THE CHANGE - CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

PART THIRTEEN - CHARLIE MAKES HIMSELF AT HOME / THE FOOTAGE DON'T LIE

PART THIRTEEN

CHARLIE MAKES HIMSELF AT HOME

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19TH

MALIBU, CA

THIRTY-NINE

Once again, Mort’s videos lived up to the hype. Everything in line with the homework materials. No big surprises or unexpected obstacles. I was in. And I was alone.

So I moved past the sprawling living room, down the very long hallway, past Liam’s library/office and a number of bedrooms. These were all spaces I recognized, at least in passing.

Until I got to the end of the hall, and Liam’s private office. A door I’d briefly glimpsed before, but which the cameras were never allowed to enter.

That door was locked, of course. But I didn’t need to ask permission. If I’d had a shotgun handy, I’d have just blown it off and saved five minutes. But I didn’t, so I picked it instead.

Once inside, I was stunned to see well over a hundred active video monitors. More than twice as many as ol’ Eagle Eye Reedy had in the security building. In totality, it more than slightly resembled the screens at Zero P. The room was that deep with flickering data.

And not just feeds from the estate’s official security cams, all of which I’d already seen. Liam had hidden cameras everywhere. Every bedroom, which was bad enough. Every bathroom, which was somehow even worse. There were hidden cameras in the halls, the living room, the kitchen, the laundry room, the sauna, the little changing cabanas around the Olympic-sized swimming pool. And, of course, the jacuzzi.

Then there were cameras observing the yurts, from inside and out. And past that, secret cameras inside the security building itself, so that Liam could watch them watching everyone else. Recording what everyone was doing, all the time, without anyone’s knowledge or consent.

And then finally – as I made my way to the control board, at his desk – there was even a screen showing me, in my death mask, disgustedly watching it all.

“Oh, you fuck,” I muttered, though it wasn’t exactly clear which fuck I meant.

Everything was pretty clearly laid out and labeled, so it wasn’t hard to locate all the switches I desired. And with that, all the hidden cameras shut down, one after another. In the bedrooms, bathrooms, halls, everywhere. Green lights blinking to red, then off.

In Liam’s private office, all the screens went blank, the room suddenly twice as dark behind me. My image was no longer playing on the screen. Just my reflection, as I stared into it.

The blood was still there.

Of course it was.