I, of course, noticed because I knew what I was looking for.
The girls, on the other hand, had no clue and noticed nothing.
I must say that those guys delivered.
I roughly knew where the cameras were, as I had chosen their locations carefully, but even I had trouble spotting them.
“Nice, this will keep Nicole from killing me,” I thought.
I proceeded to my studio.
There, I found the control center, a bulky tower with lots of little lights and wiring coming out of it.
Being afraid of Nicole finding it.
I asked it to be installed inside a big cabinet with a lock on it, which, of course, was custom made.
It seemed I wasn’t the first Looney these guys had encountered, as they offered a solution to my every problem, even down to matching the cabinet’s color with the rest of the furniture inside the studio, to make sure it didn’t stand out.
I waited for the night to test my new little toys.
I made a job excuse to Nicole and retreated to my studio, locking the door.
The equipment lived up to the hype.
The software provided allowed me to connect any device, like my desktop, as well as my laptop, my tablet, and even my phone.
And the cameras were sublime.
They came equipped with not only remote, independent movement but also an optic zoom, 20x I think they said.
It was capable of even spotting stains on the rug.
The night vision was a given, but these babies were even capable of color night vision.
And the microphones were so sensible, that I could even hear the night breeze, as it blew over the lawn.
The coolest feature was, however, that the motion detection was customizable, meaning, that you could even set a certain set of automatic behaviors for the cameras, depending on what the movement was.
Like zooming in directly on the source of the movement.
I was honestly fascinated by it all.
I ordered enough cameras to film a reality show.
Not only they were all around the house’s perimeter, including the garage and the backyard.
I also had them installed on the inside:
The living room, kitchen, stairway, foyer, porch, and even the basement, were all covered.
Even the rooms upstairs.
The master bedroom, each of the girls too, and even the two bathrooms upstairs and the one downstairs as well.
In other words, total over-kill, I admit that I overdid it.
But I honestly did it out of love.
Still, I assure you, the punishment I received, didn’t fit the crime, so disproportionate it was, that, to this day, I believe my sanity was lost right then and there.
About a week passed from that first day.
Then, I got a call from my boss.
I had to leave on another trip, two days later.
I did as I always do.
I had breakfast, bathed, changed into my suit, and then, kissed my wife goodbye, just before leaving.
The trip went, as usual, the usual cheap flight, the usual crappy hotel room, and the usual boring business meetings.
When I got back to my room, around midnight, I was dead tired.
I took a shower and put on the bathrobe.
I was just about to numb myself to sleep watching T.V.
Then, it hit me.
“The cameras,” I thought.
I jumped towards my briefcase and took my laptop out.
As I turned it on, I was busy thinking about the girl’s faces if they knew big daddy was watching.
The thought made me chuckle.
That first night, I amused myself by alternating between the cameras and zooming in on everything.
I didn’t notice anything out of place.
I watched as my wife got ready for bed, The girls chatting about some guy they called “Tank,” whom Sarah had met just the week before.
And Rebecca busies on the phone with one of her friends for most of the night.
I finally stopped about two hours later, once everyone went to sleep.
I was happy with my new toys and felt the thousands I spent were worth it.
As I discovered that I liked to watch around without anyone noticing.
Harmless fun, I thought.
Fuck that.
The next day, the second of three and a half scheduled, went by the same way, up to the part where I turned the laptop on.
As I was switching between the cameras, I noticed that the two of the girls were absent.
Rebecca and Sarah.
Amy was in her room, soundly asleep.
“well, one out of three is better than none”.
I debated about whether I waited for the other two, or just finish up and go to sleep.
I should have chosen the latter.
Alas, I didn’t.
Sarah got home about half an hour later.
She mildly stumbled out of a car I had not seen before.
“She’s drunk” I mused.
Then came a man out of the same car.
A tall man, seemingly in his mid-twenties.
He had black, short trimmed hair, a muscular build, and wore blue jeans and a black tank top.
“Tank” I guessed.
The guy helped Sarah walk to the front door.
I did notice his hand going to the lower back of my daughter, as he wrapped his arm around Sarah, on the pretext of helping her.
“Improper” I judged, but I used to do the same thing to Nicole, back when we were dating, so I kind of thought it was alright.
The guy spent about a minute making out with her, right on the porch.
Again, same move as mine.
He left after that.
“Ok, one down, one to go” I figured.
I waited for another hour, but nothing.
I was just about to close the laptop when I spotted something.
It was Rebecca.
Just like Sarah, she had company.
A man was walking her down the entry path.
I figured I would watch the same scene.
But, boy, was I wrong.
Thanks to my awesome cameras, I saw who it was.
It was Cameron.
Cameron was one of our neighbors.
He was a forty-something man, about my same age.
He was a little on the stocky side, just barely.
He still had a good amount of hair on his head, brown eyes, and a bit of a beer belly.
He was wearing a plain long-sleeved shirt, that I imagine at some point looked ironed.
Not anymore.
It was obvious, going by their appearance, and way of walking, that they had been partying for quite some time.
I didn’t know they were acquainted, much less that they frequented each other.
I didn’t know what to think about my little sister seeing someone as old as I was.
She finally made it to the door.
She turned around.
I thought she wanted to bid him goodbye.
“Wanna come in?” I heard on the microphone.
Wow, I didn’t see that one coming.
“I don’t want to impose, and certainly don’t want to bother your family” he replied.
“Sensible guy” I nodded.
“Don’t worry, Nicole and the girls are already asleep by now, and my brother is out of town, we won’t bother anybody” she declared.
Cameron was supposed to refuse, at least I thought he would.
Wrong.
“Really, can I”? he smilingly asked.
” Come”. Rebecca said while using her little right index finger to signal for him to approach.
I was shocked.
I couldn’t believe that I was watching my little sister invite a man inside my house.
That ungrateful little shit dared to allow a stranger into my castle.
I was seething in rage, as I gripped the laptop with both hands.
My first thought was to reach for my phone and call Nicole, to stop this bullshit immediately.
But, as I was unlocking it, a thought came to me.
“How am I going to explain it to Nicole?” was the specific thought.
I honestly didn’t have any ideas about how to explain how I knew what was going on, before asking her to put an end to it.