Page 80 of Serenity Falls

‘This should show up any glitches or bugs. I’ll also connect to the Hub.’

‘The Hub? Isn’t that the building by the gates?’

‘Yes. It’s also the central security database. Everything in Serenity is controlled by the Hub.’

I cross my arms. ‘Isn’t that an issue with privacy and data protection?’

‘Oh, don’t worry. We take privacy very seriously in Serenity Falls.’

Which doesn’t really answer my question. Jed offers another of his sunny smiles and turns back to the laptop. I realize this is an indication I am surplus to requirements.

‘Can I get you a drink?’ I offer.

‘Iced water would be great, thanks.’

I grab a glass from the cupboard and fill it with ice and water from the refrigerator. Jed is staring intently at his laptop screen in between staring somewhat more accusingly at my ancient phone.

Sadie says I’m a Luddite. I just think I’m part of a generation who valued things lasting, rather than treating everything as disposable. Something isn’t worthless just because it’s old and a bit battered around the edges. Same goes for people. Of course, maybe I feel like that because I am now old and battered around the edges. Unlike perky young Jed here.

I place the glass on the table next to him.

‘Thanks,’ he says, but he looks distracted.

I linger. ‘Something wrong?’

Jed frowns at the screen. ‘Well, I’m not sure … but this is strange. When did you see the intruder in your yard?’

I think back. ‘About ten fifteen both nights. Why?’

‘There seems to be some kind of glitch in the recordings.’

‘What sort of glitch?’

‘According to the records, your cameras are missing about fifteen minutes of feed – from 10.05 p.m. to 10.20 p.m.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Our cameras are precise to a tenth of a second.’ He taps at the keyboard again. His face has lost some of its cheery bonhomie. ‘I don’t understand.’

I frown, trying to process the information. ‘So, fifteen minutes of footage has been cut from the camera feed?’

‘Well, there is certainly an error in the recording.’

‘Which means I did see an intruder, and someone removed the images.’

‘Or it could possibly just be a service outage or a technical blip.’

I stare at him. ‘You’re saying that a technical blip could remove precisely fifteen minutes of footage at the exact time I saw an intruder in my garden on two consecutive nights?’

He clears his throat and shifts uncomfortably. ‘I admit, it would be quite unlikely.’

‘Quite unlikely?’

‘Mr Barker—’

‘No.’ I cut him off. ‘I would like to know the most likely explanation for what has happened here … in your expert, technical opinion?’

He sighs. ‘Someone somehow entered the system and manipulated the feed.’