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Tess
“Just call upstairs,” I tell the guard at the Green Mansion gate. “I’m sure it’s a mistake.”
There’s pity and an apology in his eyes, but his voice is firm. “No mistake. I got the call about half an hour ago. Your credentials have been revoked and you’re no longer allowed on the property.”
When I swallow there’s a sour knot in my throat. I expected my father to be angry. But he’s still my father. He wouldn’t humiliate me like this.
Besides, he’s nothing if not pragmatic. It’s in his best interest to stay on my good side, given that I know a few things he wouldn’t want to go public.
The gate guard watches me with some uneasiness. I try not to glare at him. He’s just doing what he’s told.
Even when I turn around I still feel his eyes on me while I make a call.
There’s nothing, not even a ring tone on the other end when I dial my father’s phone. Just a message saying the call will go straight to automated voicemail.
I try texting.Dad. What’s going on?
Chewing my thumbnail, I watch as the text is suspended briefly in the cellular ether.
And then shows as ‘Not Delivered’.
No, I refuse to believe that my father would actuallyblock my number.
Scrolling through my contacts, I locate the main number of the Green Mansion and ask to be connected to Katie Upshaw. Her office is right across from mine. Now and then we have lunch together. I would say we’re friends.
“Tess.” Her voice is cold. “I have no comment.”
“I’m not a reporter, Katie. Why the hell am I being stopped at the gates like a trespassing criminal?”
“I have no comment,” she repeats. Like a robot. Then a shuffling of papers and a low hiss of breath. “Go home.”
“What do you meango home? Where the hell is my father? I need to talk to him.”
“Tess, go home right now.” The words are nearly inaudible.
The connection breaks off suddenly.
I doubt it will do me any good to call back.
The guard is still watching me and pretending like he isn’t. He averts his eyes when I stare.
Uneasiness grinds into a sharper disturbance.
“Go home.”
Katie wasn’t just telling me to leave. She was giving me a message.
With one last perplexed look at the forbidding Green Mansion, I imagine my father watching from one of the many arched windows.
The dread in my gut is difficult to reckon with on the drive back to West Emerald. By now, I’m not naïve enough to believe this is a misunderstanding.
I’ve been excommunicated from the Green Mansion.
My father has blocked my phone number.
While waiting for a West Emerald traffic light to change, I tell myself it’s not like my father to be so underhanded, especially not to me.
Then I remember Dr. Spigato and I’m not sure of anything.
