Catching the Wave

By Emily Selby

Amelia Barry, an IT security consultant, like many of us at the time of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, is working from home, except that for her it means her godmother's place, in Leah-by-the-Sea, a small seaside town, in Yorkshire, England. One late August morning, she receives a phone call from the other side of the world. Two New Zealanders are interested in the power bills in the area!

Amelia and her two local friends: Martha and Mrs Webb, join forces with a visitor - Katie, and the two Kiwi busybodies: Heather and Josephine, to discover why the dilapidated, uninhabited house next door uses so much electricity, what happens in the cellar, what the strange girl in the campervan in New Zealand has to do with it, and who really sits behind the secret activities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Upward Stories
• Release date: Mar 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798223322627

Book preview

1

Amelia Barry took another sip of her black, now almost cold, coffee, staring at the screen of her work laptop. The report was about 87% ready. She just had to write up a summary, but she found summaries hard. Her boss insisted that every summary consisted of a 10-thousand-foot view of the findings. Amelia hated the expression, not only because from that height one could barely distinguish even the biggest of buildings below, but also because the key to IT security was in details. Details, not the overall, general view.

At least, that's what Amelia believed. And Amelia was a good IT security consultant. That's why she had been given this specific project, which she had to finish today. And that's why she had been working as a civilian consultant with the local police force.

But today, she had that project to finish.

Amelia scrolled up the screen to re-read her list of findings. A rumbling noise and a muffled curse cut into her thoughts. Amelia bit her lip and glanced at the semi-open door between the kitchen and the bookshop at the front of the house. She'd love to close it to further limit distractions, but Martha, Amelia beloved godmother, insisted on keeping it open.

'In case I fall of the ladder while getting books from the top shelves,' Martha had said. So, the door remained open, making Amelia's attempts to focus even harder. But safety first!

Amelia considered checking on Martha (in case she had, indeed, fallen off that ladder), but another rumbling and a clear, energetic right reassured her enough.

She typed the first sentence in her Summary section. Her head still buzzed. Maybe it'd be better to first jot down the key messages on a piece of paper. Some people believed that writing stuff down the traditional way helped organise one's thoughts.

But the nearest pen and paper were upstairs, in her (guest) bedroom. That would mean another distraction.

Amelia sighed and returned to her screen. She should just type up the key messages and then she'd add some sentences to open and close the section. She had a file with these sorts of things on her computer. Amelia hated all those introductory and closing statements. What a lot of unnecessary fluff. Why couldn't people just get to the point clearly and directly?

People, eh... At least she was now spared the awkwardness of sitting in the open-space office of the IT Security consultancy she worked for. The whole dreadful pandemic had some little silver linings.

She paused.

Yes, the expression was silver linings. But she'd better double check it, once she was done with this summary.

Amelia copied the first of her findings and pasted it in the new section.

The phone rang. Amelia's heart squeezed hard. Blood rushed to her head. She had to close her eyes to steady herself. By now, she really wanted to scream, but this would not help. So, she focused on counting the ringing signals. Martha used the landline only for the bookshop; she had one telephone set in the shop and one in the kitchen. The bookshop was technically open, and it was business hours, so it would be certainly a call for the shop, hence for Martha to answer.

But Martha didn't answer.

The phone rang for the seventh time. According to what Amelia had learnt, longer than socially acceptable. The caller was either bad mannered or insistent. Or had an urgent message. Anyhow, after the eighth signal, Amelia was convinced the phone wouldn't stop until someone answered it.

She got up and walked to the counter.

'Hallo?' she said as politely as she could. She was tempted to explain to the person at the other end of the line that one should hang up once the phone is unanswered after five to six signals, but she had a feeling this would not be considered polite.

'Is this Book by the Sea bookshop?' a female voice with a clear American accent asked. Amelia glanced at the number displayed.

+64? That's a dial code for New Zealand. Strange...

'Sorry?' Amelia asked, distracted by her thoughts.

'I've asked if this was-'

'Ah, yes, it is,' Amelia said quickly. She should have probably said something along those lines when answering. 'How can I help?'

'I was just... just... calling to ask about... about...' the voice trailed off. 'About your energy bills. It seems like the prices have gone up recently, in the area, right?'

Now, that one a straight-to-the-point question, and a very practical one. Unfortunately, Amelia had no clue as to the answer.

'I don't know, but I can find it out for you. Would three last readings be enough? I'll call you back later.' She paused to think about a more precise time. She would probably need to find the recent power bills; asking Martha wouldn't yield satisfying answers. 'Given the time zone difference, I'd strive to call you either within the next twenty minutes, or tonight, that is my tonight and your-'

'Oh, I was just after a general impression if the power has increased in price. It wouldn't be the use, would it? It's summertime over there and from what I see it's not very hot, so you wouldn't be using by any chance air con, right?'

That was two questions in a row. Why couldn't people ask one question at a time?

'The answer to your second question is no, we're not using any air con. We don't have any. As for your first question...' Amelia paused again. Her cheeks tingled as they always did when her interlocutor was speaking in riddles. 'Sorry, what was it again?'

'What was what?' the woman asked. Now, she sounded confused.

'I think you asked about the usage of power in the shop.'

'Ah, that...' the woman took a deep breath. 'Where was I?'

'I don't know where you were, but I know where you should be," another female voice thundered in. 'You shouldn't be having this bizarre conversation, Heather. I told you it's nothing. And even if it's something, that's none of your business.'

'She was behaving suspiciously, Josephine,' the female called Heather replied to the other woman.

'She was verifying her Real Me account. Nothing suspicious about it. I had to do the same things with my face in front of the camera.'

'But the make-up...'

'Have you forgotten what it's like in big cities with young people? They wear makeup, Heather. You've been here in our little whoop-whoops only two years and-'

'Almost three.'

'Yes, three, and you've already forgotten what life is like in your New York. Maybe you should go back?'

So, the woman called Heather was from New York. This made sense to Amelia.

'I'd like to remind you, Josephine, that it's lockdown and I can't even go to Auckland, let alone trying to fly back to the US. But these things aside, that girl had a strange power bill. The house must be very energy inefficient.'

'I tell you've got it wrong,' the other woman called. 'The bill must have been in Kiwi dollars, and it's our Leigh by the Sea, half way from Whangarei to Auckland.'

'I can read, Josephine. I can see the difference between British pounds and dollars, let alone the way you spell our Leigh and their Leah,' Heather yelled back. 'The house doesn't look too nice on Google maps. So, about that power bill,' Heather clearly returned to Amelia.

'Heather, stop bothering strangers and put the phone down,' Josephine's voice sounded now closer.

Amelia opened her mouth. What a strange three-way conversation. She had a number of questions, for example, what did Heather mean by a strange power bill? How high was it? And, of course, what did the house look like, and why was the look of the house relevant in the case of a suspiciously high power bill?

But before she could come up with her first question, the phone tinkled - an unmistakable proof the other party had hung up.

Amelia shrugged and put the receiver down as well.

People were strange: they called you from