Fade To Midnight by Shannon McKenna Read Free Book Online

tightlipped. “You don’t understand, Edith. By dwelling on that incident, you’re forever flogging it in my face. I can’t get away from it, no matter how I try to put it behind me. His brothers even came to harrass me! They held me responsible for that godawful nightmare! Me, personally! Understand?”
    She gazed at him, baffled. “What do you mean? What on earth? Who, Dad? Whose brothers?”
    He made an impatient gesture. “Don’t play dumb. The brothers of that…that person. The one you saw, in that incident at Flaxon.”
    â€œHe had brothers? They came to see you?” Chills ran down her spine. “You mean, you know who he is? You know where he is?”
    â€œNo! I most certainly do not know anything about him!” her father snapped. “I am sorry for what happened to him, but I assume that he is dead. Osterman hurt a lot of people in his disgusting illicit research, and that unfortunate person was one of them. I unknowingly funded it, Edith. It’s something I have to live with every day of my life! And your ridiculous comic books do not help me!”
    Guilt clutched at her. Her eyes dropped. “I’m sorry.”
    â€œHis brothers thought that I was responsible for what had happened to him,” he went on heatedly. “It put me in a terrible position. What Osterman did to those people was despicable, but I was a victim, too, Edith. And Helix, and the Parrish Foundation. And when I think of what Osterman did to you at the Haven…” His mouth tightened with disgust. “God. Whatever happened there sparked these delusions of yours. If I had any idea what that man truly was, I would never have allowed him near you! I failed to protect you, Edith. I have to live with that, too. And it is not easy for me, believe me.”
    She stared at him, startled and moved. A flash of what seemed like genuine concern for her. Wow. That was rare. And precious.
    Laying aside the fact that the delusions were not delusions, but whatever. Laying aside the fact that she had told her father when she was fourteen that Osterman was crazy and evil, but Charles Parrish was not one to take the word of a depressed, underachieving fourteen-year-old girl over that of a distinguished scientist who was generating profitable patents for Helix. But whatever. Let bygones be bygones.
    She reached out, impulsively, and touched her father’s hand.
    Charles Parrish’s hand twitched, as if he wanted to yank it back and was forcing himself to leave it, by brute effort of will.
    â€œOne of the reasons that I’m retiring is because of that,” he said stiffly. “I want to dedicate myself to administering the funds of the Parrish Foundation in a conscious, ethical way, which involves scrutinizing everything that is done with that money. Nothing will ever slip by me again. I will monitor every single goddamned penny of it.”
    She squeezed his hand. “Good for you, Dad.”
    He harrumphed. “There was something I wanted to ask you. You’re aware, of course, that my retirement reception is in six weeks. I would like you to attend the banquet. Your mother would have liked for you to be there, with Ronnie. To represent the family.”
    Edie wasn’t so sure of that, but saw no profit in saying so. Her mother had been even more embarrassed by her clumsy, unpredictable daughter than her father had. She stared at his handsome, patrician face in the light of the flickering candle. He looked ten years younger than his sixty-four years. Fit, elegant, hair silvering at the temples.
    I’ll come to the reception if you and Ronnie come to the book signing. The suggestion hovered, at the tip of her tongue…and she swallowed it back. She didn’t have that kind of bargaining power. It would just touch off another ugly outburst, and she didn’t have the energy for it.
    Besides. If Ronnie would be at that banquet, that was reason enough to grit