It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon when Sean's mom dropped him off at the gates of Pelican's Nest as the Fullers' property was named. The cars that were dropping off the other kids were much more swankier than their own rickety minivan, Sean noticed. Judith's taste in friends was mostly within her own sphere of affluence, children of the movers and shakers of Portsmouth. Though there were exceptions like Randall's sister Kaitlyn and of course Sean himself. Judith didn't appear to be a snob, as far as he could tell.

Sean walked through the wrought iron gates to the guard house within the stone walls. The armed guard gave a bored look at Sean's engraved invitation from Judith, before waving him to one of the waiting golf carts. Sean climbed onboard behind two sophomore girls he didn't know. The cart set off, humming at a sedate pace, without any driver. Figures, thought Sean, Fuller Dynamics specialized in autonomous drones. No reason, why they wouldn't retrofit their golf carts with the same capability. The two girls - one of them was the kid of a local senator recognized Sean belatedly  - completely ignored him, squealing and chatting  animatedly. Sean leaned back to take in the landscape as their ride rolled on its way.

Pelican's Nest was a private penninsula jutting into Long Island Sound, and Sean could faintly smell the sea breeze though the shoreline wasn't visible yet. They drove down a paved road flanked by a forest of young white oaks and patches of wetland. He even spotted a coyote darting through the undergrowth. The ride lasted longer than expected, perhaps due to the cart's leisurely pace. They encountered identical but empty carts going the other way, returning to the guard house. The road finally terminated in a circular cul-de-sac fronting an enormous two-storey house with a square footage of at least 10,000. A perfectly trimmed hedge arced around the cul-de-sac as if to emabrace guests. 

Sean jumped out as the cart came to a stop, and sauntered up the wide stone stairway that bisected the hedge and leading to the front door. He pushed on one of the huge mahogany double doors, and stepped in followed by the two girls who had shared the ride with him. Music blared competing with the giggly chatter of maybe a dozen girls and half a dozen boys. A very tall man with broad shoulders and perfectly cut business suit stood in the foyer, looming over Sean.

"If you'll permit me take your jacket, sir," the clipped accent was British, pale grey eyes looked down at Sean. Close cropped dark hair on a lean weathered face. Sean stared back with curiosity, since he had never seen a real butler in the flesh before. The assymetrical bulge under the man's jacket, below the left armpit, wasn't too subtle. Not just a butler then. Security chief for the Fuller household?

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"Ladies, this way if you please," the man inclined his head at the girls behind Sean. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Sean thought the butler treated the girls - whose clothes were definitely more upscale - with slightly more deference. The foyer opened out into an atrium-like living room that was bigger than Sean's house. Skylights set into a cathedral ceiling that was the second storey roof let in plenty of sun. Sean spotted the sea through French doors on the far wall. Flames crackled within a fireplace of rough hewn slate, above which a huge flatscreen cycled through Judith's childhood pictures. Sean rolled his eyes. Please don't let there be a speech... please don't let there be a speech... Sean hated sitting through speeches. Wait, was that a live band in the corner belting out music? Holy shit, was that a group of bored-looking models over there dressed as Disney princesses? How old was Judith... Five? Though, to be fair, Sean didn't mind Disney princesses himself...

"Hi, Sean," Judith yelled out from across the room, surrounded by a bevy of girls, "Ashley! Kendra! So glad you could make it."

Squeals of greeting from the two girls behind him, who shoved Sean aside in their eagerness. Sean was very glad that Jason was nowhere to be seen. He had been fairly certain that Jason wouldn't be caught dead hanging around for his sister's party, but it was a relief to have that confirmed. Sean's half-baked nefarious plans would come to an abrupt end, if Jason spotted him here. The boys here all wore monogrammed t-shirts like Jason usually did, and Sean rolled his eyes again. They glanced at him curiously and then went back to their conversations, Sean was quickly forgotten. Sean stood out like a sore thumb. Other than Kaitlyn over there, none of Judith's friends knew him, and even if they did most of them wouldn't give him the time of the day.

"Is it time to serve the hors d'oeuvres, ma'am?" the butler had followed Sean into the living room, and pronounced 'ma'am' like 'muum'.

"That would be perfect, thank you, Elliot," the woman was a dead ringer for Judith, with the same facial structure. But her eyes were hardened with experience, lacking the bubbly warmth of Judith's eyes.

"Mrs. Fuller," Sean nodded, trying hard not to stare. Judith's mom looked stunning in a monochromatic creamy dress with a 'Queen Anne' cut neckline and wrapped in contrasting red lace. Her cascading hair was a shade lighter than her daughter's.

"Call me, Susan," her smile was friendly enough, "I don't believe we've met?"

"I'm Sean," he took her perfunctory handshake, "Sean Cook."

"Sean Cook?" frowned Susan, "The name sounds familiar..."

"You have a beautiful home," Sean interrupted hastily, "Is that a Monet on that wall..."

END OF CHAPTER