Looking after neighbours suitcase

OP's not coming back ☹️

and evidently neither is the neighbour, because she's either done a runner or has been arrested or this was created for entertainment purposes. Either way, it was fun to speculate - hopefully it was all innocent/ misunderstanding.

Even if it is all innocent OP your DH has clearly stated he doesn’t want the suitcases in his home - so you have to respect that. It’s not fair on him to clutter up his living space with big cases (unless there is a very, very good reason - which it doesn’t sound like there is one so far)

Hurry up and ask. I need to know

How bloody ridiculous.

OK, have read a little bit of this mad thread.

I might be the odd one out here, but surely the neighbour would GIVE A REASON why she wanted to store her bags in your house. Yes or No?

"Hi Joan, wonder if you'd mind putting my suitcases in yours overnight until the taxi comes, I wouldn't ask, only I ........... (reason). Thanks if you can Joan it would help me out a lot."

And yes I would store neighbour's stuff like that once I knew why the hell they needed to do it!

I think she just doesn’t want them in the way at her house; so it’s ok for them to be in your way. What time is she going to the airport? Our flights are always at silly o’clock in the morning-is she going to need to wake you up?

She could tell you but then she would have to kill you!
I'm 78 and I don't even own three suitcases! Does she have good kitchen knives and a circular saw? Have you seen her partner lately? Is she still in her house or has she done a moonlight, leaving you to explain the evidence? I really must stop reading whodunits!

Would never do this as I would go to worst case scenario that she is smuggling and if caught would involve me and my family. It is a pretty odd request.

Seriously weird
as is taking 3 suitcases. I am much younger and pretty fit and don’t quite get how I could negotiate three cases by myself. Or need that much stuff for a holiday

The weirdest thing is you not asking why, how does she know you will be at home when she needs to retrieve the cases?!

I think the most likely reason is her not wanting to be seen leaving her house with cases

I would be highly suspicious of this and would be questioning why this request has been made.

It's a flex. She wants the OP to know she can pay for excess baggage.

My MIL once agreed to watch someone's suitcase in an airport. I was gobsmacked.

Apparently a nice lady came over and started chatting to her and then asked her to mind the case for a bit (it was a carry on).

It didnt occur to my MIL all the reasons why this is a huge no and that she should have alerted somebody.

A lot of people are trained into being polite and people pleasing, no matter the request.

Is your living room really nice this time of year?

Or at least mention your reasons when asking your neighbour to store them. I couldn't imagine asking for such a weird favour without giving an explanation.

You got the love yeah lets twist and do the holiday cheer. Tell your neighbour i m coming along too

Is it that she hopes your husband will lift them into the taxi coz they are heavy

Are the suitcases locked, OP?
Because if, at a later date something is "missing" she'll be looking at you.

I think your people pleasing led you to agreeing to this without any thought. I can't understand why your very first response to her request wasn't "why"? 🤷‍♀️

Realistically, it is unlikely to be drug smuggling - mainly because drugs get smuggled into the UK, not out of it. The same with cigarettes - we pay loads of tax on them.

It’s possible she is leaving her husband.

It’s also possible that she is just extremely odd. She doesn’t want the suitcases in her way so she’ll leave them at yours. Or she is leaving at a really mega early time in the morning and carrying the suitcases out of her house will disturb someone who is not going on the holiday - it hasn’t occurred to her that it would also disturb you.

Leaving the suitcases at your house is a bit of a risky strategy though. What if you don’t answer the door on the morning she wants them?

She will be paranoid about the taxi driver or someone seeing her leaving her house to go on holiday - thinking they are going to break in and steal all her stuff.

This is exactly the sort of thing my mil would do. She thinks she’s being watched, loses things and then decides that the only logical explanation is that someone has been in her house and stolen things. She won’t get a taxi to places she needs to go because that means that the taxi driver will know she’s out of the house. I bet it’s something like this.

On a neighbourly level you probably don’t realise there is anything wrong until weird requests like this happen.

Surely you would store them out of sight, bedroom, cupboard or whatever in most of those scenarios.

There may be something in the fear of burglary suggestion. An older relative used to deliberately pack the car under cover of darkness before going on holiday. The next day everyone would get in the car looking as if they were just out for the day.

This

I think I'd have another chat with your neighbour and say to her that your husband is finding it annoying to have the three suitcases in the lounge and is there a special reason she needs them at yours? I'd try and gently work out if she's hatching an escape plan and needs her husband not to know, in which case you are OK to help but might put the cases in the shed for now.
If it's just that she would rather they be in your way than in her way and she's just a bit dotty, then say that you are sorry to have agreed to it before checking with your husband but going to have to give them back to her.
Your husband is the ideal excuse

The OP just sounds a nice person who was caught unawares. That's how scams work. Nobody would be scammed if we all were on red alert all the time.