Stalker. Lisa Stone

leave it here while we unload.’

      ‘The last time you did that you got ticketed,’ Paul reminded him with a smirk.

      ‘And if you remember it was rescinded on appeal. They need to train their traffic wardens better.’ His hand was on the door ready to get out when his phone vibrated with an incoming call. He checked to see who the caller was and pressed to accept the call. ‘I won’t be a minute, lad,’ he said to Paul. Then, ‘Good morning, Mr Williams.’

      ‘Is that Derek Flint?’

      ‘Yes. How are you and Mrs Williams?’

      ‘Well, thank you. I’m sorry to trouble you but my wife and I both received email alerts to our phones yesterday evening about a breach of security.’

      ‘Yes, I know.’

      ‘You do?’

      ‘A copy of any alert comes to me. I saw it this morning.’

      ‘OK. So do you know why it was sent? We’ve been through the tape twice but can’t see any reason. We were out at the time and the message gave us quite a shock. We went straight home.’

      ‘There was no need to do that,’ Derek said. ‘The advantage of being able to access your cameras online is that you can check all is well from a distance without the need to dash home. I’m sorry, I should have made that clear.’

      There was a short silence. ‘Our babysitter was here looking after the children so we thought it best to return. But we’re puzzled as to what could have tripped the system.’

      ‘I see.’ Derek pondered. So he wasn’t going to share what he’d seen when he’d logged in. ‘Mr Williams, I remember you said you trusted your babysitter implicitly but to be honest the most likely cause for the email alert was that the system was interfered with, assuming your house wasn’t broken into. Do you think your sitter might have tried to turn off one of the cameras without the correct password?’

      ‘She says she didn’t touch anything.’

      ‘In that case the internal camera could have been triggered. It has an in-built motion detector. If there was a lot of movement in the living room, for example, by someone dancing or jumping maybe, it could have triggered the alert.’

      ‘Oh. Yes, that could have been it.’

      ‘These cameras are very sensitive; they’re meant to be. But if it happens again give me a call and I’ll come and check. I can adjust it if necessary, although given what happened to you before you had the cameras I would think you want everything working as it should be.’

      ‘Yes, of course. Well, thank you. I’ll tell my wife.’

      ‘You’re welcome. Was there anything else?’

      ‘No, that’s it. Goodbye then.’

      ‘Goodbye, Mr Williams.’ Derek returned the phone to his jacket pocket as Paul looked at him questioningly. ‘Nothing for you to worry about, lad. Now come on, out you get, there’s work to be done.’

      ‘They haven’t caught the geezer who stabbed Kev the bouncer,’ Paul said half an hour later as Derek came down from the ladder they’d propped against the side of the club.

      ‘Apparently not.’

      ‘I read in the paper they are still appealing for witnesses which means they haven’t a clue,’ Paul said.

      ‘It would have been a different matter if they’d had one of these installed in the alley,’ Derek said, taking the new camera from its box. He’d marked the position where the camera had to be and now passed it to Paul. ‘You know what to do. So no more talking. Concentrate on the job and remember you’re at the top of a ladder so don’t step back.’