someone in this house had had enough.
“So,
what now?”
“Well, I guess we’ll
get our inheritance. He never threatened to screw us over unless we
crossed him. Donald will probably get control of his restaurant.
Cheryl may be able to marry that Norville guy as long
as dad didn’t stipulate that Cheryl only gets her money if she steers clear of
him. Whatever she chooses, she’ll either marry a rich man or become a
very rich single woman. As for me, I honestly don’t know. I would
like to stay here, in this town at least, although who knows what’ll happen
after word gets out. No one wants to have their
taxes done by a murderer, you know? And those that don’t leave because of
that will probably just say ‘hey, your daddy is dead, and you don’t scare us
anymore.’”
“I don’t think
that’ll happen, Richard. You’re good at what you do and people know
it. You’ll be fine.” I realized that I was promising him a happy
life before I even got last night’s story out of him. I had to know, and
I was tired of stalling. “I want to know about last night, Richard.
What did you do after you got Maddie to bed?”
“Well,” he said with
a sigh as he stared at his toes, “I started towards dad’s room but stopped
before I got to the kitchen. Nona was inside cleaning, I guess. I
realized I had just blown off most of my steam when I told Maddie what I just told you. Plus, I didn’t want to go over it all again with
Nona if she asked me what I was doing up. So, I turned around and came up
the main staircase and back to bed. That was that.” I sat there,
scratching my chin for a moment. Richard’s situation had come to a tidy
abrupt halt last night, and I wondered if I could accept that as the truth.
I decided I would, at least temporarily, and got up. Richard got up
with me and hugged me. I patted his back and then headed for the door.
I stood there, door
knob in hand, thinking about what Richard had just said about how Wilson kept
the people here so long they didn’t want to leave or were too scared to follow
through with it. I was a little confused in the cases of Nona and
Thomas. “Richard? How have the others been living here? Nona, I mean, and Thomas?” Richard smirked.
“I wouldn’t bet
they’ve been very happy at all. Those two and Maddie got the brunt of everything dad had to give. Only Maddie had the guts to give it back to him the last few years. I think he kept
her around because she reminded him of my mother. Whatever the reason for
keeping her, he was constantly threatening to throw Thomas and Nona out on
their asses.”
“Why would either of
them be threatened at all? They’re both adults, and they’ve been here for
a long time. Surely they each have enough money piled away to get places
of their own and start real lives. There must be other people in this
country who need a cook and a butler. Hell, they could work in Donald’s
restaurant as a chef and waiter if they had to, right?”
“I doubt it,
Reevan. As long as dad was around, those two weren’t going
anywhere. He’s blackballed employees before. No, there only chance
was to stay here and keep him as happy as possible until he …”
he trailed off, then looked at his shoes.
How odd? I thought to myself. What could keep two
adults hostage in this glittering prison? What could scare them so much
that they would stay to do a nasty old man’s bidding for the rest of his life?
With that, I
left. I did want to speak with Maddie about
those two right away. I started down the stairs
but only made it two or three steps before I heard Cheryl call my name. I
turned and looked towards her room, which was further down the hall from
Richard’s. I had forgotten all about her and rushed back up, watching her
wiggle her finger. The sooner I was done giving her a shoulder on which to
cry, the sooner I’d get back to Maddie .
I
“So,
what now?”
“Well, I guess we’ll
get our inheritance. He never threatened to screw us over unless we
crossed him. Donald will probably get control of his restaurant.
Cheryl may be able to marry that Norville guy as long
as dad didn’t stipulate that Cheryl only gets her money if she steers clear of
him. Whatever she chooses, she’ll either marry a rich man or become a
very rich single woman. As for me, I honestly don’t know. I would
like to stay here, in this town at least, although who knows what’ll happen
after word gets out. No one wants to have their
taxes done by a murderer, you know? And those that don’t leave because of
that will probably just say ‘hey, your daddy is dead, and you don’t scare us
anymore.’”
“I don’t think
that’ll happen, Richard. You’re good at what you do and people know
it. You’ll be fine.” I realized that I was promising him a happy
life before I even got last night’s story out of him. I had to know, and
I was tired of stalling. “I want to know about last night, Richard.
What did you do after you got Maddie to bed?”
“Well,” he said with
a sigh as he stared at his toes, “I started towards dad’s room but stopped
before I got to the kitchen. Nona was inside cleaning, I guess. I
realized I had just blown off most of my steam when I told Maddie what I just told you. Plus, I didn’t want to go over it all again with
Nona if she asked me what I was doing up. So, I turned around and came up
the main staircase and back to bed. That was that.” I sat there,
scratching my chin for a moment. Richard’s situation had come to a tidy
abrupt halt last night, and I wondered if I could accept that as the truth.
I decided I would, at least temporarily, and got up. Richard got up
with me and hugged me. I patted his back and then headed for the door.
I stood there, door
knob in hand, thinking about what Richard had just said about how Wilson kept
the people here so long they didn’t want to leave or were too scared to follow
through with it. I was a little confused in the cases of Nona and
Thomas. “Richard? How have the others been living here? Nona, I mean, and Thomas?” Richard smirked.
“I wouldn’t bet
they’ve been very happy at all. Those two and Maddie got the brunt of everything dad had to give. Only Maddie had the guts to give it back to him the last few years. I think he kept
her around because she reminded him of my mother. Whatever the reason for
keeping her, he was constantly threatening to throw Thomas and Nona out on
their asses.”
“Why would either of
them be threatened at all? They’re both adults, and they’ve been here for
a long time. Surely they each have enough money piled away to get places
of their own and start real lives. There must be other people in this
country who need a cook and a butler. Hell, they could work in Donald’s
restaurant as a chef and waiter if they had to, right?”
“I doubt it,
Reevan. As long as dad was around, those two weren’t going
anywhere. He’s blackballed employees before. No, there only chance
was to stay here and keep him as happy as possible until he …”
he trailed off, then looked at his shoes.
How odd? I thought to myself. What could keep two
adults hostage in this glittering prison? What could scare them so much
that they would stay to do a nasty old man’s bidding for the rest of his life?
With that, I
left. I did want to speak with Maddie about
those two right away. I started down the stairs
but only made it two or three steps before I heard Cheryl call my name. I
turned and looked towards her room, which was further down the hall from
Richard’s. I had forgotten all about her and rushed back up, watching her
wiggle her finger. The sooner I was done giving her a shoulder on which to
cry, the sooner I’d get back to Maddie .
I
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