The Life: Sacrifice (The Life 3)

“Would you like to tell him, Becky, or should I?”

“Tell him what? I don’t know anything about Greta and her time here. She left just after I started living here unless you forgot.”

“But why? Dad, did you ever wonder why she was in such an all-fired hurry to fire Greta? She’d been here since before I was born. You liked her, so did mom. There was nothing wrong with her work, so why did Becky get rid of her in such a hurry? Go ahead, tell him. It’s because she knew something about you, isn’t it? About what you did to my mom.”

“Shut your mouth; when are you gonna stop lying? Felix, I told you, she makes up stuff just to make me look bad. She’s never liked me being here; you know that. Don’t you remember the way she acted when we first got married? She…”

“I told you to sit down and shut up.”

“Felix!”

“Go on, Gia, what did Greta say?”

“She said she saw you kill my mother.” Becky flew up from her chair and charged at me, but dad got there before her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m not going to sit here and let her lie on me like that.” My heart was back to racing, and I felt sick to my stomach. The sound of the door opening came just in time to save me from passing out.

I’d remembered to leave the door unlocked as he said, and Gabriel and Greta walked in. Two things happened at once; Becky fell back against the chair as if her legs had given out, and dad whispered Greta’s name as if in shock. “Hello, Mr. Fontane, Miss. Gia, nice to see you again.”

“What’s she doing here? With him? Is this another setup you two cooked up? Look here you….”

“Come in Greta, Gia was just telling us a story about the day my wife died. Why don’t you tell me what you have to say?” I couldn’t tell from dad’s dry tone if he believed me or not.

Greta faltered, which is understandable, but Gabriel’s subtle touch on her back seemed to give her the push she needed. I’d geared myself up to hear this again, told myself I could hold it together, but as she started speaking, I felt the need to put my head between my knees.

Her voice grew stronger as she went on with her story, and each time Becky tried to interrupt, all it took was one look from Gabriel to shut her up. “I don’t have to sit here and listen to this….”

“Sit…down.” Dad was fuming. It was the first sign of life he’d shown since Greta started speaking. Becky floundered about a bit, looking green around the gills, and had the situation not been so dire; I might’ve found joy in her discomfort. “Go on, Greta, I’m listening.”

This time Greta didn’t look at Becky before carrying on but instead to Gabriel, who nodded his encouragement. Until now, he’d stuck close to the older woman, but once she got to the actual day leading up to what she swore she’d witnessed, he left her side and crossed the room to mine.

“That day, things were a little lighter around the house than it had been in a while. Ms. Adrienne was almost back to her old self. Not quite, but she seemed more upbeat than in days past since she became so gravely ill. I don’t know what made me come up here at that time. I’d been in the kitchen where I usually stay when company is visiting.”

Here Greta stopped and swallowed hard, her eyes now fixed on the portrait of mom. “I think it might’ve had something to do with the way Ms. Adrienne had started acting around Becky. In the days leading up to it, they’d seemed like friends, same as always. But that morning, Ms. Adrienne asked me a strange question after Becky left the first time. When I thought of it after, I realized that Becky had been a bit upset when she left, before she came back later looking chipper.”

“What did Adrienne ask you?”

“She asked me if I’d noticed anything strange about Becky before. She seemed a bit confused, or so I’d thought at the time. Now, I’m not so sure. I put it off to the medication messing with her head; some days, as you know, were harder than others. I was so caught up in feeling sad about her situation that I missed what was really going on. The guilt has been eating me up inside ever since.”

“Go on. What exactly happened that day?”

“After Becky left that first time, I went up to see if Ms. Adrienne needed anything. She was just sitting up in bed with a frown on her face; that’s when she asked me that question about Becky. I told her honestly that I hadn’t. Truth is, I never really paid much mind to visitors in that way. Only when I noticed that some of the ladies had stopped coming by as often.”