“Eight, when they start the installations. Big hardware is supposed to arrive at around ten.”
“Well, at least you’re almost done.”
“Oh! Is that the phone trap Bill said you’d put together?” he asked, pointing at the box I was holding.
“Yeah. Though it needs some power to work...” I said as I looked around the patio door for an outlet to plug my improvised contraption into. “Listen, tell the others, if they bring any mobile devices other than the company ones, they have to make sure their WiFi is turned on for a few minutes, so this thing can log their phones ahead of time, alright?”
“Will do, Poindexter!” he answered, as he pulled out his own phone to turn on the WiFi. I heard a female voice from behind me, turned around, and my eyes grew wide.
“Good morning, Mr. Brown.”
I saw Nora Miller, standing surprisingly close to me in a belly-free yoga outfit that seemed to be painted onto her body. I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering over her figure for a second, before blinking at her while trying hard to maintain eye contact and remember how speech worked.
This was disturbing for me. I’ve seen Ava’s much younger Cheerleader friends parade around the house in barely any clothing at all, especially after they spent time in the hot tub, but I never had any problem with that. No wandering eyes, no desire to stalk them, and certainly no involuntary erections. Probably because they all had such unlikable personalities, even in my imagination they kept bitching while having sex. This woman, however, looked like she just manifested out of someone’s wet dream, while most of her body was covered up.
“Are you looking for something?” she asked with a knowing smirk on her lips, causing me to catch myself.
“Eh ... is ... uh ... is there a ... power outlet somewhere near the patio door?” I asked, holding up the semi transparent box like an idiot, as if she could have any way of knowing what it was for.
“Sure! Right ... here.” she said, as she walked past me and bent down at her waist to move a curtain out of the way, showing me her outlet. The smirk on her lips was now broadcasting her amusement when she looked over her shoulder.
“Dude! Stop drooling over my Mother!” I heard Mia protest from the kitchen.
I looked her dead in the eyes, contemplating my options, but chose not to care.
“No.”
Snorting after seeing Mia’s reaction to my brazen answer right in front of her mother, I thanked Mrs. Miller, plugged the power cord in, and hooked the box to the wall with some adhesive picture strips. I pulled out my phone and waited for the router to finish its start-up routine.
“So, what is this?” Mrs. Miller asked.
“It’s a trap for phones I put together last night. Just to make sure we covered every angle to get admissible evidence. If it’s not in the way, Just let it hang behind the curtain and it’ll do its thing.”
“My, you build that? Sounds enthralling! What does it do?” she asked, moving close to me to look at my phone screen like it was the most natural thing.
“Well, since we’ll install special rolling shutters on the outside of your windows and doors...” I stopped, seeing her eyes go wide upon the prospect of having her house blemished. Apparently, her husband had not taken the time to fill her in on what they had discussed while she sat next to me on the sofa. I quickly opened the patio door and stepped outside to elaborate. “Don’t worry, they’re barely noticeable when rolled in, and still blend in when rolled out. But they take a long time to get through, even if someone used power tools. They would glue up the sawblades and drill bits, and render them useless after they made even the tiniest progress.”
“Okay ... and what does that have to do with that box?”
“Well, while the rolling shutters ensure that nobody will simply waltz in without you noticing and giving you more than enough time to call the police, it will also take our guys a few seconds before they can run out to catch the wannabe intruder. He could run before they reached him, and the cameras could only record some guy wearing a mask.”
“Oh!” she gasped.
“Now, if that worst case scenario happens, that box I just installed would document any mobile device he might be carrying, giving us proof he was on your property. At the very least it would be enough to send the police after him.”
While I was talking to her, we were walking back and forth around her house, so I could make sure the transmission power was set just right. I also had received quite a few push-notifications about the connected phones already and blocked their MAC addresses, so they would connect with their secured WiFi network again. When we turned to walk back into her house, she spoke again.
“I have to admit, it is quite reassuring how much thought you people put into this. And I want to thank you for driving Mia around. Please know, we had a talk with her last night about how she ... addressed you yesterday. It should not happen again.” she nodded to emphasize the last part.
“Oh. Thank you. But please don’t worry, Mrs. Miller. I’m not the resentful type. I got over it years ago.” I lied with a smile, hoping she’d know I wouldn’t screw around on the job just because her children were assholes. Not that I would ever say that to a client’s face.
“Please, call me Nora. If I understand it right, we’re going to see a lot of each other over the next few weeks.” she said, linking arms with my right to let me lead her back into the house, and giving me a rather captivating smile that I wasn’t absolutely sure how to place. “I hope it’s not too much trouble to drive here in the mornings?”
“No, I live barely fifteen minutes away from here. But...” I said, as we just reentered her home and I raised my voice to alert Mia, Ava and Joan. “ ... we’ll need about half an hour to reach the school from here, and it’s almost seven. So, if the Ladies could speed it up a little...?”
Nora and Michael grinned upon hearing the teenage girls’ collectively groan.
“You’re my chauffeur! Shouldn’t you obediently wait ‘till we’re ready!?” Mia asked, causing her mother to attempt intervening, but I was quicker.
“Let’s make this clear from the start, Mia. I’m not your chauffeur. Your parents pay us to keep you safe. So, while I will drive you wherever you want, whenever you want, I’ll have to keep an eye on you and your surroundings once we arrive. I’m not going to just vanish to run errands for you. And if I see Campbell anywhere near you, I will literally carry you away if I have to, and lock you in the armored car so he can’t reach you. No matter whether you like that or not.”
She looked at me in shock, her mouth wide open, not believing the way I had just talked to her. But when I glanced at her mother, Nora seemed pleased with the way I would keep her daughter safe.
“You will literally carry her around? Sounds like you’re a very dedicated bodyguard.” Joan giggled, which caused me to address Mia directly.
“Before you start channeling your inner Whitney Houston, I will SO not catch a bullet for you!” I riposted, causing Nora to actually let out a hearty laugh while I moved back outside to enjoy a cigarette with Michael by the car. Another ten minutes later, they finally came outside and Michael went back into the house.
“Shotgun!” Joan screamed and ran for the front passenger door, while the other two sat in the back.
“Holy!” Mia grunted, having trouble closing the heavy door. “How am I supposed to close the door!?”