This business trip was to a remote township. After landing, I met up with my colleague Chris, rested for a night, and then took a train and a bus the next day to reach our destination. The cell signal there was poor, and the local accent was thick, making our evidence-gathering work difficult. We had to shuttle back and forth between the town and surrounding villages.
After a busy week, we still had some loose ends to tie up, so we applied to stay an extra two days. Early the next morning, while I was still eating breakfast in town, Allen messaged me, asking when I was coming back so he could pick me up.
I didn’t reply immediately. Instead, I first opened the home security app (like Ring or Nest) on my phone. Allen had added me as a user on the day we got our marriage license.
This time, opening the security app, I saw Allen sitting at the dining table, staring at his phone. Thirteen-year-old Leon was on the couch nearby playing on his phone. The floor was clean now. I clicked through the historical recordings one by one, going backward, trying to see which day it got cleaned. When I scrolled back to the day before yesterday, the floor was still a mess. Fast-forwarding to 10 AM, I saw Susan arrive.
The house had been quiet before, with Allen and Leon being men of few words. As soon as Susan saw the mess on the floor, she got angry and started scolding the father and son. Her volume wasn’t low, so I quickly muted my phone. Chris looked up doubtfully: “Did I just hear Susan’s voice?”
I kept a straight face: “Just accidentally tapped on a short video. The host’s voice sounds a bit like Susan’s.”
Chris was just asking casually, not particularly interested, and lowered his head to continue his coffee.
My focus returned to the phone监控. Allen was getting an earful, looking utterly dejected. Leon seemed unconvinced, puffing up and saying something I couldn’t hear. I hit fast-forward. When I first saw Susan, I thought she might have cleaned up, but she just left after scolding them. After she left, Allen started cleaning up the living room bit by bit. The weather was so hot; that pile of trash must have been stinking for days. I don’t know how the father and son tolerated it. Leon, who had been sitting on the couch, saw his dad sweating profusely while cleaning, threw his phone aside, and joined in.
I was somewhat satisfied. I switched back to text messages and replied to Allen: Tomorrow night’s flight.
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