also still sound asleep. Poor babies, they’ll be disappointed that they missed seeing their uncle. But at least it’ll make it easier for me to chat to him without constant interruptions.
The door to the back office swings open with a squeak and my brother walks through in his uniform, a hesitant smile on his face with an accompanying raised eyebrow. He’s tall and broad, dark and handsome. My brother used to be the school heartthrob, only he never knew it. He got married really young to Lyndsay Daniels, a quiet girl who lived up the road from us. They now have three kids, aged fourteen, twelve and nine.
‘Hi, Tee. Everything okay?’ He comes around the front and gives me a hug. I squeeze his shoulders a little too hard and a little too long, my eyes beginning to fill up. I sniff and try to compose myself before he sees my face again. But he obviously senses something’s up. ‘Hey, Tee, you okay?’ He pulls back and stares at me.
I tut and roll my eyes to throw him off the scent. ‘I’m fine. How’s things with you? Lynds and the kids okay?’
‘Yeah, all good.’ He nods in the direction of my two. ‘I see my niece and nephew are out for the count.’ His baritone reverberates through the small reception area.
‘What’s up with Sally?’ I note that she hasn’t come back to the front desk yet.
‘Sally? How do you mean?’
‘She was a bit off with me just now.’
‘Really? She seemed okay to me…’
‘Oh, okay, never mind. Sorry to drop in on you at work. I just have a quick question.’
‘Sure.’ He gives me a look that says he’s wondering why I had to walk all the way over here on a Friday evening to ask him a quick question when I could just as easily have called or messaged.
The thing is, I don’t want to tell my brother exactly what’s going on. I’m not too sure how he’d react if I actually showed him the photos. He might believe they’re real and the last thing I need is my brother’s disapproval. And even if he didn’t think they were real, he wouldn’t have approved of me going out clubbing with the girls while I have a husband and kids at home. Don’t get me wrong, Ash is a lovely husband and he believes in equal rights for men and women. He’s a good guy. The same ethical code would apply to him as to his wife – basically he would never in a million years want to go out with his friends while his wife was at home. They do everything together as a family. Which is lovely. I adore spending time with my family too. But sometimes, every once in a while, I get the urge to cut loose for a night. Doesn’t mean I love my husband any less or that I want to do anything with anybody else, it simply means I enjoy having a laugh with my friends every so often. But Ash wouldn’t understand this. And I can’t face his judgement right now. So I’m going to be a little bit economical with the truth.
‘I was just wondering… how easy is it to fake photographs?’
‘What do you mean?’ His brown eyes narrow.
‘I mean, is there a way of telling whether a photo is real or fake? Like if someone else’s face was put onto a different photograph, are there ways to spot that?’
‘You’d have to show it to an expert.’
‘Isn’t that something you lot would be able to work out? Like, do you have special software or something?’
‘What? In Ashridge Falls Police Station? Most days we’re lucky if we can find the stapler.’
‘Okay, I get your point.’
‘What’s this about? Has something happened?’ His stare intensifies. My brother always has the ability to make me feel instantly guilty. There’s no way I’m telling him about the actual images and what they’re of. I feel sick at the thought of him or anyone else seeing them. But maybe he’s right. I probably need to get them checked out by an expert.
‘So how would I go about finding someone who can tell if the images have been faked?’
‘Tee, are you going to tell me what this is about? If someone’s uploaded images of you online without your permission, you can get them taken down, you know. Give me the link and I can investigate – or is it something you don’t want me to see?’
‘No, it’s nothing like