Secrets from the grave

Jojo was gone this morning when I got up, he had done this for a few days and this was becoming a trend I didn’t really like as I would have liked to have been able to see him off in the morning. He was very preoccupied with him and Royce burning the wires constantly trying to make arrangements for their new trip away and Jojo had already warned me that he had to follow the circuit for a bit since Gervais had yanked him and Royce back in the middle of one, they had a lot of lost ground to catch up on.

It was probably a good thing that Jojo was not around because today Maritka and I decided to go through Mother’s things and decide what to do with them. I had closed the door to her room after the funeral and not opened it again but Maritka told me I had to work out what I wanted to do as I could not seal up her room indefinitely. I really didn’t know what you did with people’s things after they died and waited for Maritka to give me a clue but she remained unusually silent leaving me to sort out my life. After watching me stand in the middle of Mother’s room doing nothing she relented and entered into the bedroom to open up the curtains letting the light shine on the remnants of a life.

The room seemed strange without Mother in it for now it seemed to lack colour and meaning, everything looked faded and sad. I walked into her wardrobe, a place I had never really paid much attention to as I never considered most of her fashions worth borrowing and discovered that she had methodically packed everything away carefully. Winter clothes were in winter packaging, summer clothes were hung in protective bags and more evening gowns than I recall her owning as I could not recall her buying one recently. They lined her cupboard glittering under the lights and I felt like an interloper touching things that were none of my business. Maritka seeing my reluctance to do anything told me to make a pile of things to keep, the things that I treasured, things that reminded me of her so I went through her trinket box, her ornaments and made a pile of the things I had loved as a kid.

I opened one cupboard door and to my surprise I saw that she had carefully packed away every single thing I had done or made in my childhood. I sat on the floor for hours looking at pictures of me when I was young, in little dresses with ribbons in my hair, attending my first party, my first dance recital, a whole array of my first moments, all happy moments, and my happy childhood. My entire life I had thought Mother was detached from the world, detached from me, but here she was, carefully documenting my life with meticulous attention and a terrible pain went through me for I could not tell her I love her or thank her for the wonderful childhood she so carefully gave me.

I went to clear up her secretary and discovered to my horror and unfinished letter to Liselle Dubois of all things and I carefully read through the fragment of a letter. I was not too sure about what she was writing about however it seemed that she and Liselle knew something that required they keep Gervais in check. She also expressed her dislike over his interest in me and told her to keep him away which was shock as I had never heard Mother raise her voice much less tell someone so directly what to do and I put the letter aside deciding to chase it up later.

I tried to open the safe but couldn’t get it to work so an impatient Maritka pushed me aside and had it open in seconds, so much for security in this house! The first thing I took out was a lovely gold dragon with emeralds all down its back, fiery ruby eyes and I handed it over to an admiring Maritka saying I wanted her to have it. She fussed saying it was far too valuable but I told her that I knew that Mother would have loved her to have it and I wanted to respect her wishes. I saw tears in her eyes for the first time and realised that she had not lost an employer but a friend and memories came flooding back to me of them on the terrace laughing at local gossip or Maritka scowling when the offending men were mentioned.

I was in the middle of organising the wealth of clothes when my puzzled accountant rang me saying he had left several messages for Jojo and Royce to come speak to him about the paperwork yet neither had turned up. I told him they were very busy making plans for a new tour which made him even more confused adding that without funding they really couldn’t so anything and without coming over to speak to him funding could not be arranged. I told him I would speak to Jojo when he got home and hung up just as confused as he was for Jojo and Royce really needed to sort out how they dealt with business if they could not manage to even get the money aspect under way.

I sorted through the cupboard as best as I could and then when it got dark went downstairs to help Maritka with dinner. My mind was a bit preoccupied with memories of Mother and it was not until I was setting the table for dinner that I realised that Jojo had been strange for days. I sat in Mother’s drawing room waiting for him to return while pondering the mysterious letter to Liselle Dubois I was curious as to just what was the secret that needed Gervais to be kept in line? Maybe it’s time for me to know a few secrets of his since he is so busy knowing the secrets of everyone else as Gervais and I were far from finished and if this turned out to be ammunition then I planned to use it anyway I could.

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