Shock

               Simon stepped out into his back yard. It was a warm summer night, but the steady breeze made it comfortable to be outside in jeans and a t-shirt. And it kept the bugs at bay. There was a bit of a moon which provided just enough light for him to find his way to the lawn chair next to the flower garden. He sat down and reclined and took in a deep breath of the fragrant nighttime air.

               It was unusual for Simon to be outside after midnight. He did not know what time it was. He was typically in bed with Jenny or making a trip to use the bathroom. Once or twice each night he made the trip downstairs. He didn’t remember what it was like to sleep through the night.

               He had a lot on his mind that night. It was more than he was able to process. Sitting in the dark with the breeze flowing over him calmed Simon a little. It felt like an ocean breeze, but the closest ocean was a thousand miles away. That is where he wanted to be. On a beach, a thousand miles away. But there he sat in his backyard in Wisconsin in the middle of the night.

               Simon heard a robin chirp. He was fairly sure robins sometimes had bad dreams and would wake up afraid, and then go back to sleep. They were probably dreaming about bigger birds. There are always predators out there looking to take advantage of someone small and weak.

               To his left he saw a deer walking towards the garden. She hadn’t seen him, so he had the opportunity to watch her as she nibbled on some grass and then the snapdragons. Simon did not have the energy to scare her away. Anyway, the garden wasn’t important to him anymore. She could eat the whole thing if she wanted. After a few minutes she moved on to the field behind his house.

               It was hard for Simon to believe that just that morning at breakfast they had all had a good laugh about something silly. Maybe it was one of Carley’s faces. He could not remember. A lot of people would kill for the life he had. Five acres in the country, a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters. Not only that, but his company was growing geometrically, and money would never again be a worry for Jenny and him.

               The process he and his team had developed was gaining a lot of traction. It used video of individuals to do real-time body language interpretations. In fact, there was word that their tool might soon be made admissible in courts around the country. It was that accurate.

               They were working on a miniaturized version that people could use in conversations to determine if the person they were talking to was being evasive, truthful, sincere… it was really a fantastic little device.

               Out of the corner of his eye Simon saw an owl swoop down and grab a gopher that had strayed too far from his den. He’d never seen such a thing before, other than on PBS, and it was both beautiful and a little terrifying. Especially for the gopher. Another predator wins the day, he mused.

               That afternoon Simon called Jenny to tell her he had a dinner meeting with some potential investors, and that he would be home late, since the meeting was in a town that was an hour away. She said something flirty before they hung up. She knew how to push his buttons.

               When he met the investors at the restaurant they were ushered into a private room. The leader, Margot, had a slight French accent and was devastatingly beautiful, which it was clear she knew. The two men with her said little. One of them took notes.

               After a few drinks – Simon nursed a beer – they ordered their meals and began to talk business. Margot represented a company that wanted to buy Simon’s company outright, including all products and intellectual property. She was very flattering about the products his company had developed and said “her people” could take those products where they deserved to go.

               Simon didn’t want to sell his company and he said so, thanking her for her interest. But she did not give up. The talk of money was overwhelming. She offered more money than those products could ever possibly bring in. Every time he declined, she raised the ante. A pile of money, a house in Spain, a private jet…

               Then Simon figured it out. Her people didn’t want his company. They wanted to make sure his products never made it to the marketplace. She wanted it all to disappear. That was the only explanation for her over-the-top offers.

               When the desserts were brought in the two men with Margot excused themselves. She said they had an early morning. There was less talk about acquiring his company after that and she became more suggestive in her comments and body language.

               The restaurant was across a village road from the hotel where Margot said she was staying and she asked Simon to walk her to her room, since she felt a little tipsy. Simon was reluctant but agreed to accompany her. When they got to her room she fumbled for her key card. Before scanning it, she reached her other hand over and ran it up between his legs to his waist. It caught Simon off guard, as did the kiss she forced on him.

               Thinking back on it, Simon thought it was the kind of thing men dream of, but it was not at all what he wanted. He pushed her away gently. She shook her head slowly.

               “Simon, you sweet, stupid man. Are you still a solid ‘no’ on selling your company?”

               “Yes. Still no.”

               She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text.

               “Let me know if you change your mind about the company and about me.”

               She stepped into her room and shut the door.

               It was hard not to think about Margot on his drive home. He knew he had done the right thing. When he turned the key in the lock and entered it was noticeably quiet. It was only eleven o’clock, but it seemed that everyone was asleep.

               He saw a piece of paper on the kitchen table. He read it and walked out the back door.

               Now, a couple of hours later, he cleared his head as best he could and called 9-1-1.

               “Yes, this is Simon Waltham. I returned home from a business meeting tonight and my wife and two daughters have been murdered. Would you please come out here?”

               Before he heard the sirens in the distance, he re-read the note he had found on the table.

Dear Simon,

I prepared this note in advance anticipating your stupid stubbornness. I asked my associates to leave it for you when they were done with their work.

Your company means a lot to you, and to me. Your family meant a lot to you, but not to me. If I cannot have your company, you can’t have your family. And after tonight, if you still refuse, I will kill the families of all your colleagues. Then I will kill you.

A device that can discern whether someone is being truthful or sincere or not cannot exist. Our government and industry cannot survive it.

Sell me your company. Sorry for your loss.

Margot

            Simon never saw his wife’s and children’s bodies. He could not bear it. The police and investigators came and interviewed him for hours. Margot and her guys were long gone with no record that they had ever been there. His calm demeanor and the fact that he waited two hours to call 9-1-1 made Simon a prime suspect. That was part of Margot’s plan, he was sure.

               He had heard people talk about being in shock, but he never thought about going into shock and staying there day after day after day.