Clandestine

seventy two

-julia-

On the way home from Diane's house, I keep up the small talk with Kristy. It's clear that Diane is less than comfortable carrying a conversation with her. Kristy constantly looks back in the rearview mirror, glancing warmly at Diane. Diane is too lost in her own thoughts to notice.

I wonder how she feels about Andrew and Kristy. I can't see through the mask of no emotion that she keeps pulled tight against her face. Does she like them? Does she think they are annoying? Their lifestyle must be a lot different than the way her father ran the house. Though he wasn't a criminal, I know that much, I don't think he was home a lot. Always away on gambling and business trips. How much time did she spend home alone?

Kristy asks, "Diane, did you have a nice time?"

Diane nods and stares at her hands. Kristy's face droops a little at the lack of response, so I go into an explanation of the lovely time we had at Diane's. I say how we had enough time after finding all my things to watch a little TV and catch up.

Kristy smiles and recovers a little. I chatter with her the whole way home, though my thoughts are far from the conversation.

Diane and I need a plan. Fast.

But we have nothing.

Because there's no way out. We can't call the authorities. We can't call in any backup. We don't know who we can trust. We don't know who's going to be at the party, if anyone. We don't know where my mother is going to be. We don't even know if my mother is going to come. What if she sends some other people to do her dirty work? I'm sure that she would enjoy killing Diane, but she wouldn't put her pleasure over all the risks involved.

What if the form of murder is invisible? Poisonous food or gas? A bomb? There are more ways to kill than a visible gun.

We finally pull up to Kristy and Andrew's home, though I have yet to meet Andrew. From the way that Kristy talks about him, he must be some type of superhero. She also talks about Austin and Molly a lot, though I haven't figured out which one is her child and where the other one comes into play.

The truth is, I don't know how Diane can be so calm. I'm terrified.