So paranoid is Wessel van Scheldt about the "low-life scum and animals" that are his neighbours that he has the whitewashed outer wall patrolled by household marines and their dogs. Armed guards check the bags and baskets of servants coming to the estate, even those who have worked there for years. The 80-year-old patriarch never travels Suiddock's streets, preferring to take his barge from the mansion's private lagoon. Lately, he has only left the house to attend Directorate meetings.[1a]
It was an almost-successful attempt on his life by an indentured fisherman several years ago that sent the naturally suspicious Wessel over the edge of paranoia.[1a]