cannibal; kendall roy

64

Hushed voices and ringing ears. Marguerite Garnier had both, both two weeks after her thirteenth birthday. She usually woke up with the sun breezing gently into her room, a warm silence, the occasionally clattering of dishes in the distance, or Candy knocking on the door.

But today she had whispers.

So she padded out of her room, and down the hallway, where she found Candy talking with another member of the house staff. Hushed voices. Almost terrified to see the child standing in front of them.

"What's going on?" She asked, yawning a little "Are we celebrating?"

The two exchanged a look, and then Candy approached the girl, placing his hands on her shoulders "Let us go find your Papa."

"Why?" She asks, starting to feel herself heave the thick air in "What's going on? Did I do something?"

"No. No, Marguerite. You did not."

"Then what is it?"

Candy led her down his stairwell, the back way that led more directly to her father's part of the home. Avoiding the main stairwell as if it was cursed. That was when she knew something was really wrong.

Fighting to get out of Candy's grasp, she pushed the man off of her, and tried running the opposite direction, but he picked the girl up, ignoring the screams that came from her, or the pounding her small hands left on his back.

And finally, they were in her father's office, where he stood almost eerily, sleepily, his eyes solemn and dark. Talking to a man smoking from a pipe and taking notes, right next to a police officer.

"Sir" Candy motioned to her as he plopped her down on the floor "She's awake."

"Does she know?" Louis asked, avoiding looking at her for as long as he can.

"No, I thought you might be the best-"

Louis clears his throat and motions to the police officer and the man with the pipe "Can you? Can you explain?" He asks briskly, turning away to fix himself s drink.

"Explain what? What is going on?" She looks around, eyes darting from Candy to her father and then to the strangers in the room "What?"

"Oh for gods sake. Tell her, Louis" Candy mutters, looking down at the floor.

The man with the pipe and long coat sighs "Marguerite Garnier was found this morning at around eight o'clock, floating in the main pool of the Garnier Estate. However, drowning is not the confirmed method of death. We believe it might be a homoci-"

Candy cuts him off, looking over to Louis with disdain evident in his eyes "Pull yourself together. You have a child" and then his attention turns to the police officer "Take him—Take him out of here, why would you ever say that?"

"We still have questions for the family."

"This is a little girl who you've just told that her mother died, and that is a man who is clearly distraught. You can wait."

"But—"

"Wait" Candy hisses, watching as they slowly walked out, closing the door behind them, his eyes returning to Marguerite's, who was now sitting on the floor. She wasn't exactly crying. But she looked sad.

"Louis" Candy snaps his fingers motioning to her

He looks and then clears his throat, staring down at her for a moment and then leaves the room as well, Candy following after to berate him.

Leaving Marguerite alone, sitting on the carpet. Where she finally found herself about to cry. The tears finally coming out of her eyes. That awful woman, that beautiful woman, her mother, was dead.