The Gemini Age: Book One

[11-1] Ensnared - Part One

    Relief sounded like the click of porch door locks after what seemed like a day's worth of hushed pacing on hard flooring. Penelope had shown the police officers to the door as they left and had yet to sit down again since, her body flinching at the sight of any of the legions of comfortable seats positioned around her home. The wheels of the automated vacuum cleaner whirred through the house, and the small robot lingered in the corner of her eye for so long that she began to wonder if it was somehow monitoring her behaviour. Such a function was well within her father's expertise to develop, and after her brief but brutal lecture from Fiona, Penelope doubted she knew anything about her father's recent activities at all. He told her nothing.

    His associates were an even greater mystery to her, a fact that made their proximity to the disappearance of Councillor Wanyama at once inconceivable and believable. They appeared to be the usual elite types her father had mingled with throughout her life, wealthy and boring, yet none had ever bothered to divulge anything of their lifestyles to her. Byron Farron had barely uttered a syllable in her presence, and her father insisted his silence meant he was a man of few words and mighty actions. Penelope fingered the pages of the book she carried. Kidnapping a public figure was as mighty an action as any, and those of few words were best equipped to pull it off. Her father would be hopeless at kidnapping on his own.

    The front doors opened as Penelope completed yet another anxious circuit of the house, and the lead weight left by the detectives slipped from her shoulders to drag along the floor. "Ask the right questions, and don't ask too many at once," she muttered to herself. Fiona's parting advice had sounded much more compelling from the detective's own lips. Penelope repeated the words again, then cleared her throat at the first sign of her father. "Hello, Father," she began, fretting that her tone was too forceful, or too nervous, or too saccharine, or somehow all three at once. Her father's lack of visible response reassured her she had not yet put a foot wrong. "Back already? You must have a busy day ahead."

    Philemon removed his pale-yellow tie, bunched it in his hand, and slipped his suit jacket off as he shut the door behind him. He removed his phone from the inner pocket of his jacket, swiping over its screen with a tense brow. "I'm afraid so, sweetheart. The technicians ran into a few difficulties with some of the demonstrations, and we ended up overrunning by...goodness, twenty minutes! I've got a house call to make by the turn of the hour!" An automated basket rolled into the entrance hall, and Philemon folded his jacket before dropping it into the half-full container. With the brief glance down she managed, Penelope counted five other jackets besides the latest addition, despite her doing the laundry a couple of days ago. Like a lizard, Philemon returned home to shed his skin. "I'm sorry, dear. This meeting absolutely cannot wait, it's important business."

    The laundry hamper made its slow exit from the entrance hall, watched by Penelope every inch of the way. "I imagine it's very important indeed, if it keeps you away from your family for so much of the day." She let a small gasp of fear slip past her lips as her father paused in his strides to the main staircase, yet after a quick adjustment of his cufflinks he resumed his determined gait with a pace Penelope strove to match. "What is this business exactly? May I be of any assistance to you?"

    Despite imagining and planning every aspect of the home he had lived in for nearly a year, Philemon still had to shield his eyes from the sudden burst of LED light that greeted his first step on the upstairs landing. "I appreciate the offer as always, Penelope, but I'd rather not bore you to tears as we ageing men discuss the minute particulars of business. It's very important, and very dry because of it. No, your time would be better spent staying here and continuing your studies." Disappearing behind his bedroom door, Philemon cursed under his breath as he searched for the proper jacket to wear.