A vacation is supposed to be fun and Lisa had a great time in Mexico. Having blackmailers show up later, wanting her to pay to keep them from showing her husband pictures of all that fun she had just doesn’t seem fair.
She has a nice setup, a sweet life when you get right down to it. Naturally, she can’t let a little thing like a greedy blackmailer ruin it all. She can afford to pay him, but you just can’t trust that sort of person. She’d like to find more permanent options, a better solution entirely.
One way or another these little annoyances will just have to go.
“Sometimes I think you overdo all this worrying about security, Bart” Lisa Titus told her husband over the breakfast table. They sat on the patio, overlooking the pool. Lisa insisted on breakfast where she could enjoy the California sun.
He shrugged. “I am a prominent figure,” he said. “People notice me. They know we have money. Some people are jealous of what we have. It makes sense to be careful. That’s all I’m doing, being careful.”
She smiled. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper and more fun just to hire some bodyguards? I’ve seen some on television that are very attractive.”
“Employees are a pain in the ass,” he said. “I like the idea of a system that won’t quit when you need it most. Besides, it is already installed. So read the brochure carefully. It’s important for you to know how to use it. Have Helen read it too.”
“Our maid? Why do you want the maid to know how your security system works?”
“Our security system. If Helen doesn’t understand it, she might inadvertently disable it when we want it on, or set it off, or panic if it does go off. Also it could be a good thing if she knows how good it is. All the people she knows will hear that we have a state-of-the-art security system. It might keep them from trying to rob us.”
“Good thinking, Bart,” Lisa said. Then she laughed. “I have this picture of all the servants from the houses on our block getting together over coffee to compile regular reports to the guild of thieves and robbers.”
“It sounds dumb, okay. But word of mouth helps. They hear about a system like this and rob someone else—some family that is less careful.”
“Of course, finding out that we invested in a system like that could also tell them we have things worth stealing.”
