Melanie Flugel, like her billionaire husband, Daniel, had impossible standards and drove her employees to distraction with her ever-changing demands. The staff of her mansion changed frequently, sometimes because she fired them, but mostly because few could stand her unpredictable temper and demeaning language, all so different from her cool public persona.
Then one day the staff syndicate won the biggest prize the lottery had ever awarded. They told no-one. When the money was safely in their accounts, and Daniel was abroad, they left the mansion silently at dawn, each leaving a formal resignation letter on the hall table.
Cameron, the head of security, switched off the alarms and the power, then locked all the doors and windows, just leaving the front door open. The butler, James, took Melanie’s phones, laptops and tablets, switched them off and put them all around the mansion in places she probably didn’t know existed, like the laundry in the basement.
Cameron locked the front door, then he and James walked down the steps together. ‘Shall I?’ said Cameron.
‘Yes, do it.’ said James. And the big bunch of keys landed in the middle of the lake.