24. A Warning

Karl was as punctual as ever. He said he would come by at 8:00, and at 7:55 the phone rang with a call from the gatehouse saying that Mr. Petersen would like to see her. She had him shown into the study. He looked tired and a little guilty. Lucia though he should, after what he had tried to pull on her.

Remaining seated behind the desk, she nodded to a tray with a decanter on a side table. "Why don't you pour yourself a drink, Karl? You look as though you could use it."

"Yeah I could, Lucy," he said with a tight little smile. He made himself a double.

"How was Vrijland?"

"Boring and provincial." Karl smiled wryly.

"But wasn't it a little frightening?" Lucia feigned sincerity, "with the riots and all…"

"Oh, that." Karl sank into the chair positioned facing the desk, putting his drink on an adjacent table. "We're the rescue team; it was nothing we couldn't handle, the Minister and I. You needn't have worried."

He was smugly smiling. Lucia wanted to wipe that lying smile from his face. "How was my Aunt Mildred?"

"Who?"

"My Great Aunt Mildred. You know; the one you called who was supposed to come down and be with me Tuesday." He looked a little confused.

She continued, "Except of course for the fact that she went into the hospital for elective surgery on Monday." Lucia had gotten up from the desk and came around to approach him. "OK, maybe that wasn't you. Maybe I should ask you about the Examiner's Society Editor." Bingo. He blanched and took a gulp from his glass.

"You guys must think I'm stupid not to see through that ridiculous display." Now she let fly, using the unfortunate Karl to vent her frustration. "That prop wasn't meant for Aunt Millie or anybody on Tuesday. That was meant for the press on Wednesday, after Dewalt. To show how unconcerned the Minister was about Groesbeck's reelection. Don't you think it was a bit of overkill to add that Father was 'Happy'?"

"Lucy, I-"

She wanted to finish, "Must've galled you they didn't show. Nice save with that interview in Friday's paper, though, all that 'We must all pull together, Loyalist and Opposition' garbage. Really though, did Father have to run all the way to Vrijland?"

"Lucy, I didn't come here to talk about Dewalt, or Groesbeck for that matter." Karl stood up grimly, to face her. "Can you honestly say they didn't deserve what they got? I came here to talk about you."

That caught her off guard, and she stepped back from him a little.

"I wanted to ask you not to take on those district elections." He appeared to be speaking with absolute earnestness.

"You're too late. I already have. Maybe if Father had told me in the first place how much he wanted Groesbeck out, all of this wouldn't have had to happen!" She knew that sounded childish and truculent, but she was hurt and angry. Why hadn't anyone bothered to talk to her? Why were they trying to fool her with lies? Karl she might expect, but Father?

Karl put his glass down and walked up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You're not a little girl anymore Lucy. You're playing big time now. You can't just stamp your foot or flash a smile and get your way."

She pulled away from his grasp. "Don't patronize me."

At that he sighed, "Well, no one could ever tell you what to do. At least I'll be able to still look my sister in the face."

She didn't know what to make of this new "sincere" Karl, but she knew she really didn't like his implications. That was beneath even him. "Oh, just go Karl. Don't you have some skullduggery you should be doing somewhere?"

He put on his familiar charming dishonest smile then, but his grass green eyes were almost wistful, "Good bye, Lucia."

She knew there was something odd about that response, but it wouldn't be until the next morning when she would realize, that just as he had done when they were younger and he was idealistically beginning his work with her father, when he had been speaking about something he actually believed in, and hadn't been trying to deceive her… he had called her by her real name.