Page 4 of The Sicilian's Obsession
Arturo
This woman was certifiable. That's harsh. Let's just say I didn't quite understand her. I'd been watching her for the past hour. She went back and forth to the closet in the hall, carrying one item at a time. Then she lined them up on the kitchen counter just so. But then she grew agitated, pacing and muttering to herself as she looked through the entire house for something. When I'd finally had enough and asked her what she was looking for, she said gloves.Gloves.Why not just buy some more? Why is she cleaning at all? I did preliminary research on the Sweets, and they aren't hurting for money. That, plus what her father is paying me… she could stay home if she wanted to. Now, Katima was in her own little world, scrubbing the kitchen from top to bottom, even though it was already clean. Why didn't she clean her room if she wanted something to clean so badly? I had more questions than answers at this point. Her phone was ringing in the distance, but she was ignoring it for some reason. After the fifth time, it cut off abruptly. Then my phone rang. I grabbed it off the coffee table, not taking my eyes off a very harried Katima.
I answered without looking, "Hello?"
"Cruz, where is my daughter?" I checked the caller ID and saw that it was Mr. Sweets.
"In front of me, cleaning, sir." There was a pause followed by a muffledfuckin the background.
"Do me a favor. Walk into the kitchen but don't step foot onto the tiles, and put me on speaker." What an odd request. Then again, this was an odd family.
"Sir?" Not that I was going to defy my orders, but I needed clarification.
His gruff demeanor cracked, "Please." I followed his instructions and held the phone as close to her as I could.
Her father called, "Pumpkin." She kept pacing, but the muttering increased.
He barked, "Katima!" She froze and stopped mumbling to herself. "Did you fire the housekeeper again?" My eyebrows rose in surprise. Why would a rich princess fire the maid and then do the work herself?
"Daddy?" Katima seemed to be coming out of a trance.
"Sweety, you promised you wouldn't do this again." Her father was pleading, for what, I wasn't sure.
"It's so dirty, Daddy, and she hid my gloves. Plus, she doesn't do it as well as I do. She's lazy." Katima's voice was small and childlike.
"How about I make you a deal, sweetheart?" He paused, allowing her to think it over. Fascinating.
Katima looked at the phone suspiciously. "What kind of deal?"
"You stop firing the housekeeper, and I'll tell her your room and the kitchen are off limits." Katima didn't respond and he sighed. "Kat, you know you can't keep up with all of it. Are you planning on taking a leave of absence from the company?" My eyes shot to Katima's face, which was scrunched up.
She answered, "No."
"Then let's try it my way. We don't want a repeat of… before." I had a feeling her dad was holding back information on me.
"Okay, Daddy." Katima turned away, getting back to her cleaning. I took her father off speakerphone.
"Anything else, sir?" I wasn't sure if he was going to be up front with me at all.
"Look, there is a lot no one knows about my daughter. I want to keep it that way. I'm sending an NDA your way. If you sign it, I'll answer any questions you have, to the best of my ability." I figured that was the best I was going to get and got off the phone with Mr. Sweets. Surveillance was boring. Katima cleaned the kitchen for three hours, and I just sat and watched. Clearly, this was a coping mechanism for her. I just wasn't seeing the catalyst. What had set her off? If I could figure that out, maybe I could figure her out. My initial assessment and prejudices were incorrect. I wanted to know everything about her. Watching was the best way to do that.
