“Oh, Honey! Welcome home!” Mrs. Miller said, embracing her daughter in a hug. “These men are from Carter Security. We finally know who that man is!”
“You do!? Finally!” Mia screamed relieved, getting happy cheers from her girlfriends. Apparently, that stalker-situation was common knowledge amongst them.
“Yes!” Mrs. Miller continued, before turning to Ava. “Ava, sweetheart, your brother is just amazing! Even the police couldn’t do anything for us, but it took him all but ten minutes to identify that man!”
“Oh.” Ava responded with a weak but polite smile, her eyes darting between me, Mrs. Miller, and her friends. “He ... has his moments.”
And there it was. Last time Ava and I had seen each other, I asked her how long her good will to include me in her life would last. I got my answer at that moment. Apparently, it would last right up until she had to risk her image by acknowledging her little brother in front of her friends.
“Wait! What’s Tiny Tim doing here!?” Mia asked dripping with contempt, not believing her eyes, as the rest of the girls gave me equally disapproving looks. I noted Ava not even batting an eye upon hearing her friend calling me that name.
“Mia! Didn’t you hear what your mother just said?” Mr. Miller scolded her.
“Yeah, sure I did. But he’s also the one who beat up Jacky last year! And half our football team, costing us the season!” Mia protested, earning herself confirming nods all around her co-cheerleaders. Again, including Ava.
Upon hearing this, Bill leaned over to me with a questioning look.
“Remember the video I showed you all from one of my school bullies?” I whispered back to him while pulling out my phone, causing him to sigh and nod. “I think that’s his parents.”
“Maybe it would be better if you drive back to the office ahead of us. We’ll...” he started, but Mr. Miller had a different idea.
“Is that true? That was you?” he asked me angrily.
I had already found what I was looking for on my phone.
“Yes, Sir. Though it was self defense.” I said, as I started the video Craig had sent me of the fight, and held it out to Mr. and Mrs. Miller.
Their expressions were reluctant as they started watching, but as they saw their son and his friend corner Jenny, despite her telling them off repeatedly, their expressions changed significantly. By the time the video showed their son throwing me into the locker and preparing to hit me, after I had done absolutely nothing to even alert him of my presence, much less provoke him in any way apart from just existing in his closer vicinity, their looks had gotten quite disappointed.
“Ouh!” was Mr. Miller’s only grunted comment when he saw my elbow connect with his son’s jaw. I had feared they would get angry upon seeing something like that, and was fully prepared to remove myself from this job, but it seemed, since they knew nothing serious happened to him, the other things they had just learned about their son outweighed parental worry.
“Well, we ... we’ll talk about this.” Mr. Miller started embarrassed. “But right now, I hope this won’t have an influence on this job? I need my family to be safe!”
“That won’t be a problem!” Bill assured him, visibly relieved about not losing a wealthy client. “Then there is another topic we need to discuss. We need to consider the possibility that this man might try to use your daughter to get to you. We only thought about Mrs. Miller’s security until now, because she was the recipient of his letters. But if he reached the point to try and enter your house, that could indicate desperation. I’d like to suggest that we make Mr. Brown here into Mia’s chauffeur for the time being.”
I felt my heart drop as my whole body tensed up. I couldn’t really blame him for wanting to please a well paying client. But throwing me under the bus to please them!? Couldn’t he have asked me beforehand?
“Him? Mr. Carter, he’s younger than my daughter! He seems to be good at technical things, but can he provide actual security for her?” Mr. Miller asked, eyeing me up and down.
I noticed an evil grin spread across Mia’s face, obviously imagining me being some kind of servant to her.
“He wouldn’t work for me if he couldn’t, Mr. Miller. And since he and your daughter visit the same school, he would have a significant advantage over anyone else I could appoint for this position.”
“Oh, yes!” Mrs. Miller called out. “He could keep an eye on her even inside the building!”
Mr. Miller contemplated his options, as he looked between his Wife and Bill.
“Well, Munchkin, what do you say? Would you be Okay with him?”
“Sure, Daddy.” his daughter answered sweetly, her voice suddenly two octaves higher than before, but the glint in her eyes told me she had already planned to use this for her own entertainment.
“Alright. We’ll be here tomorrow morning to start installing the hardware and pick her up.” Bill announced, so I grabbed my laptop and we made our way outside.
“Tim! You’ll drive with me this time.” Bill announced.
