THE DEEP END
Page 26
It was waiting for me. Poison in a manila wrapper.
I stood there in my underwear and stared at it.
Quite of their own volition, my fingers closed on the envelope. My nail slipped under the flap.
I had to know.
I couldn’t go through the rest of my life not knowing. What if it was something inconsequential—a deliberate miscounting on a golf scorecard, a careless mistake on his taxes? I’d have put myself through hell for nothing.
I opened the envelope. Reached inside. Pulled out a picture of a blonde woman. She wore a blindfold, handcuffs, stockings, stilettos, and not much else.
Oh. Dear. Lord.
My stomach turned. Twice.
It was a good thing Henry was dead because if he still breathed I would have had to kill him. How could he? One time, to please him, I’d donned the ridiculous outfit and let him tie me and blindfold me. One time and he’d taken pictures and extorted money from Daddy.
Embarrassment swamped me. It left me drowning in a bottomless pool of shame. My father had seen those pictures. What he must think of me. I was so appalled I could hardly breathe. I sat on the edge of the bed, clutched my stomach and rocked.
I don’t know how long I sat there. Long enough to plan an escape wherein I never had to look him in the eye again. I mapped out an itinerary of Europe and Asia and Australia. I sat long enough to have two tiny thoughts that made the whole thing bearable.
Daddy loved me enough to pretend he hadn’t seen the pictures. Maybe we could keep pretending. We could pretend for the rest of our lives.
More importantly, Daddy hadn’t done anything worthy of blackmail.
Henry really was a worm. I’d been right about that. And I’d been wrong. A girl could count on her father after all.
Maybe she could count on another man as well. When I got back from Europe, I’d call him and find out.
About the Author
Julie Mulhern is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean—and she’s got an active imagination. Truth is—she’s an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. She is a 2014 Golden Heart® Finalist. The Deep End is her first mystery and is the winner of The Sheila Award.
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