“And you believe that Christopher married beneath him?”
“Oh yes, definitely. I was heart-broken when the two got married. I love them both, but they signed themselves up for a world of heartbreak. It was all very happy in the beginning but look how it turned out. Penelope had a different view of the world and her mother couldn’t see that. She sees the world in a certain way, and she can’t understand any other views.”
“What sort of views?” Allegra asked curiously.
“Well, take a scandal, for example,” Sarah said generously, “Penelope was always thinking ahead. How would her actions affect the family? She knew that if she did something wrong, then her family would suffer. The consequences are much more severe for those in the upper class, my dear. She understood that and tried her best to always put her best foot forward. On the other hand, Violet doesn’t care much for that sort of thing. She was always encouraging Penelope to do rash things. Like that film nonsense, I bet that was one of Violet’s schemes. It frustrated that poor girl and she lashed out.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s alright, I knew it would happen. I always told Violet that the girl was unhinged. Oh well, what can you do when the children don’t listen? They must suffer the consequences.”
“I’m sorry, I still can’t wrap my head around this. Penelope was worried about a scandal, but Violet wasn’t and that’s why they were fighting?”
“Don’t forget the control,” Sarah wagged her finger, “Violet is obsessed with control.”
Chapter Eighteen
Allegra quickly made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. She was so exhausted from her meeting that all she could think about was food and sleep. Thankfully, Red was still in the kitchen by the time she made it downstairs.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Allegra sighed in relief when she sat at the kitchen island. “you won’t believe the day I’ve had.”
“Feeling hungry?” Red asked in amusement. Allegra nodded sadly and Red chuckled as she quickly threw some ingredients together.
“By the way, thank you for that lasagna last night. It was amazing. I need that recipe so that I can try and recreate it at home. I need it, you’ve ruined all other lasagna for me now.”
“That’s good to hear,” Red said with a massive smile. “I just figured you’d need some food after a long day of doing detective work. Wait, what’s the word for that sort of thing. Sleuthing? Detecting? No, wait, detecting. No, wait, investigation. Ah, that’s right. I thought you’d need some extra special food after digging in this family’s dirty laundry.”
“I like that last one better,” Allegra grinned, “because I am digging.”
“I see so. I also see that you just came out of a meeting with the head dragon herself. How are you feeling? You know what, never mind. You look horrible. After this you should really go get some sleep.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Allegra said sarcastically, using her arm as a pillow on the hard marble countertop. She felt unbelievably tired and hoped that she would be able to sleep well that night.
“Any time,” Red told her, putting a dish full of food in front of her.
“Hey,” Allegra said suddenly once she had swallowed some of her food. “What do you think of Sarah, in all seriousness?”
“Whoa, okay,” Red said, looking a little surprised. “I mean, the woman drives me crazy sometimes, she’s a lot to handle. But do I think she could kill someone? No. I don’t think so. She may be cranky most of the time, but she’s a decent person. I know that a little patience goes a long way with her.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Allegra said hurriedly. “I’m not accusing her of anything. I just wonder how she sees things, you know? I hear a lot of things from her, but when I go and dig a little, the exact opposite is true.”
“Oh, okay,” Red nodded in understanding, “I see what you mean. Well, think about it like this. Sarah grew up being told she was a princess. That money and privilege only go to those who are extra special, so she must be extra special. Look at the way she grew up, and how she’s lived her whole life. All of this,” she gestured around her, “isn’t reality. She lives in a pretty bubble of extra special people. It’s only natural that her grasp of reality isn’t going to be so great. The way I see it, Sarah is telling the truth. Only, it’s her version of the truth.”
“That’s what I thought,” Allegra told her, “I’ve met a lot of people like her, but what she tells me is the exact opposite of the truth. In fact, most of what she says sounds a lot like lying. For example, Penny mentioned that she was fighting with someone in the house. A female someone, but she didn’t mention a name. She said that this female someone was controlling and aggravating. Sarah says that it’s obviously Violet because the two had almost nothing in common. The more I talk to Violet, the more she reminds me of Penny, so how can that be true?”
“Okay, so that’s not all the truth,” Red said with a smile. “But there is a lot of truth in there. You see, before Penny went to school, she never fought with anyone. When she did fight, she fought with Violet because she thought Violet could do more to keep the peace. See where Sarah got confused? All that changed when she came back, though.”
“How did she change?”
“The kid was a nightmare. She did a complete one-eighty personality-wise. She was always moping around and snapping at us. Look, I’m not happy she’s dead. I loved her, she was the best out of the lot, but she had her days. Before, she’d never talk back to Sarah, but all of a sudden she was yelling the house down at every opportunity.”
“So, Sarah and Penny were fighting?”
“Penny was fighting with everyone. Her poor mom was beside herself with worry. She kept trying to get Penny to open up, but the more she did that, the more aggravated Penny became. I don’t know who she was talking about, but it is possible that she could’ve been talking about either one of them.”
A change in Penny’s personality made total sense to Allegra. The young woman was dealing with her first serious heartbreak, and she was finding out that her family had been lying about something massive for years. She probably felt alienated and disillusioned with life. Allegra felt sad when she thought about what those last days must’ve been like for Penny.
“Thanks for this,” Allegra said sincerely, “the food was great. And you helped a lot.”
Somewhere between Sarah and Red, Allegra had lost her desire to sleep. She sat in her room staring at the ceiling as she tried to decide what to do. She knew she had to be alert, and to do that she needed sleep. On the other hand, curiosity was eating her alive. It wasn’t much of a choice, and before she knew it she was back on the website, watching the next video load.
“I am learning,” Penny started, “just how wrong one person can be.”
Allegra noticed with a sad pang that Penny was becoming less cheerful with each video installment. Instead of looking like her normal cheery self, she looked sleep-deprived and sad. She leaned her head on her hand as she stared past the camera. Her face was pale, and her hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail, it looked like she hadn’t taken a shower in a few days either.
“I was wrong about Mark. He wasn’t a bad guy, and Ruby didn’t give up on him. I think whoever wrote those articles must’ve had a grudge against him or something. I think I know why, but I don’t want to say it. I might be wrong. There are only two people who could know the truth, and I don’t think I can ask either of them,” Penny said sadly.
“Uncle Henry knows,” Penny sighed, running her hand through her hair. “He’s one of the people, obviously. He’s so nice, I always wondered about him. Right, okay, I should probably tell you about my uncle Henry. Do you remember Margaret? She’s the one who ran away after the war. Anyway, she never made much money, apparently, she and her husband struggled for years. She had a daughter, who got pregnant very young. My grandmother’s mom, Lillian. She was Margaret’s sister. Anyway, she felt sorry for Margaret and decided to adopt Mar
garet’s grandson to ease the financial burden.
“How nice of her, right? That was the last thing she did, because Lillian died a year after Ruby disappeared. By this time, my grandmother had married Lawrence and they decided to take Henry in. Don’t worry, they never stopped reminding him about who he is. Henry and my father grew up like brothers, you know, if one brother was treated better than the other. So, Henry’s always been around. He’s a wonderful man. I wish he could’ve left here and gotten married. He was the only one of us who could’ve gotten away.
“Look, you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about Henry so much. Don’t worry, it’s important. You see, Henry never knew Ruby, but he knows a lot more about her than anyone else, except for my grandmother. I thought I could talk to him about what I found out, but he doesn’t want to talk. He keeps hiding or pretending to be busy. I don’t know how to make him listen to me. This is very important. Henry knows the truth. I just need to get him to tell me.”
The video ended with Penny’s frustrated face turning away from the camera. Allegra pressed back and saw that she only had one more video to go, but that it was busy loading. She looked down in confusion and cursed out loud when she saw that the internet was out. She sighed in frustration and lay back, hoping to get to sleep. After about ten minutes, she threw the covers aside in frustration and made her way downstairs.
She was surprised to hear the sound of people talking in the living room. She peeked around the corner to see the Kinsleigh men sitting around and drinking whiskey.
“Allegra?” Tyler called when he saw her.
“Oh,” Christopher said in surprise, “hello.”
She smiled awkwardly at them and looked over to Henry, who raised his glass in recognition and nodded his head at her. She nodded back and cracked her knuckles, unsure of what to say.
“Is something wrong?” Tyler asked worriedly.
“Oh, uh…” she trailed off, feeling a little shy. “It’s the internet. It’s down, for some reason.”
“That’s just great,” Christopher sighed, “I need to work after this. It can’t be down. Hold on, I’ll call the company and ask what’s going on. It’s outrageous, I pay enough every month to be able to use it. I’m sorry about that.”
“No,” Allegra said hurriedly, “I don’t mind. It can wait until tomorrow.”
“I disagree,” Christopher told her, “you’re doing very important work. Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” He was out of the room before anyone could protest and Allegra heard him start talking into his phone almost immediately.
“Dad,” Tyler called, groaning impatiently, “don’t yell at the people. You probably just need to switch it off and on again. Sorry, excuse me. He always does this, and those poor people always end up sending someone out.” He trailed after his father with a long-suffering expression on his face.
“Is it always like this?” she asked Henry with a bewildered expression on her face.
“At least once a week,” Henry shrugged, “but we don’t usually drink. I think you can imagine why we’re breaking the rules around here. Don’t tell Sarah.”
“My lips are sealed,” she promised solemnly.
“May I get you a drink?” he asked when he noticed her looking around awkwardly.
“Oh,” she said in surprise, “that would be great. I think it could help me get to sleep.”
“Not sleeping well?” he asked politely.
“No,” she admitted with a sad smile. “I’m watching her video diary, it doesn’t really help me get to sleep.”
“I can’t imagine it would,” Henry said seriously, handing her a glass of whiskey.
“You know, she talked about you.”
“She did?” Henry said in surprise. “The two of us weren’t all that close. I think I was very boring to a young girl like that. All I ever do is work and talk about work. I don’t think she liked talking about business all that much.”
“You’re right,” Allegra said after sipping her drink, “she wasn’t. She wanted to become a filmmaker.”
“Films, eh?” he asked, nodding slowly, “That sounds about right. She always had a flair for the dramatic.”
“I’m surprised you saw that,” Allegra told him honestly, “everyone else, except Violet, is convinced that she’d never leave the family business. They see it as an act of treason.”
“This family is remarkably dense,” he said with a wry smile.
“In any case,” Allegra continued diligently, “she says that she wanted to ask you something. Did she ever get around to doing that?”
Henry lowered his glass when she spoke and looked over at her thoughtfully. Allegra found herself at the end of one of the most layered looks she had ever gotten. Henry was quiet and awkward, but he had a lot going on inside his head.
“I told her not to poke around in this sort of thing. And I’m going to tell you the same thing.”
Before she could blink, he was out the door.
Chapter Nineteen
“See,” Tyler told his father as they walked back into the living room, “there was no need to call the people. The internet is back and now they’re sending someone else to check on something that isn’t a problem anymore.”
“Well,” his father sniffed, “what am I going to do about that?”
“Call them and tell them that the problem has been fixed.”
“It hasn’t,” his father protested, “it’s always doing that. Wait, where did Henry go?”
The two men turned to Allegra with puzzled expressions. She shrugged innocently and sipped her drink, now that the internet was back on, she could go back to the room and watch the final video.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tyler told her, “he’s very awkward around people he doesn’t know. You probably just scared him back into his office.”
“I’m sorry about that,” she said sincerely, “anyway, I have to get back to it. Thank you so much for helping with the internet.”
“Hold on,” Christopher said quickly. “I haven’t spoken to you much since you got here. How is the investigation going? I have no doubt that my mother knows everything before I do, but I prefer to hear it from you.”
“Oh,” she said in surprise, it didn’t take long to update him about the progress of the case, without a few key details. Christopher was much better at listening than Sarah was, and she was able to finish her story without any interruptions. Once she was finished, the three of them sat in silence while Christopher and Tyler digested the information she had given them.
Allegra looked around her, taking note of all the lavish furniture. She briefly wondered where they got it all. Did they buy it all at once or did they slowly build up a collection as time passed? She wished that she could just get up and leave. Everything inside her itched with curiosity as she wondered what the final video held. The video wasn’t very long, and Allegra doubted that Penny would name her killer, but it still felt like the case was finally coming to a head and she had to hear the final clue from Penny’s lips.
“And you’re telling me that Penny wanted to become a filmmaker?” Christopher asked with a faint smile.
“Preposterous, isn’t it?” Tyler asked with a grin.
“No,” Christopher nodded slowly, “I always thought she wanted to do something different. I was always waiting for her to tell me, but she never did. I wish she would’ve told me, then I could’ve told her how proud I am.”
“Proud?” Tyler scoffed, “what she was doing was wrong. She never would’ve done it. She belonged at the business with us. I think it would’ve been better for us to help her through this difficult time. She was so strange during her last days, always fighting with everyone. Now I know why. She was so confused. We should’ve known better.”
“Oh please,” Christopher said seriously, “I doubt she was that confused. She probably broke up with a boyfriend or something. No girl is going to fight with you about something like that.”
“How could you underestimate her l
oyalty like that? She wouldn’t abandon us. I know she wanted to follow us into the business. We always spoke about it when we were younger.”
“Tyler,” Christopher said tiredly, “you’re making a big deal out of nothing. We didn’t need her at the company. It would’ve been great if that’s what she wanted, but it wasn’t. There’s more than enough of us to make sure that the business is thriving, honestly, it’s a little crowded there as it is.”
“Unbelievable,” Tyler muttered under his breath, swirling his drink in one hand while he glared at a point on the wall. Christopher sighed and shook his head at his son’s antics.
“How’s her video diary? Is it any good?”
“She was trying to make a documentary,” Allegra admitted, “she found Ruby’s diary and wanted to show what really happened to her.”
“Good for her,” Christopher said with a proud smile, “I never even wondered about Ruby, no one told us about her. Then Penny comes along and finds everything out anyway. She was tenacious. She would’ve been a wonderful filmmaker.”
“You can’t be serious,” Tyler burst, glaring at his father. “That’s a horrible thing to do. Look what happened to her. It’s like you don’t care about her at all.”
“Excuse me?” Christopher asked dangerously, his eyes sparking angrily. “How dare you?”
“You don’t care that she was lost. You don’t care that she lost her life because of it. You’re just trying to look like father of the year. Penelope was lost. She was confused, and she was scared. Instead of helping her, we ignored her and look what happened. All of this is trash, it was a cry for help and we didn’t see it.”
“She was doing what made her happy,” Christopher said angrily. “I hate that she’s gone. It hurts more every second, but at least I can take comfort that she was finally living for herself. She spent most of her life trying to make everyone else happy, and I hate it.”
A Vicious Cycle Page 12