Louisa was lost in thought. It felt like it was the first time in her life that she could plan to do anything other than work and look after someone else. For a long time, the someone else was Leo. Now, Leo was looking after her. At least, he was paying all these people to look after her. Roland and Robert ran the house. She didn’t get to see a single bill. It was the third week since she was whisked away from the cockroach palace, and the tiny flat in Surbiton, in other words her entire old life. She realised that she needed some of the counselling on coping with life that she used to give out, to Leo, to junior staff at her various workplaces, to many random people she met.
The Rolls-Royce cruised to the south west from Pimlico, back towards Surbiton. Louisa was on her way to meet some old friends. The old church, St Peters, had been an island of calm in the constant stream of dramas in her life. What she wanted now was to keep the last link to her old life, the people who wanted to see her and talk to her about everyday things. They didn’t know anything about her new home and life. The week before Leo had arranged for a few people to come to dinner and talk about how to stay connected. There was no escaping the new life with wizards and witches. However, Louisa was not in that connection. She knew about the need for secrecy, also she knew the parts of her life that she could tell her old friends. The best discussions were with Hermione’s parents, the dentists who had to cope with their daughter taking a completely different direction in life from their own.
The leading car stopped outside St Peters. Two fit looking people got out, moved to vantage points, and watched the street. The Rolls-Royce arrived, a young woman alighted from the front passenger seat and opened the door for Louisa. The trailing car stopped, and two more people emerged. Louisa smiled and waved to friends she knew and then carried out the instructions she had been given, she had to go straight to the door and enter, no chatting outside.
The three cars slowly moved off. Louisa was able to tell her friends about a small part of her new life. It was Leo’s fault. He inherited something from his missing father, titles, and a vast fortune. It was never a secret. He just didn’t tell anyone.
The news reached an interested listener. Chief Inspector Graham Proud had been asking Louisa out for months. Her answer was always a variation on, “I’d like to Graham, but I have to work.”
Graham had been on his own for years. His life was dull, always dull. He had to admit it. He was dull. He liked dull. He also liked Louisa. The security team, the Rolls-Royce and Louisa’s news rang many different alarm bells in Graham’s thoughts. Whoever has arranged this must be expecting kidnap attempts for ransom. Graham stayed at the door of the church as the people moved in. He scanned the street; the security team was now out of sight. One tall young woman had entered with Louisa and sat at the back. Graham made a call to his office. He would have answers to his questions by the end of the service.
After the service Louisa stayed in the lobby and talked as long as her friends wanted to. This was different. Louisa had always had to leave to get ready for lunch at the restaurant. Louisa smiled at Graham and beckoned him over. “Graham, would you like to come to my place for lunch today?”
“Oh! Yes, certainly, that would be great.”
Louisa looked at her tall companion, who then nodded and stepped out of the main door. After waiting three minutes, the bodyguard nodded to Louisa and walked to the footpath. The Rolls-Royce pulled up. The rear door was opened for Louisa and Graham saw a quick direction from the bodyguard to take the far side. As the car moved off Louisa looked at Graham, “Thanks for coming Graham. I wanted to catch up with you for a while. I hope you don’t have anything else to do today.”
Before Graham could answer his phone rang. He listened to the report he had asked for and then responded. “Thank-you sergeant, just leave it with me, goodbye.”
Louisa looked at him, “Working on Sunday, that’s not like you, Graham.”
Graham gave a nervous laugh. “Oh! It was nothing. How is your new job? It sounds like a lot more fun than your old one.”
As the cars entered Purbeck Square Graham observed several bunches of paparazzi milling around. As he feared, the cars had to pass close to at least one of them. There were the usual shouts from the photographers. Louisa was well rehearsed and sat calmly facing the front. The car stopped at number 16 but there was no rush to a get a close-up.
Security closed in and Louisa and Graham were able to walk calmly to the front door which opened as they approached. The cars departed with the security team, but the paparazzi did not close in on the house.
Graham stepped into the entrance hall, the door was quickly shut, and relieved breaths were let out. Graham then did a classic double take. “Roland White!”
Roland’s face went from straight to surprised red; “Mister Proud! How are you sir.”
Graham turned to Louisa, “Roland was one of my MPs in the army, a long time ago, a very long time ago. You left to work for British Airways, didn’t you?”
“Yes sir, I did a long spell with them and now I’m working for Her Ladyship, and very happy to be here sir.”
Louisa put her hand on Grahams arm, “That’s enough Graham, you can catch up with Roland later. Right now, Roland, I would love a cup tea in the small sitting room, thank-you.”
Louisa took Graham into a sitting room at the end of the hall. The room opened into a green house filled with lush foliage plants selected to block out the not so attractive rear view.
“This is one of my favourite rooms. I do nothing here but read, and meditate, and celebrate tea-time.”
Graham enjoyed his conversation with Louisa, morning tea merged into lunch with a series of picnic treats supplied by Roland. “Louisa, it’s obvious why there are paparazzi outside, an ordinary working family picked up and made rich overnight. That’s what sells. What I am curious about is what is keeping them away from the front door?”
Louisa paused, thought for a second; “I don’t know for sure. I asked Robert yesterday when they first showed up. He said that the security team had been expecting them much earlier than this. He intimated that there was something about these houses, the security systems, that made people want to stay away if they hung around outside for too long.”
Graham hesitated, “Hmmm! People have talked about such things. There have been experiments with things like high and low frequency sound, but nothing useful has come of it. If this is right, you will be repelling the people you want be there, and neighbours. I’ll ask Roland about it.”
The afternoon was spent chatting and touring the house. Graham tried to keep track of the room layouts on each floor. He suspected that some rooms extended into next door. Louisa said she didn’t notice such things and accused him of being a policeman 24 by 7.
Roland and Robert had the evening off. Louisa had a rare opportunity to work in the kitchen and prepare a supper for them both. “I would like to do this again Graham. On a regular basis if you like.”
Graham quickly agreed. “Louisa, I must ask, this is such a change, I know everything has changed but frankly, you’ve been keeping me at arm’s length until now.”
“Graham, all my adult life I’ve had to work all hours to survive. For a long time, it was just that, surviving. Now, I’m adjusting to better times. I need someone’s help to keep up with all the new things and hang on to the best of my old life. You are here for me right now, and I have always liked you. Let’s work with this and see where it leads.”
Graham was on duty in the morning, he had to leave. A time was arranged for him to look at how Roland and Robert managed the security systems. A black cab arrived to take Graham home. The paparazzi had given up and gone hours before. Graham took time on the return trip to mull over the sudden change in Louisa’s and his life. Then he noticed that there was no meter in the cab. “Driver, this isn’t a proper cab.”
The driver smiled back at Graham. “No sir, this is one of the cars from the Pimlico Security team.”
Next morning, Graham opened an official file left on his desk by the sergeant on the previous day. He read the short paragraphs again to make sure he was right. All the car registrations he noted on Sunday belonged to Pimlico Security. It was a private security company that held clearances to work at the highest levels, guarding Prime Ministers, and foreign heads of state when the government’s own security needed reinforcement. How interesting, and Rowland wouldn’t have forgotten all his MP training.
The week dragged by. Graham called Louisa each day, which is something he hadn’t done since he was a kid. He was pathetically smitten. Saturday came at last; Graham pulled rank and got his shifts changed to get Saturday afternoon and Sunday free. He couldn’t do that all the time. Saturday afternoon was an old-time rock and roll concert with an original band. Louisa loved it. The evening at 16 Purbeck Square was calm and friendly. Robert agreed to show Graham the office after supper. The office on the far side of the first reception room was tiny. There was one desk with a computer and six screens showing CCTV of the Purbeck Square street front and the mews and the ground floor hallway.
Robert showed how the system recognised people already known. Strangers in the square were highlighted and could be marked as friend or foe or neutrals. Foes received a repelling push from the system which was beamed at only them. If they persisted and came to the door, a warning was sent to the staff mirror-phones and logged in the Pimlico Security headquarters.
“Robert, I know what is commercially available for security systems. This is off the scale. It is far above what is done in the most secure installations. I’m guessing that you can’t tell me anything. This is most secret isn’t it.”
Robert was silent for a moment, “I’ve been contacted by the Pimlico Security management. They know that you’ve already noticed odd things about these houses and how they work. It has been decided to show you enough to convince you that this is confidential at the highest level. You can’t mention this to anyone, officially or unofficially. I can’t tell you how this works because I don’t know. I just press the buttons.”
“Robert, I know Roland was an MP in ancient times, what about you?”
‘Royal Navy Police.”
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