Embracing Darkness (48 page)

Willoughby
came
back
just
then,
and
Henrietta
put
away
her
mirror.
Before
he
sat
down
again,
Willoughby
snapped
his
fingers
and
said
that
he’d
taken
a
Social
Security
W-2
Form
by
mistake.
During
the
interview,
you
see,
Miss
Townsend
had
asked
whether
Mr.
Willoughby
could
forego
all
the
unnecessary
paperwork
and
pay
her
off
the
books,
citing
that
it
would
be
in
both
their
interests.
They’d
both
save
considerable
money,
she
on
deductions
and
he
on
holiday
pay,
benefits,
and
monthly
employment
taxes.

After
Graham
Willoughby
left
once
again,
Henrietta
went
for
her
compact
mirror.
Cornelius
knew
that
he
somehow
needed
to
draw
her
attention
to
the
floor.
He
looked
behind
him
and
saw
under
his
own
desk
a
yard
stick
that
he
used
when
showing
properties.
He
slowly
grabbed
the
stick
and
began
to
inch
it
closer
to
Henrietta’s
foot.
He
then
raised
it
up
and
ever
so
gently
stroked
her
left
leg
with
it.
When
she
jerked,
Cornelius
pulled
the
yard
stick
away.
As
he
waited
for
her
to
spot
the
five
dollars,
however,
he
noticed
that
the
money
was
no
longer
there.

“She
must
have
swiped
it
when
I
went
for
the
yard
stick,”
he
said
to
himself.

Just
then
Henrietta
shifted
from
one
buttock
to
the
other
and,
as
she
did
so,
opened
her
legs.
She
pulled
up
her
dress,
stuck
her
hand
inside,
and
again
shifted
between
buttocks.
It
was
at
that
precise
moment
that
Cornelius
Russo
learned
just
how
much
of
a
bullshit
artist
Henrietta
Townsend
was.

When
he
heard
the
clapping
of
the
audience,
Cornelius’s
attention
was
brought
back
to
the
spelling
bee.
Four
contestants
remained
on
stage,
and
the
word
now
was
“soliloquy.”
Cornelius’s
mind
immediately
went
back
to
that
desk
in
the
Willoughby
Real
Estate
office
just
weeks
before
when
he
had
seen
something
he
wished
he
hadn’t,
but
once
he
did
it
had
become
clear
to
him
what
he
must
do.
He
had
to
expose
Henrietta
Townsend
for
what
she
was
 . . .
and
for
what
she
wasn’t.

Cornelius
Russo
had
seen
the
business
between
Henrietta’s
legs.
She
had
all
the
wrong
plumbing.
She
had
what
Cornelius
had,
and
that
made
him
sick
to
his
stomach,
so
much
so
that
he
wanted
to
throw
up.

The boys all began reacting to this part of my story, all except Ziggy, who didn’t understand what I was talking about and who had been only half listening to the story in the first place. Sitting on Billy Norwin’s lap, he had the side of his head pressed against Billy’s chest. The others let out moans and made gagging sounds as they began to visualize Cornelius Russo’s discovery.

“That’s friggin’ gross!” said Jordan.

“Keep going!” urged Gabe, sounding as excited as I’d ever heard him.

“So what did Cornelius do?” asked Lou.

“I’m gettin’ to all that,” I said, and resumed my reading.

Cornelius
Russo
peered
above
the
desk
just
in
time
to
see
Henrietta
Townsend
remove
one
of
her
“breasts.”
It
was
a
small
red
balloon
blown
up
maybe
halfway.
Henrietta
stuck
her
free
hand
down
to
her
chest
and
stroked
the
area
where
the
balloon
had
been.
Just
after
she
had
put
the
balloon
back
in
place,
Willoughby
emerged
from
the
back
room,
announcing
“Here
we
are!”

The
spelling
bee’s
audience
gave
a
collective
“A
wwwww
”
as
ten-year-old
Mabel
Irving
was
disqualified
for
misspelling
the
word
“capricious”.
The
host,
Cleveland
Elementary
School
Principal
Sammy
Eldridge,
sighed
along
with
the
audience
and
said,
“I’m
sorry,
Mabel.
That’s
incorrect.
Please
have
a
seat
beside
your
mommy
and
daddy.”

Cornelius
Russo
had
his
reasons
for
wanting
to
expose
Henrietta
Townsend
as
an
impostor.
In
the
few
months
of
her
employment
Henrietta
had
stolen
more
than
sixteen
sales
from
Cornelius,
beginning
with
an
old
house
that
a
Mr.
Casper
Bundy
wanted
to
turn
into
a
restaurant.
She
often
pulled
such
chicanery
by
intercepting
Cornelius’s
telephone
calls
while
he
was
away
from
his
desk
or
by
imposing
on
his
clients.
Before
long
Mr.
Willoughby
announced
that
Henrietta
Townsend
was
the
company’s
leading
agent
for
that
month,
and
he
put
her
picture
up
on
the
bulletin
board
along
with
a
list
of
the
sales
she
had
closed.

Cornelius
Russo
swore
revenge,
and
for
weeks
he
pondered
how
he
was
going
to
achieve
it.
He
thought
better
about
approaching
Mr.
Willoughby
directly,
knowing
it
would
be
the
wrong
move.
The
boss,
who
was
all
too
smitten
with
Miss
Townsend,
would
have
accused
Cornelius
of
wanting
a
good
look
at
the
girl’s
slender
legs.
Cornelius
even
played
the
scenario
out
in
his
head.