Blood Oath

03

THREE

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL DAY SPA

Karen the esthetician placed a glass of cider in my hand before Mother swatted the air, signalling her to take it back.

"She's old enough for champagne," she declared, giving me a wry smile like suddenly we were friends. Her hair was tied back and her makeup unusually natural. "Isn't this nice?"

With an apologetic smile, Karen replaced my drink with a flute and began placing cucumbers on my eyes. I took a sip of my drink and shrugged. Maybe if she was quiet enough I could pretend that she wasn't there, and then this would be something along the lines of nice.

I listen to the whir of our footbaths and try to relax. I'm not even quite sure how I got talked into this, or if it was even my choice. She had lured me here with false pretenses of dropping me off, not a Mommy-Daughter day.

"I'll leave you two to soak for a few more minutes, then I'll be back to start your facials," Karen said, and her footsteps faded away.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Mother asked.

"I was."

"That's good," she replied, oblivious. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh. And what's that?"

"Your father."

I sit up and lift off a cucumber. "You seriously need to stop dropping the Dad bomb on me."

Sighing, she took off her own vegetables too look at me. "There's something I haven't told you about your father's whole...death."

"Wow, this is the most relaxing spa day ever," I shot sarcastically, shooting down my champagne in a swift swig. "What is it?"

She pursed her lips and looked away for a moment like she was choosing her words carefully. I, on the other hand, wanted to shout every insult at her that came to mind. Was she finally going to explain what happened to him?

"Do you want the whole story or the main point?"

I slammed my champagne flute down on the marble table between us. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"We're going to release the cause of your father's death to the press tomorrow on behalf of Godsworth Industries. The company has been in disarray trying to recuperate, and I'm finally ready to let the world know that Robert Godsworth is dead."

"Was that not what the funeral was for?" I deadpanned.

"That was for friends and family. This is for the business world, Penelope. Something you wouldn't understand." She took a sip of her champagne. "But there's something I need to tell you, and I'm trusting you to keep it to yourself. If it gets out, the company will give the CEO position to someone chosen by the investors, and your father always wanted to keep it in the family."

I was appalled at what she was scheming, but I didn't question it. All I wanted was to finally know the truth.

"What happened to Dad?"

Mother finished her drink and held it out to the air. "Karen? Two more glasses, please."

She returned a moment later with new flutes and took the old ones, leaving us to our conversation.

"Take another sip," she said.

I narrowed my eyes but drank, knowing very well I'd need it to have to rest of this conversation/

"Your father was working late at the office the night before your graduation," she started, looking at the floor with sad eyes. "He wanted to get ahead on work so he could catch a flight with me the next morning to attend." She paused to drink. "Your father was always so kind and told the rest of the staff to go home and not work late like he was. So he was alone, except for one of the security guards that patrolled the grounds at night. While he was checking on the underground parking, someone broke into the building. No alarms went off, so we think he had some kind of inside access..."

I was close to speechless. He was working late to come see me, for the first time in two years. He wanted to be there. But someone didn't want him to be anywhere at all.

"Like someone who worked there?"

She nodded. "The cameras were shut off by whoever broke in. Then...we don't know what happened."

"You don't know?"

"The police are still investigating. There's a lot of blood, enough to presume he's dead. But there's nothing there to confirm it."

"No body," I said, my voice shaking.

"No. I filled the casket will rocks so no one at the funeral would know."

My throat suddenly felt dry and I downed my glass in an attempt to fix it. "I don't even know what to say. Dad might not be dead?"

She said her words slowly like she was trying to drive the meaning into my head with each syllable. "It's safer to assume he's dead, Penelope."