And before we knew it, we were back in another meeting, for Ellie had an exciting plan. We sat down at the windowsill, looking at Ellie with a look of expectancy and a hint of unidentified thrill. She briskly began. “So, I guess you're all wondering why I called this meeting. Well, I have a plan. And I think we can carry it out tonight. We need to give some more of our suspects alibis, and that means we need evidence for them. So, I say, first we get evidence for Niall and Luke, don't you? They were in the arcade at the time, and Niall told me the place has security footage. So, tonight, we get out of the house, break in and check it. There are very low security measures, seeing as it is an arcade pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so we can pick any locks with hairpins- I watched a YouTube video on it and I think I’ve got it nailed down- and then the footage will simply present itself to us.” She looked at us, eyes wide, pleading for us to accept her proposal. It was very ambitious and there were a few issues presented and a few disagreements, but eventually, we all inevitably agreed and created a foolproof plan for that night.

The last room went dark. Silence. It was eleven fifty pm, and time for our mission to begin. Once we received the thumbs up signal from Conrad, we came out from our hiding places(underneath the sun loungers lining the pool). Checking warily around us, we made our way over to the gate. Renuka fiddled with it for a few moments before finally hearing a click and pulling it open. We scuttled through and followed alongside the long, winding road up to the high street. Around fifteen minutes later, we stood in front of the arcade, behind the security camera. It's presence felt daunting in the darkness. This felt so wrong. I knew that this was bad and, technically ,illegal. But I kept telling myself that we were doing all of these wrong things for a very right reason. I mean, it wasn't like we were just doing it to steal or hide anything. Not even for the thrill. And there was a huge, evident thrill. It was mixed in with guilt, fear and major anxiety, but it was still there, and we all loved it. All that aside, we were doing this for our Grandad. After a hesitant moment, Conrad shimmied, cat like, up a thin drainpipe, clinging onto loose bricks that were jutting out from the wall, and, in one swift movement, shoved the camera downwards from behind so that the footage would show only a small patch of pavement below. He jumped down and signaled once again to Ellie. She got out a small, shiny hairpin, glinting like black gold in the moonlight and got to work. She apprehensively fiddled and twisted, unsure and quite obviously inexperienced, yet still determined, as she always was. We all kept our eyes fixed on the lock, willing it silently to open. After a minute of her face slowly turning an unpleasant shade crimson, mainly from the effort yet I think also a little from embarrassment, she muttered through clenched teeth, “Why won’t this work, it worked on YouTube. That girl said it was easy. Well, clearly, it isn't so-” A loud click sounded and the door creaked open. “Huh?” she said, the top of her nose crinkling and her eyebrows almost knitted together. We all just stared at the open door for a moment, still hesitant to step foot inside before looking at each other and creeping in, Renuka showing us how to avoid being in shot of the moving camera by dodging it expertly one by one.

The room felt like a ghost town. The machines dull and gathering dust, their bulbs no longer flashing, their speakers silenced, their customers nowhere to be found. I shivered slightly. I heard Ellie's teeth chatter beside me and grabbed her hand. She gripped mine back. We slowly walked toward a small room in the far right hand corner, hoping it had access to the security footage inside. Ellie worked her magic once more, yet this time a bit quicker and much more efficient. We stepped inside and, to our delight, saw two large computer screens playing black and white scenes. The one on the left showed the pavement below, just as we had planned and the one on the right showed a panning view of the inside of the arcade. Conrad moved closer and typed in a few things that made the footage from when we had come in begin to play. He knew a lot about how to avoid detection from learning criminals’ tricks as a policeman. The footage showed no sign of us entering. Renuka gave Ellie and I high fives and I finally saw a genuine smile on her face. I reflected mine back.

“Right,” Conrad said in a low whisper, “ Lets go to the footage from Thursday.” he began tapping at the keyboard again, “Lets see, you said you saw them walking in at around-”

“10:30.” a voice sounded from behind us. We all froze.