driveway.

So I did what I always do: I asked questions. I told him I needed to understand the situation better, how the people came to be there, what had already been tried to get them out, and whether this was more of a landlord issue or something closer to trespassing. That would help me figure out if it was something I could assist with or if another resource made more sense.

The Dilemma

He wrote back the next morning. They’d moved in under vague circumstances, friends of a friend, and now refused to leave. He said he didn’t want to involve the police. “Too messy,” he said.

At that point, the situation fell into a gray area. I couldn’t exactly remove people from a property, and this wasn’t a surveillance or fraud case. But I also knew that if he didn’t handle it the right way, he could make a bad situation worse.

The Solution

I reached out to a local attorney I trust who handles property and eviction cases and explained what was going on. They agreed to take the case, and I stayed in the loop to help if the attorney needed supporting evidence, photographs, documentation, statements, anything that could help establish cause and strengthen the legal side.

It wasn’t a dramatic operation. No stakeouts. No late-night surveillance. Just practical, quiet problem solving. The kind that keeps things from escalating.

The Lesson

Not every case ends with a reveal or an arrest. Sometimes people reach out because they don’t know who else to call.

That’s part of the job too, knowing when to step in, and when to step back.

Sometimes the most valuable thing I can do isn’t finding out what someone’s done wrong, it’s helping someone handle what’s right in front of them, the right way.