Clandestine

sixty

-julia-

Diane is going to be at my house any minute. She's going to go into my mother's hard drive. She's going to see the video of her father being killed.

She's going to know that my mother is the murderer.

I want to delete the video, but I don't know how to do it correctly. Even if I deleted it from the computer, I'm sure Diane would know a way to bring it back.

I get a strange urge to clean the house a little, but then I realize how ridiculous this is. Diane, the family enemy, is coming over to help me hack my mother's computer.

I wonder how many cameras are around the house. In this room.It doesn't matter. My mother already knows the truth, doesn't she? What is one more betrayal?

There's a knock on the front door. I swing it open and Diane hurries inside. Sweat covers her forehead.

"Did you run here?"

"Yes." She says, "Let me see this computer."

I say, "Diane, this is a horrible idea. There are cameras all around the house. My mother will know."

"She already knows, doesn't she?"

Diane walks to the computer and flips open the lid. She frowns, "Your mother doesn't keep a password on her computer? I would have expected her to have at least five different security locks."

I walk over and glance at the screen, "No, she has a password."

Diane clicks the button to log onto the computer. A generic set up loads with the preloaded background.

Diane fiddles with the mouse for a few seconds before slamming her hand on the table.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"She wiped her computer. All the files are gone."