“Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
Helen Keller
“Thank you for allowing me to come,” I said to Sterling Gray as I followed him inside the Gray mansion.
“I still don’t understand what it is you need to do, but I do agree that it’s easier if you just show me.” Sterling was no more or less friendly than he had always been to me, but his whole manner seemed tense, as though he were waiting for news that he expected would be bad.
“Your security system was set up,” I said, leading him to the control panel in the kitchen, “with Cipher Security as the administrator, so that we could make any adjustments or repairs that you determined you needed once you’d lived with the system for several months.”
I punched in our admin code, cleared it, then stepped back to give Sterling access. “There, our code has been removed from this panel. I still need to do the main computer in the panic room, so I’ll get on that while you add a seven digit code to this panel to make yourself the controlling administrator. Please try not to repeat numbers or use any obvious ones like phone numbers, social security numbers, or dates of birth. I’ll show myself up and leave you to it.”
As nearly everyone did, in my experience, when given no warning and those instructions, Sterling stared at the panel for a long moment while trying to work out which code he would be able to remember. I probably had five minutes alone to examine the system I’d set up before he was by my side again.
I took the back stairs two at a time and noted that the cameras in the hall had been replaced with thermal imaging devices. Interesting. Also, Moby Dick was no longer the book pull for opening the panic room door, though before I could try all the other books, Sterling’s voice came from the back stairs.
“We’ve had the access changed. If you’ll give me a moment, I’ll let you in.”
I sighed, then turned to face him. “Of course. May I ask who did the work?”
“McCallum. He didn’t check the admin code though. I’ll have to talk to him about that.” He stepped between me and the bookcase and looked over his shoulder at me. “Do you mind?”
So now we were not to be trusted. In that case, I needed to pay close attention. “Not at all,” I said as I turned my back to him.
There was no sound of a book being pulled, nor any indication that Sterling reached or ducked down to press a button. There was an audible click, which to my mind was just sloppy because it meant that the tumblers were under stress from the latch placement.
I turned to see the panic room looking exactly the same as the last time I’d seen it, even down to the cat that marched in past our legs, his tail high in the air.
Sterling looked grimly at the empty picture frame on the wall. “He keeps it there as a daily reminder of my failure, and until I get the painting back, that’s the sum total of who I am to him.”
As far as I could tell, the frame hadn’t been moved. “If and when you’re ready to remove it, I’ll come and detach the wiring,” I said as I woke the computer from its slumber.
Sterling scoffed. “That won’t happen. It’s like he expects the painting to magically re-appear in its frame, as if it were all just a horrible mistake.”
There was that word again: mistake. Was it a mistake that Anna had taken her mother’s painting back from the man who had hidden it away? Did calling it that diminish her active planning and execution of a theft so clever that there was still no physical proof that she’d done it?
I pulled up the camera array and saw that two additional cameras had been installed outside, and another one on the landing where Anna had entered the building. A quick check of the logged footage showed that it had recently been copied to an external drive, and the thermal imaging in the hall was functional from all angles.
I exhaled. “Everything appears to be in order,” I said as I navigated to the admin control panel and removed Cipher’s passcode. I stepped back for Sterling to add his own. “I recommend a different code for this part of the system, but not a sequential one to the alarm panel. Unless you have any further questions, I’ll leave you to your day.”
I stooped to pet the cat and noted the new plaster patch on the inside of the bookcase door, then I went down the main staircase, noting that the original motion sensors, which were wired to the external alarm system, had not been replaced with cameras. The first floor windows and doors were, I knew, state of the art and therefore impregnable to the solo thief who didn’t wield an excavator or a battering ram.
I let myself out of the Gray mansion with a sense of calm I hadn’t felt for the past week and nearly collided with Colette Collins as she walked up to the door. She looked as startled to see me as I was to see her.
“Hello, Colette.”
“You’re Cipher man,” she said accusingly.
The name earned her a wry smile. “I am.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t you dare hurt my sister.”
Too late. “Your loyalty to your family is a trait you both share. She has assured me that eyeballs would be removed from sockets with dirty fingernails if you were hurt.”
Colette’s eyes shifted to the house and back to me so fast I’m sure she thought I wouldn’t notice, but I did, and I felt compelled to deliver a warning on her sister’s behalf. “His fixation seems to be on returning to his father’s good graces, and little else seems to be a priority.”
Her voice cooled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I stepped closer, as if to move past her, and murmured, “Please be careful, for Anna’s sake.”
She looked up at me, startled, and a slow smile twitched the corners of her mouth up. “That’s how we roll.”