I can hear footsteps in the hallway coming towards us, is the thief still here? Me and Maida freeze, waiting silently as they get closer. I'm relieved when I see Michael walk through the doorway, Chelsea behind him.
“Hey, why’d you leave the front door open, it’s freezing in here.” He asks.
“I didn’t.” I answer. “It was like that when we came back.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think we forgot to lock the door when we left.”
“Is anything missing?”
“I don’t think so. Just the tape.”
“I’m going to check the house.” He rushes off with Chelsea and comes back a few minutes later. “I don’t think anyone’s been in here, everything's where it should be. I doubt someone would break in and just take that video, are you sure you haven’t just put it somewhere.”
“I’m certain I left it here.”
“Did you watch it?”
“It was footage of our house. Did you know about the cameras?”
“Yeah. Dad installed them when all those people started showing up at the house."
"What people?"
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"The ones who thought he stole their money. After our uncle died they were relentless, kept trespassing, stealing stuff. I wouldn't worry about the tape, you’ve probably just misplaced it. I don’t think anyone even came into the house.”
“I swear I left the case on the table, that’s gone as well.”
“You probably grabbed it without thinking when you left, maybe check the car?”
Michael was probably right, how would someone have even known to take it?
"Yeah, I'll check the car." I give Michael back his key and go to leave.
“Wait, what was on the tape?” Michael grabs my shoulder.
“It was the night of dad’s murder. It showed a bunch of rooms, Nick was knocking at the door.”
“Nick was there?”
“You didn’t know that? Everyone else seems to.”
“I didn’t live here when dad died, I wasn’t really in the know.” Michael lowers his voice to a hushed whisper. “So Nick killed dad?”
“I don’t know. He says he didn’t do it, said he found dad dead and called the cops.”
“You went and talked to him? Was that safe?”
“Probably not.” I shrug.
“Be careful, okay?”
I nod and Maida and I go outside to the car.
“We didn’t lose that tape, I know we didn’t.” Maida says opening her door. We both get in, Maida starts the car and turns on the radio but the signal is terrible and only half the song is coming through before fading into fuzz.
“I don’t know, maybe I picked it up when we left and put it somewhere.”
I turn in my seat and look through the backseat of the car. It’s a mess of clothes and empty food containers.
“There’s nothing good back there.” Maida turns to look at me. “Maybe check the glovebox that’s where you put the notebooks right?”
I open the glovebox and look through it, finding CDs, tissues, loose change but no tape. I look out the windscreen at the dark road, an endless parade of black tree trunks whizzing past.
“I really don't think you've misplaced it. Don't worry, we’ll find it tomorrow.” Maida says, turning into my driveway. It’d been a long day. We both wander into the house and go straight upstairs to our rooms, mumbling something about seeing each other in the morning. I get into bed, not even changing my clothes, and fall into a deep sleep.