Clandestine

twenty eight

-julia- 

Diane freezes. She must not have known.

She says, "By a prison guard?" It's better that's it's as unspecific as a prison guard. I certainly can't tell her that it was my mother.

"Yes. There was some...problems with the staff."

She stares at the floor, her brows wrinkled in thought. She looks more confused than sad. If I had found out that my mother had died, I would be dissolving into tears right now. How is this girl so put together?

Perhaps she and her father were never close. It would make sense if he was constantly running away on business trips. After all, a criminal would be rather hard to be close to.

She says, "A guard? My father was killed by a guard?"

"Yes, a guard."

She twists up her mouth. Then she nods, "Okay. Okay, thank you for telling me. I appreciate it."

I frown, "You appreciate it? Do you not understand what I am saying? Your father has passed. You are an only child. Your mother passed a while ago. You are an orphan now."

Her eyes narrow and for a second I see a hint of emotion, but she quickly wipes it away. "Thank you for reminding me."

I press my lips together and say, "Are you okay? It doesn't make sense that you would be this calm after learning what I just told you."

She shrugs, "I would like to get back to the party. I'm going to lead you back and then you can go find whoever you came with. Don't tell anyone that you talked to me. And don't tell anyone what you said to me either."

I bob my head. I can't tell anyone what I said to her, even if I wanted to. My mother would be more than furious to learn what I did. I don't even want to consider what she might do as punishment.

But if the truth came out, it would be her that would be punished, not me.

Diane leads me back down the staircase in silence. I can't get over how calm she is. Maybe she did already know that her father was dead and it is all an act. But why would she keep her father's death a secret?

Diane pushes through the doors and the blare of the party pounds against my ears. I glance back to make sure that she is okay, but she's already gone. I search around the room, planning to find her, but Rosalina stumbles up to my side.

She leans on my shoulder and laughs, her breath stinking of alcohol, "Hello, my darling."

I push her gently away to get her stinking breath out of my face. I still hold her gently up. I'm afraid from the way she's swaying on her feet that if I were to let her go, she might drop.

She says, "Do you know how good I did on that fashion show? Really, really good. So good, Julia, so good. I got two investors. Two, Julia."

I offer her a smile. "Yes, I know. How much have you had to drink already?"

She just giggles.

I sigh and set her down on a couch. I'm not in the mood for a party. I want to go home and think about Diane's confusing reaction. What did my mother tell her? Our stories must have not matched up. Maybe my mother told Diane the same story she told me: Alan Tinsley escaped prison and was somewhere hiding from the police.

Rosalina is already drunk enough to be happy to go home, as long as she gets more alcohol. I need to find Carlotta, though she might not be as happy to go home. I'll just have to find someway to convince her.

I wander through the crowds of dancing people and struggling to find Carlotta. What was I thinking when I said I wanted to come to this party? After Diane's response, I'm not sure it was even worth coming.

Maybe my mother was right. Maybe Diane is just like her father.