Page 82 of The Lighthouse on Plum Island
Guilt washed over her as she went to the bathroom to shower. Caroline had thought she was doing the town a favor and bringing in much-needed revenue and tourists. Instead, she felt like she’d not only brought the glitz and glamor of a society that didn’t belong there but the other elements of it that tended to follow the high life around.
After a shower, she felt refreshed. She looked around the room for her phone but couldn’t find it.
“I must’ve left it downstairs.” Caroline bit her lip, confused. “Although I’m sure I put it beside my bed before I fell asleep.”
She sighed.That knock on the head has knocked out my senses.Caroline laughed at her musings as she left her room and followed the soft creaking of the staircase to the ground floor. The sound of muted voices and the subtle clinking of dishes made her pause on the last step as she stood listening and wondering if Jules had come home and brought friends. Although she didn’t think any of Jules’s friends could cook. The aroma of a mouth-watering breakfast teased her senses and made her empty stomach rumble.
Caroline walked into the living room and her eyes widened in surprise to see Jennifer conversing with Harriet. A noise from the kitchen caught her attention. As she turned to look that way, Caroline found her pets scattered around the room, seemingly at ease in the company of the visitors.
“Good morning,” Carly appeared round the corner with a warm smile, looking like the ordinarily shy, reserved Carly once again. “I made breakfast.”
She pointed to the dining room table beside the kitchen at the far end of the living room. Caroline glanced at the breakfast spread.
“Good morning,” Jennifer and Harriet chorused.
“Morning,” Caroline greeted. Her eyes fell on the computer Jennifer and Harriet were leaning over. “Is that my new computer?”
Caroline pointed to the device on the coffee table. Everyone in the room was gathered around.
“Yes,” Jennifer answered. “We hope you don’t mind, but Jules helped us log in to review your suggested location photos.”
“That’s fine.”No, it was not okay!Caroline gave herself a mental shake and stern talking to.Don’t be petty, Caroline.“Is Jules home?” She glanced toward the hallway.
“No,” Jennifer shook her head. “But she asked if you’d call her as soon as you were awake.”
“Have you seen my phone?” Caroline’s head swiveled around the room.
“I have it!” A young man with a plate piled with breakfast food in one hand and holding up her phone in the other walked through from the kitchen.
“Why do you have my phone?” Caroline looked at the young man in amazement.
“That’s Simon, the tech guy on the film crew,” Harriet introduced the young man.
“Hello, Simon,” Caroline acknowledged him before asking again, “Why do you have my phone?”
“Simon was checking it to ensure it hadn’t been cloned,” Jennifer explained.
“Cloned?” Caroline took her phone from Simon, squeezed her eyes shut, counted to ten, and opened them, but everyone was still in her living room.
“You’re not dreaming, Caro,” Jennifer assured her. “Sit down.” She gestured to Caroline’s favorite armchair.
“I’ll bring you a plate of food and coffee,” Carly offered.
“It’s okay, Carly, you don’t have to wait on me. I’ll get it,” Caroline ignored Jennifer and walked to the dining room table.
Her mind was reeling as she glanced at her phone. What did cloning her phone even mean?
“Miss Lines?” Simon appeared beside her, startling her from her thoughts, and she nearly dropped her phone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He smiled. “Mr. Danes asked me to check all your devices. The police techs found a sort of spyware on your laptop that was stolen the other night.”
“Isn’t that like a virus?” Caroline didn’t understand cybersecurity and threats.
“Kinda,” Simon told her. “But what the police found on your laptop was high-level coding. The type you’d expect the NSA to have.”
Caroline’s jaw dropped slightly as she stared in bewilderment at Simon. “Why would the NSA put spyware on my laptop?” She blinked, and her eyes widened in fright. “Oh, no. You don’t think it’s because of the research for chemical weapons I did for a new series I’m writing?”
Simon grinned and shook his head. “No, I doubt that,” he said encouragingly. “While the software I found on your laptop was NSA level, it was more a watered-down version of the type of top secret spyware.”
“You should’ve said that!” Caroline slid the phone into the back pocket of her cutoff jeans and started dishing up a plate of food. “You had me in a panic for a moment about my search history for my next book.”
