25

She dreamed of an angelfish in a plastic bag half-full of water. There was a hole in the bag and the water was leaking. You need to get another bag, or it’ll suffocate. Won’t make it home, said the man at the pet shop. She didn’t believe him. She plugged her finger over the hole and ran out the door, and onto the first jetty. It was longer than she remembered. And slippery. She fell. Somebody screamed. A siren howled. Louder. Louder.

As she opened her eyes, a dark shadow flashed by. The siren sound wasn’t a dream. Nor was the screaming — it was Ella standing in the bedroom doorway again, with her hands over her ears, Purple Monkey sprawled at odd angles by her feet.

Oh my God, the alarm, somebody’s broken into the house. Brigitte threw back the doona and sprung out of bed. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table, and shoved it into her pyjamas pocket as she scooped up Ella. The twins ran past her door.

‘It won’t stop!’ Finn screamed in the kitchen, stabbing at buttons on the alarm keypad.

Where the fuck was Aidan?

They converged in the backyard, where the noise was slightly less deafening. The house lights in the street came on one by one like telephone calls on an old-fashioned switchboard.

‘Can I go look round the house?’ Finn said.

‘No!’

‘The police’ll come in a minute,’ Phoebe said, her teeth chattering.

No, they wouldn’t — they’d have to make an out-of-hours request for the ferry to bring them across, or call out the Water Police. That would take forever. Brigitte looked around the yard. ‘Where on earth is Aid?’

Harry strode towards them in his dressing gown and brown slippers, worry on his face. She couldn’t hear her phone ringing but felt it vibrating in her pocket. She stuck a finger in her left ear, trying to hear.

It was an operator from EG Home Security. ‘Has your alarm been activated?’

Stupid fucking question. ‘Can you turn it off!’

‘Certainly. Is this Mrs Serra?’ she said.

‘Yes!’

‘I’ll need your code for clearance to disable the alarm. Could you please tell me your code?’

Fuck.

‘If you’ve forgotten your code or you’re not the resident, I’ll have to —’

She covered the phone. ‘Finn! What’s the code?’ He told her and she relayed it to the operator.

Her shoulders lowered and her nerves stopped jangling a little when the alarm ceased. She’d been gripping her phone so tightly her little finger had gone numb.

The operator told her to hold for a moment while she checked the video surveillance. Brigitte held, looking at the starless sky.

‘Are you there?’ the operator said. Her tone had turned from routine to sharp. ‘I can see a person in dark clothing moving around the side of your house. It looks like a man.’

Oh my God. Harry and the kids were asking what was wrong; she waved her hand for them to be quiet.

‘I need you to stay on the phone,’ the operator said.

She nodded.

‘He’s moving towards the back of the house.’

She stiffened.

‘Are you still there?’

Aidan emerged from the darkness, wearing black pants and T-shirt.

‘It’s just my husband,’ she said to the operator. ‘He’s a police officer.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’ A silly little laugh.

‘Security company?’ Aidan said.

She nodded.

He held out his hand for the phone and she passed it to him. ‘This is Detective Senior Sergeant Serra. There appears to be no home emergency. I’ve checked the premises and vicinity. No intruders. No property’s been stolen.’ He listened and nodded. ‘Yeah. Thanks. You have a good night, too.’

He handed Brigitte’s phone back. ‘Sounds like the alarm was accidentally tripped.’

‘Maybe it was a koala b…’

He glared at her and then turned to the kids, who were standing in a row like taxidermied owls. ‘Has anybody been playing with the keypad?’

Nobody answered, and Aidan stomped inside, shaking his head.

‘Everything all right now, then.’ Harry nodded and turned for home.

As she herded the kids inside, Brigitte glanced into the bedroom; Aidan was locking the safe.