Peter pushes the spade into the clay and is booted backwards, his insides buzzing and his hair raised. He finds a frayed cable in the soil and tugs, touching only the plastic coating. It lifts out like a pulled thread, peeling off across an overgrown flowerbed towards the house.

He follows it, or rather lets it lead: up against the portico, tucked into the grouting. He looks up, squints. The wire reaches the second floor and disappears into a corner of a window frame; his bedroom.

Inside, he finds the wire under the window seat. A tiny camera attached to the end.

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This is a 100-word story for the Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Click here to read some more inspired by the picture (this week provided by Connie Gayer) or here to join in and write your own.

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Yesterday the Goodreads book awards were launched, and it would be great if you’d vote for my book, Our Endless Numbered Days. You need to log into, or join Goodreads, and then scroll down the page to get to the ‘Write-in Vote’ box and type in Our Endless Numbered Days and click vote. And you can then do the same for the fiction category (on the left) if you’re so inclined. If you get through all that – thank you!