Stalker

She nodded and with mounting concern logged in.

Silence as they both viewed the images coming from the cameras in their house, less defined on the small screens of their mobiles compared to the monitor on the wall at home.

‘Everything looks all right,’ Russ said enlarging the images one at a time as much as the screen size would allow.

‘But where’s Sophie?’ Julie said. ‘I can’t see her in the living room.’

‘Making a cup of tea?’ Russ offered. ‘Or in the bathroom, or checking on the children. Don’t worry. I’m sure everything is fine but we’ll phone her to make sure.’

‘I’ll phone her mobile,’ Julie said, bringing up her list of contacts. ‘The landline will wake Jack and Phoebe.’

She pressed for Sophie’s number as Russ continued viewing the images being sent live from their cameras.

‘Come on, Sophie, pick up. Where are you?’ Julie said agitatedly as her mobile rang and rang.

‘I’ve just spotted her phone on the table in the living room,’ Russ said. ‘It’s probably on silent. Try the landline.’

Julie cut the call to Sophie’s mobile and pressed their home number. It rang and rang. Panic kicked in. ‘Where the hell is she?’ Then finally it was answered with a quiet, ‘Hello?’

‘Sophie. It’s Julie. Is everything all right?’

‘Yes. Why?’

‘We had a message from the security firm saying there might be something wrong.’

‘No, everything is fine here, honestly.’

‘You took a long time to answer the phone.’

‘I’ve been upstairs checking on the children.’

‘Oh, OK. Thanks,’ she said, relieved. ‘And no one has called at the house?’

‘No.’

Julie didn’t want to panic the girl by saying the email had mentioned a possible breach in security. She’d said everything was fine so it was very likely an insect had tripped the system as had happened in the past, but this time the CCTV had triggered an automated email. ‘We won’t be long. We’re just finishing off,’ Julie said.

‘OK. No worries. See you later.’

She said goodbye and returned her phone to her bag. ‘She says everything is all right and she was checking on Jack and Phoebe. I guess it was an error?’

‘Maybe,’ Russ said hesitantly, still studying his phone and the image from the camera in their living room. On the floor beside their sofa he’d noticed two empty whisky glasses. Suddenly Sophie and a young man appeared in the living room, dishevelled and tucking in their clothes. He turned the phone to show Julie the screen.

‘Who’s that?’ she cried, her hand shooting to her mouth.

‘Boyfriend, I guess. She didn’t tell you he was coming?’

‘No, of course not!’

Russ summoned the waiter for the bill as Julie threw on her jacket.

‘No dessert or coffee, Sir?’

‘No, thank you; just the bill.’

Russ settled it quickly and they left, with him trying to reassure Julie that the children were safe, but that it made sense to go home straightaway. She didn’t need telling twice.

Outside, the chill in the autumn air seemed even sharper now and Julie pulled her jacket closer. ‘You’re taking it very well, Russ, but I’m furious with her. I trusted her implicitly. Just wait till I see her!’

‘I’m sure Sophie wouldn’t have neglected the children,’ he said, unlocking the car. ‘She’s done what many teenagers do – acted irresponsibly.’ They got in. ‘And to be honest, Jules, if she’d asked us if she could have her boyfriend round we would probably have said yes.’

‘Would we?’ Julie snapped the buckle on her seatbelt into place. ‘You might have but I certainly wouldn’t. She’s fourteen, Russ. A minor. I dread to think what her parents will say. They’ll need to know.’

‘Let’s see what Sophie has to say first, shall we?’ He started the engine and pulled away. ‘Perhaps they’ve just been sitting there playing Scrabble.’

‘It didn’t look like Scrabble to me.’

In contrast to the atmosphere and conversation during their journey to the restaurant – which had been light and convivial with the promise of a romantic meal for two at their favourite restaurant – it was now loaded with anxiety and recrimination. The silence was only broken by Julie’s morbid conjectures: ‘I can’t see how she’s been looking after the children properly if she’s been cavorting with her boyfriend … Supposing one of the children woke and saw or heard them? I bet she tried to switch off the camera in the living room so we couldn’t see them. That would have triggered the email, wouldn’t it?’

‘Yes, good point,’ Russ agreed. ‘But try to calm down, Jules, there’s no real harm been done. She said the kids are fine and we don’t want a big fall out between our families.’

Julie stiffened. When it came to the children’s safety and wellbeing she couldn’t accept Russ’s platitudes. In other circumstances two teenagers canoodling on her sofa wouldn’t have caused her the same upset and indignation, but anything to do with the children was an entirely different matter. She’d have fought off a pack of hungry wolves to protect Jack and Phoebe, so strong was her in-built maternal instinct. And of course she also felt some responsibility for Sophie, who was only fourteen and her goddaughter.

Five minutes later they pulled onto their driveway and Russ cut the engine. Julie immediately threw open her car door. ‘Let me handle it,’ Russ said, touching her arm.

With her face set in reluctant compliance, she followed him to their front door and waited as he unlocked it, glancing up at the camera. If Sophie was looking at the monitor in the hall she’d be able to see them now. Russ opened the front door and she followed him in. The house was quiet as it should be. Sophie was in the living room sitting on the sofa with the television on low.

‘Hello,’ she said sweetly, standing as they entered. ‘Did you have a nice time?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Russ said, looking around the room. There was no sign of the glass tumblers. Presumably she’d washed and dried them and returned them to the cupboard. ‘Was everything all right here?’

‘Yes. Perfectly.’ She picked up her phone ready to leave, apparently eager to go. ‘Will you be giving me a lift home or shall I call a cab?’

‘I’ll take you,’ Russ said.

Julie couldn’t contain her anger any longer. ‘Who was that lad you had here while we were out?’ she demanded.

‘Pardon?’ Sophie said indignantly. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But her cheeks were already flushing red.

‘Don’t play the innocent with me,’ Julie flared. ‘You had your boyfriend here.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘Well, who was he then?’

‘Who?’

Sensing that Sophie was about to dig herself further into a hole with more lies, Russ stepped in. ‘Sophie, you’re not in any trouble but—’