Chapter 2: Meet Ray Reddington
"That's great! Thank you so much for doing this. We'll see you tomorrow then" Liz's dad said and hung up the phone. He couldn't wait to tell Liz.
"Elizabeth, can I come in?" he asked while knocking on her bedroom door.
"Yes, of course" she answered and he went inside.
"I've some good news for you, darling", he started, "I found someone who will be your security. He'll be here first thing tomorrow".
"Really? Thank you! So who is this guy? Do you know him?" Liz inquired.
"Yes I do, he is an old friend of mine that has been in the Secret Service. He's got an impeccable record and I trust him to protect you".
"An old friend of yours? Don't tell me he is an old guy dad, he's gotta be able to keep up with me", Liz snickered, already questioning her dad's choice.
"I say an old friend because I've known him for almost 15 years. He is actually a few years younger than I am; I think he must be in his late 40's by now. But either way, don't you worry, I think you'll be having a hard time keeping up with him", he laughed.
"Well, let's see about that. Just know that if I don't approve of him, he'll be gone sooner than you can say "Secret Service", Liz said with a grin.
"Just wait and see, sweetie. I think you might actually like him", he said while leaning in to give her a goodnight kiss. "Sleep well".
"You too dad. Love you"
Liz noticed that she was a little bit nervous about meeting this friend of her dad's. She had a hard time eating her breakfast and she looked up at her dad the moment she heard the doorbell ring.
"That must be Ray", her father said excitedly as he got up to open the door. Liz carefully got up and slowly made her way to the front door.
"Sam! So good to see you again!" she heard Ray say, "Such a long time"
Hmm, his voice sounded nice, Liz thought and got more curious now.
She turned the corner to finally meet the man who was going to look after her.
"Darling, come here and meet Ray", her dad said as he playfully slapped Ray on his shoulder.
"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Raymond Reddington" Ray said as he took off his sunglasses and extended his hand to shake Liz's.
Liz had to do a double take. Raymond didn't look at all like what she had pictured. Before her stood a man who was wearing a dark suit, had cropped hair and a nice tan. Nothing like any of her dad's other friends.
"So nice to finally meet Sam's daughter", he said still holding out his hand.
Liz shook it "Nice to meet you too", she said, not sure what to think of him.
He was being so…. nice but yet he had a very serious look in his eyes.
"Let's get back to the kitchen", Sam said as he closed the door behind Ray, "We were just having breakfast. Have you eaten already?"
"Yes I have, thank you", Ray replied as they walked to the kitchen and sat at the table. "But please continue"
"So what are your plans for today, Elizabeth?" Sam asked while eating his cereal.
"Err, I haven't really thought about it yet. Maybe go shopping?" Liz said as she was dying to get out of the house.
"I don't think that's a good idea. That will have to wait I'm afraid", Ray said.
"Sorry sweetie but Ray is right. We will have to go through the house first, get Ray familiar with the grounds. There are some security protocols we'll have to go through as well", her dad explained.
Liz shrugged her shoulders "Whatever", she sighed.
As Ray and her dad went off to do their business, Liz wandered around in the kitchen. Pfff, what am I going to do today, she thought.
It took all of two hours to cover the whole house and go through the protocols. Sam also showed Ray the letters they had received over the last few weeks.
"I've already showed them to the cops as well", Sam told Ray as he handed him the letters, "And they tried to take fingerprints but didn't find any. This guy is quite meticulous. Although I'm not sure it's just one guy".
"These are some serious threats, Sam", Ray said while scanning the letters, "It's a good thing you called me".
After Sam and Ray were done, they went downstairs looking for Liz.
"Elizabeth, do you mind showing Ray around the property outside? I really need to get to work now", Sam asked Liz, who was on the phone with one of her friends.
"Okay", she mouthed to her dad, waving him goodbye.
Sam shook Ray's hand again "Thank you so much for doing this. I'm really worried about these threats but having you here will definitely ease my mind a little"
"No problem Sam. How could I say no to protecting your daughter? It's an honour that you asked me"
Sam went to work and Ray stood there, waiting for Liz to hang up the phone.
But Liz had no intention of doing so and lay back on the sofa, pretending Ray wasn't even there.
After a few minutes Ray decided to have a walk around the house by himself while waiting for Elizabeth to get off the phone. He figured it couldn't hurt to get more familiar with the layout.
When he returned 10 minutes later, Liz was just saying goodbye to her friend.
"So…. shall we go outside then?" Liz asked.
"Miss Milhoan, like I said, I'm only here to protect you. If you have other plans, you can do them first, as long as we make our walk around the property today".
"Please, call me Elizabeth", Liz said as she got up, "And we might as well get it over with and do our little tour now", she said with a sigh.
"Okay, Elizabeth it is" Ray replied as he followed her outside.
"So here we have our swimming pool and over there you can see the tennis court", she pointed, "And here on the back of the house we have another entrance, besides the ones on the front and the side".
Liz was about to walk back inside when Ray stopped her. "Sorry Elizabeth, but I need to see more than that and definitely from a lot closer. You pointing to the certain places in this huge garden doesn't quite help me with getting an idea of what the property looks like. I need to see everything from nearby and I want to have a look at the gate and the fences around the garden".
Liz gave him a long stare…. Man, this guy was taking this job way too seriously, Liz thought.
"Fine", she said while leading the way towards the tennis court, "Let's start over there then".
After walking in silence for a few minutes Ray asked, "So, do you like living here with your dad?"
Liz didn't feel like making small talk at all but she decided to humour him.
"It's ok I guess. I'd prefer living closer to town though, closer to my friends".
"I can see why; your dad is probably working most of the time, huh?"
"Yes he is. Not most of the time, ALL the time. I see him most days at breakfast though, if he doesn't have an early meeting and at dinner a few times a week".
"Must be hard, being on your own so much in this huge house", Ray inquired while looking at her intently.
"It is…but I'm hardly ever here. I go into town almost every day, meeting up with friends or I just go shopping or whatever on my own. I got good at entertaining myself, as long as it's outside the house", she said with a smile. "I just don't like being here on my own".
Liz couldn't believe she was telling a complete stranger all these things but somehow Ray seemed easy to talk to.
"Well, you won't be alone in the house anymore", he said, "Your father and I talked about it and it would be easiest if I stay here. That way I'm always here if something happens and it saves me from going back and forth between here and my own apartment".
Liz was slightly shocked by this news. Why hadn't her dad discussed this with her first? She was under the impression that he wanted to hire someone to look after her while she was out, not to babysit her at the house as well. The thought of having Ray around 24/7 made her feel very self-conscious.
They had a cook and a maid in the house and her dad had a security detail when he went out but other than that this was kind of new to her.
"Let's just hope these threats go away soon. Then we can both get back to our lives", Liz exclaimed as she suddenly started walking faster, getting ahead of Ray, "I am so done with this already", she murmured.
They walked alongside the fences and trees that separated their property from the road and other properties behind it.
"It all seems in order. We can go back to the house now if you like", Ray said, "Although I think it's best if we stay in today".
Liz let out another heavy sigh. "Okay then…. another great day at the house", she said sarcastically.
Just when she thought she might like this Ray guy, he had to go and ruin it.
They walked back to the house in silence.
When Sam came home he found Ray sitting at the living room table reading the newspaper.
"Hey, how did it go?" Sam immediately asked, "Been wondering about it all day".
"Okay, I guess", was all Ray said.
"Okay? That doesn't sound very promising…"
"Well, let's just say that I get the feeling she doesn't like me very much", Ray explained with a disappointed smile. He didn't want to let down his friend.
"Oh, just give it some time. She just doesn't like the fact that she needs someone to look out for her. She'll come around", Sam said optimistically. "Is she in her room?"
As Sam walked upstairs he couldn't help but wonder whether all of this was the right thing to do. Was he overreacting? He himself got many threats and nothing ever happened. No, he thought decisively, she's my daughter and I need to protect her every way I can.
He knocked on Liz's door. No answer. He knocked again but still no answer.
He slowly opened the door and found Liz lying on her bed with her headphones on.
She looked up and took the headphones off. "Hi dad".
"Hi pumpkin. Are you okay?" he asked carefully as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"Fine I guess… I just really don't like this whole situation", Liz answered while staring at her hands, her fingers entwined.
"I know darling, but it will only be for a while. I'm hopeful that the police will find out who sent those letters and then it will all be over".
He gave her a hug and went for the door. "Please give Ray a chance, will you? He really is a good guy".
Liz looked up from her hands, "Sure…I'll try dad", she promised him.
"Oh, by the way, Ray will be staying in the room next to yours", Sam said before he closed her bedroom door behind him.
You've got to be kidding me, Liz thought as she grabbed a pillow, held it to her face and screamed.
