The Feed
A security guard begins noticing strange discrepancies in the CCTV feed.
Verdant 005 001
Site: Meridian Multistorey Car Park Shift: 23:00–07:00 Guard: David Baker
Quiet night. Noted a dark hatchback on Level 3, bay 14, that I don't recall seeing come through the barrier. Will check ANPR when I get a minute.
Verdant 005 002
Did my 02:00 walk-through of Level 3. Empty. Back at the desk by 02:15, CCTV showed one person crossing the far end of Level 3. No corresponding sighting during patrol. Access route unclear.
Verdant 005 003
A couple of times now I've noticed activity on the Level 3 feed that doesn't match what I've seen in person on my walk-throughs. I can't work it out. Could someone take a look when convenient.
Verdant 005 004
Thank you for the report. Remote diagnostics were carried out on the Level 3 camera. No hardware faults detected. System connection was active and stable. No further action required.
Verdant 005 005
Registration on the Level 3 feed tonight, silver estate, reg [LK23 RVO]. Checked it against the barrier entry log for the last 48 hours. No record of that vehicle entering the car park at any point. I've watched that vehicle on camera. It's not in the system.
Verdant 005 006
Checked the Level 3 monitor at 01:40 — a car with a pool of oil collecting underneath its midsection. Then at 02:00 same car, no oil. Twenty minutes. It had just disappeared.
Verdant 005 007
Started checking Level 3 monitor every twenty minutes instead of hourly. Did an extra walk-through at 02:30. Nothing there.
Verdant 005 008
At about 03:10 I was monitoring Level 3 when I saw a woman being followed by a man across the far end of the level. She appeared to notice him and quickened her pace. He closed the distance. I left the desk immediately and went to Level 3.
Verdant 005 009
I reached Level 3 within approximately ninety seconds of leaving the desk. The level was empty. No vehicles matching what I'd seen. No people. Nothing.
I understand how this looks. I know what I saw on that screen.
Technical Investigation Findings
Forensic review of the Level 3 camera system confirmed that live signal had been substituted with previously recorded footage on multiple occasions across the reporting period.
System maintenance records show the Level 3 monitoring infrastructure was installed during a Verdant Solutions trial. The substituted clips did not originate from a single source recording. Timestamp analysis places the individual clips across a range of dates spanning several months prior to their display.
Correlation of clip insertion times against the guard's own logged activity shows a consistent pattern: substituted footage was introduced at points immediately following the guard's physical presence on Level 3, or immediately preceding a scheduled monitor check. The frequency and specificity of inserted content increased in proportion to the guard's own increasing attentiveness to the feed.
The purpose of the substitutions, and the basis on which individual clips were selected for display, have not been established.