Martha

The Argument

Sable walked upstairs to her room and laid down on the bed, her head pounding hard from the numerous drinks she had with her former boyfriend.  She was so tipsy and ready for a long night of sleep that she hadn't noticed her friend's room was cleaned out and completely empty.

The next morning when there was a heavy knock at her door.

The sun shined through her window, adding to her splitting headache as she arose from her bed.  She opened the door to find Simon standing there, smiling with a tray of breakfast in his hands. 

"Good morning, Sable. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"No, not at all."  She took the tray from his hands and returned the smile. "But you didn't have to go to the trouble of bringing me breakfast."

"It was no trouble at all.  I noticed you had a late night out with your gentleman friend."

"He's hardly a gentleman."

"Oh."

"Anyway, thanks for the pancakes."

"Lucy made them from scratch. I'm sure you will enjoy them." He rubbed the back of his head and shifted on his right leg. "Well, have a nice day."

"Wait." Sable said, as he started to walk away. "Do you know if Halle is awake yet?"

Simon's brow furrowed. "Didn't she tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Halle checked out last night after you left with your friend. She said there was a family emergency."

"Family emergency?" Sable looked at him through doubt filled eyes. "Halle doesn't have any relatives that live nearby."

"Really?  That's strange."  He shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave.  "She seemed troubled.  I hope everything is okay."

"Are you sure she left?"

"Yes.  She took all of her belongings, and I refunded the rest of her money.  Anyway, I have to tend to the other guests.  I'll talk to you later, Sable."

Other guests?  Sable thought, I thought Halle and I were the only ones here, besides Porter.

Her eyes narrowed as Simon closed the door behind himself.  Something wasn't right.  Why did the color drain from his face at the mention of Halle? 

She wouldn't leave without telling her, no matter what kind of emergency there was.  She would have at least called her.

Simon was hiding something, she could feel it in her bones.

She ate her admittedly delicious pancakes, then went downstairs to find Porter and another man sitting at the dining room table with their hosts. 

The other man looked to be in his early forties.  He wore an expensive suit, and his eyes were glued to his newspaper.  He halfheartedly picked at his breakfast.

Simon looked at her with a smile.  "Good to see you again, Sable.  Did you enjoy your breakfast?"

"Yes, I did.  Thank you."

"What's the matter with you?"  Porter asked, "You don't seem very happy this morning."

"As a matter of fact, I'm not."  Sable answered, her gaze still fixed on Simon.  "Halle left without telling me, which isn't like her at all."

Porter shrugged his shoulders and shoved another bite of pancakes into his mouth.  "Halle was always kind of a flake, you know.  She probably went back to the campus to fool around with some guy."

"No, she would have told me."

Lucy set down her glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.   "Halle was really distraught about her family member.  Maybe you should try giving her a call."

"I did.  There was no answer."

"Come on, Sable." Porter groaned, "Don't worry about Halle. She's a grown ass woman, and she can take care of herself."

Everyone was staring at Sable like she was overreacting.  She decided to drop the subject for the time being, but she was still not convinced that her friend left her without saying goodbye.

There was something strange going on.

***

After breakfast was eaten and cleaned up, Lucy met with her brother in his bedroom to discuss how they were going to keep up their charade. She lied down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"That girl is asking too many questions. We have to do something before she finds out what happened."

"I don't know what to do." Simon said, "She knows her friend better than we did. I should have known that the story of a sick relative wouldn't work."

"We have to get rid of her."

"How?"

"We need to find an excuse to kick her out of here before she runs her mouth off to the police."

"Don't be stupid, Lucy. If we kicked her out without a reason, that would make her more suspicious."

"We have to do something.  That bitch is going to ruin everything for us!"

"Keep your voice down," Simon hissed, "The guests will hear you, then we'll really be screwed.  We have to stay calm and think rationally."

Lucy shoved her hands over her face, and leaned further back into the bed with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I just hate the idea of losing this place because of Martha. We should've had her committed."

"Don't say that.  She doesn't know what she's doing is wrong. Besides, I promised mother that we would take care of her."

"Mother is dead, Simon."

"It doesn't matter.  I'm still going to respect her wishes."

"Don't you wish you could have a normal life?"

"Yes, of course."  He closed his eyes and shook his head.  "That's enough.  I don't want to hear another word about it.  Martha is staying."

"But-"

"Shut up.  Leave me alone."

He stormed down the stairs, leaving Lucy alone to figure out what she was going to do about their little sister. She knew she had to get Martha out of the way, and soon. The only problem was coming up with a solution without making her brother or the other guests suspicious.

She would figure something out.

She always did.