Chapter 14: The Great Room

The great room was cold, and every chair in it was cream-colored and untouched.

Seven of them sat down. I stayed on my feet beside the television.

Teddy knelt at the cabinet and plugged his phone into the screen with a cable that took him three tries.

"Judith," said the uncle, "what is this?"

"A child's prank," she said. "Teddy has a camera and no supervision."

"Aunt Judith," Teddy said, not looking up. "It's the shed."

She stopped speaking.

The picture came up on the big screen, a narrow gap in a door, a brass box, two backs.

I had seen it once already, in a dock shed with a kettle going. It was worse on a wall.

I made myself watch the faces instead.

The uncle's wife put a hand over her mouth at "That's six."

The older man leaned forward in his chair when Judith slid two slips across the counter.

When she said "Isn't that unlucky?" the older woman said, quite clearly, "Oh, Judith."

Brant sat with his elbows on his knees and his eyes on the floor.

He did not look at the screen once.

When the video ended, nobody spoke.

Judith stood up and smoothed her coat.

"That has been cut," she said. "Anyone can make a recording say anything now. The sound is terrible, and you can't see a single slip clearly."

"I can see six and two," the uncle said.

"You can see what Teddy wants you to see. Unplug it."

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