Clandestine

seventy one

-diane-

I should have seen it sooner. How did I not figure it out? It all makes perfect sense. The way that Julia always skirted away from the topic of that video. "Finally free..." Marcia Quintana will be finally free. First she had to kill my father and now me. Then finally, all her hard work will be over, and she'll finally, finally, be free.

Julia says, "I know I should have told you."

I shake my head, "I understand why you didn't." And I do. I understand. Because if my father had killed someone, would I have been able to turn him in? Would I have turned my back on him while he was dragged to jail?

Loyalty over justice.

Julia says, "I don't know what to say."

I shake my head again, trying to clear the tears from my eyes. Why am I crying? This doesn't change anything. My father is still dead. It just makes the threat of my death even more real. Marcia Quintana has done this once before. She isn't going to back out after consulting her conscience. She is prepared to kill me.

I say, "Then we just have to move forward. How are we going to defend ourselves? She's able to kill us."

Julia turns pale, "You think she could kill me? Her own daughter?"

"Are you going to betray her, your mother?"

She takes a deep breath, "We need to call the authorities. Get them to come with us. They can hide or something and then we'll get my mother to admit what she's done wrong and then they can arrest her."

I laugh, "You've watched too many movies. Do you realize who your mother is? And do you realize who I am? If I called the police station, they are going to laugh in my face. By the time they realize that I was telling the truth, it will be much too late to help me. If you call the police, they will probably just write you off as a bored snob and call your mother so that she can take care of you. Besides, even if they did for a second believe us, I doubt they would get in your mother's way. After all, someone had to allow your mother to shoot my father. Someone must have been willing to break the rules for her. Your mother has more than political power."

"Then how do we win?"

"I don't know. That's the problem."

"But we can't go into the party without a plan."

"So, we'll have to come up with something."

"What, though?"

I shake my head. "That's the problem."

Julia is quiet for a few seconds and then she stiffens, she leans close to me and whispers, "You don't think there could be security cameras in here too. Could my mother have broken into your house and put cameras in here so that she can keep tabs on you too?"

I sit still and then say, "Yeah, it's possible. Should we go for a walk while we talk about it?"

"Someone could recognize me. Or you. Or the both of us together which would get us in quite a mess. Do you know how much fun the media would have if they saw the two of us, the family enemies, walking together? We don't need anymore attention than we already have."

"Then how do we do this?"

Julia says, "It's best to talk as little as possible. If we have anything important to say, we'll go outside. And mother, if you are listening? Screw you."

I laugh and Julia grins. But we both know she probably just made everything so much worse.

Kristy breezes back into the kitchen. She insists on giving us another cookie, and sits down to have more small talk. She ask Julia about who her parents are and what her life is like and how is school going and what does she plan to do when she grows up and my what a lovely dress that is.