Chapter 587 - Safety deposit key

Rest of the weekend passed in a flash.

Sophia and Felix selected fifteen bodyguards for their home in Seattle. They plan to use few bodyguards to accompany each of them when they go out, while others will be focusing on securing the house. Since they are not used to this, Jeff took time to give them advice and to answer their questions.

Elanor was happy to hear that Felix and Oscar agreed to collaborate on improving security of White family villa and surrounding property, because that means that Sophia will come back to visit as well. Two of them bonded quickly, and part of Elanor secretly regretted that she does not have third son so that Sophia can be her daughter-in-law also. If Felix knew about this, he would not let Sophia come close to Elanor again.

Aiden and Sarah also picked bodyguards for both of their houses in California. They are still not willing to have bodyguards follow them around, but they agreed to have number of them stationed at their two houses. Jeff advised them to at least have few following them secretly from a distance, but both Sarah and Aiden rejected that idea right away saying that it will just make them more nervous.

Jeff and JoAnna selected additional bodyguards for their new house.

Oscar war happy with the improvements his bodyguards achieved during this training. He assigned two who had best results to be in charge of keeping everyone in shape by making sure they regularly use training grounds. He left the scheduling to them, but he gave warning that if his bodyguards underperform, he will keep them accountable.

…

Sunday evening, after dinner, our team of six was in the living room of White family villa.

Jeff got one key and placed it on the table. "I got this from James Hill."

"Gramps?", Sophia asked as she leaned closer. "What is it for?"

"I'm not sure." Jeff responded.

"Did gramps say anything?" Sophia could tell that there is more to it.

Jeff told them what he knows. "He said that it's a safety deposit key. And to use it if we don't see a way out. Also, he said that this is one of the reasons why people fear White family."

"Do you know what is in that safety deposit?" Sarah was curious when she heard that there are some secrets involved.

"I don't even know where it is. I tried looking into it, but I didn't get any results." Jeff looked at Aiden and Sarah. "Maybe you two can help?"

Sarah looked at Aiden with sparkles in her eyes. She was imagining two of them on a mission, finding clues and getting the treasure, like in the PC games they are playing. Aiden chuckled seeing Sarah's dazed expression. He was able to guess her thoughts. "We can try… Did you ask dad if he knows something about this?"

Jeff didn't think about asking Oscar, but what Aiden said made sense. He said that he will talk to Oscar when he gets a chance.

Sarah snapped photos of the key from both sides. She will get Eve to help identify the key, if possible. But it's an old key, so she is not confident that it will be easy to trace. Newer deposit boxes use thing like electronic passwords, fingerprints and retina scans. On the other hand, how many more banks keep their deposit boxes secured with these obsolete keys? It should not be difficult to narrow down possibilities.

Sophia thought about Jeff's words. "This looks important. Why would our grandfather have something that belongs to White family?"

Jeff shrugged indicating that he does not know. "They are neighbors on East Coast. It seems that there is more to their story than just that."

By the time they finished talking, Oscar was already gone for the night with Elanor, so Jeff didn't talk to his father.

Next morning, they were in a rush to leave. JoAnna had her shift in the hospital, and Jeff was going to office. With all the commotion, Jeff forgot to talk to Oscar about the key. Well, he will do it next time.

…

That Monday, during breakfast, Elanor and Oscar were by themselves again. They had maids and other house help, but their kids were not there.

"It's quiet…", Elanor observed.

"Yes."

Elanor's face lit up. "How about we go and visit them?"

"What?" Oscar agreed with her that it is quiet, but that is not necessarily a bad thing!

"Both of our boys got new houses. We can go and visit them… Oh! We can stay with them for some time!", Elanor beamed. "We can also see that resort that JoAnna owns…"

Oscar sighed and sipped his morning coffee. It was clear that Elanor made up her mind. She was already talking about housewarming gifts!

…

Unaware that Elanor plans to come for a visit soon, Jeff, JoAnna, Aiden and Sarah are in the jet heading to Los Angeles.

They are sitting in seats which are facing each other and have large desk in between.

Jeff is working on his laptop, and opposite from him Aiden is sketching with a stylus pen on a tablet.

Girls are discussing security for Golden Ocean Resort.

JoAnna has resort map on her laptop and is explaining to Sarah general layout. They are planning to improve existing security for the resort and to keep an eye on Regina.

Sarah hacked into resort security feed and pointed out blind spots in current setup.

"We will add more cameras, on the grounds and in the main building as well. I have a good supply from Felix, and I will instruct Eve to watch Regina and to text you her whereabouts as well as if she does something suspicious."

"How do you define 'something suspicious'?" JoAnna was curious.

"Besides obvious things like putting something in your drink, Eve also monitors health indicators such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Unless Regina is a coldblooded serial killer, she will get anxious if she tries to hurt you. Eve will let you know of any changes. Also, I upgraded Eve's self-learning modules and she is evolving wonderfully. Eve is figuring out by herself new ways how to identify malice." Sarah was full of pride while talking about latest Eve's developments.

JoAnna listened carefully and concluded that it makes sense.

"You will come tomorrow to the resort, right?" JoAnna wanted to start with this extra surveillance as soon as possible.

"Yes. Today we will visit few agencies to start the process of hiring staff and later we will visit out new house! But tomorrow we will come to resort." Sarah turned to Aiden. "Right?"

Aiden sensed that this last question was directed at him. He raised his head for a moment, gave a small nod and focused back on his tablet.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you have no idea to what you agreed to just now." She could tell that he is immersed in whatever he is doing and that he didn't hear her question, and he just agreed randomly. She leaned back in her seat to see what he is doing.

"For our home?" Sarah asked when she saw him sketching landscape plans.

Aiden smiled and nodded. He was happy that she called it 'our home'.

Sarah observed what he did so far. "Where is my gazebo?"

"I'm not there yet… but it will be here." Aiden pointed with stylus.

"Nice." Sarah smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. She spent rest of the flight quietly watching him work.