She had the keys in her hand when the Uber pulled away. Or she thought she did. The Yale YD-40 on the security gate — a solid deadbolt, not the kind that gives without argument — was locked from the inside by a flatmate who had already gone to sleep.

The call came in at 02:14. Sea Point on a Friday. The van was in Green Point already, wrapping up a rekey on Glengariff Road.

The previous manager had left on bad terms. Nobody had thought to rekey until Monday morning, when the new manager arrived for the first shift and found the Cisa double-throw wouldn't accept the key she'd been handed.

Three keys existed for that door. Nobody could account for all three.

The estate agent had three handovers booked before sunset. The BFT Ares 30 gate motor on the Constantia property had stopped responding to its own remotes — not a power issue, the system had simply lost its memory after a surge.

Buyers were due at 17:00. The seller was in Johannesburg. The agent was on her third call trying to find someone who knew BFT systems.