859 P.M. — Thursday, September 13
PETRA
“My darling, why don’t you go put your feet up and watch TV?” Henrik said to his wife as soon as Vita, Tomislav, and the children had left. “Petra and I can take care of the dishes.”
Hermina gave him a grateful smile while Petra’s nose wrinkled up at her father.
“Are you sure?” Hermina asked.
“Yes, you’ve been on your feet all day making that beautiful meal,” he said, ushering her into her armchair. He’d been doing this more often since he retired — finding little thoughtful ways to show his wife he appreciated her. “Now, you relax and we’ll take care of everything.”
“I’m really quite tired myself,” Petra said. “Long day with the big case and all.”
“But at least you were at a desk,” Henrik answered, handing her mother the remote control. “Come on. If we work together, it’ll be nothing. Besides, I need to have a talk with you.”
Petra’s heart beat a little faster as she followed him to the kitchen.
She tried to see if she could detect any signs that he was upset with her.
Other than that one hard look he gave her when she first got home, he seemed fine.
He plugged the sink, squirted in some soap, and turned on the hot water.
Then Henrik rolled up the sleeves of his cream-colored, button-down shirt while he waited for the sink to fill.
Petra loaded as many bowls and plates as she could fit in the dishwasher while her father dropped the ladle, the bread knife, and the cutting board into the water.
He plunged his hands in and got to work on the ladle. “Petra, have I been a good father?”
“What?” she asked, completely taken off guard.
He rinsed the ladle and handed it to her to dry. “Have I been a good father to you? Did I give you what you needed as a child? Did I encourage you enough?”
“Where is this coming from?” she asked, feeling genuinely scared.
“Just answer the question,” he said, wiping the knife with the sponge. “Please.”
“Of course you have. You worked long hours, but when you were home, you were always good to us.”
“I’m glad,” he answered, handing her the knife. After a moment, he said, “And when I got you your job, did you… feel like I was pressuring you to take it?”
“No. I was grateful. Where is all this—”
“Good. That’s good. I would hate to think that any of this was my fault.”
In the background, she could hear the sounds of her mom’s favorite show, Ljubav je na selu.
It was a reality show about lonely farmers who need to find love, and she found herself wishing she was one of the hopeful women on the TV instead of being who she was—a woman who had been used and tossed aside, and who had made what could turn out to be the worst mistake of her life.
Her throat felt scratchy and her stomach heavy. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do,” Henrik said, rinsing the cutting board. He busied himself emptying the rest of the fish stew into a plastic container for their lunch tomorrow.
He knew. He must have found out what she did.
Petra held the damp cutting board to her chest, feeling feverish.
Her stomach roiled and she felt tears prick the backs of her eyes.
She didn’t have the first clue what to say, and she felt a desperate urge to call Luka and ask him for advice, only she couldn’t do that, could she?
She forced her mind to think of some way out of this, only to come up blank.
Finally, when she hadn’t said anything for two long minutes, her father said, “Have you gotten yourself into some type of money trouble?”
“What? Of course not. Why would you ask me that?”
“Please, Petra, don’t insult me. Don’t lie. I already know what you did.”
Her gaze landed on the empty bottle of wine and she felt instantly furious at it.
That damn wine. If she hadn’t drank so much, she would never have called that tabloid TV show.
She never would’ve sneaked up to her room after she hung up to upload the files from the USB stick and send them to that producer who took her call.
But she had drank the wine. Just like she’d let herself believe Luka could love her.
“What did I do, tata? What? But try to get myself out of this…this life I’m stuck in.
I’m just a pathetic middle-aged woman who lives with her parents and no one respects. ”
He opened his mouth, but she shook her head and continued.
“Don’t try to deny it. I’m nothing at that office, tata.
Nothing. And I’m a joke to this family. And I have nothing of my own.
I sleep in the same little bedroom I’ve slept in since I was a baby.
I have no one who loves me, who sees anything worth loving when they look at me. ”
“But, Petra, even if you felt this way, this isn’t how you go about changing your life. Stealing secrets and selling them won’t make any man love you. You betrayed your boss. My good friend. And to risk prison time? It’s like you’ve gone mad.”
Her head snapped back. “Prison time?”
“Interfering with an ongoing investigation is a crime.”
“I didn’t interfere,” Petra said, her voice growing louder.
Henrik’s voice matched hers. “Yes, you absolutely did.”
She was trapped, so she did the only thing she knew. She fought. “What does it matter?! It’ll all come out in a couple of days.”
“I heard you on the phone this evening. You gave them everything.”
“Again, it’ll all come out soon. Probably by morning. If it wasn’t me, some cop would make the money.”
Henrik sighed heavily, suddenly looking much older than his seventy-one years of age. “Petra, Petra, Petra,” he whispered, shaking his head. “You stupid, silly child. You really don’t understand what you’ve done.”
A wave of desperation crashed over her, making her knees feel weak. “I’ve done nothing. It’s fine. No one needs to know.”
“But people do know,” he answered. “I got a call from Dominik just before you got home. You used his login to access the case file. I didn’t want to believe it. I told him that you must have had a good reason to do that. I begged him not to fire you until I had a chance to talk to you.”
Petra’s pulse thundered in her ear drums as her father’s words set in.
The Director knew. Her father knew what she was up to, and instead of telling her right away, he waited to see what she would do.
He eavesdropped on his own daughter. Just as the rage started to build in her, she looked into his eyes.
He was tired. Hurt. Humiliated. He wasn’t the one who betrayed her.
Luka was. Tears filled her eyes now. “I never thought… I didn’t think… ”
“No, you didn’t.”
Desperation flowed through her. She reached out and clutched her father’s forearm. “I’ll call him right now and apologize. I’ll beg The Director to forgive me. It’s the only time I’ve ever done anything like this. I’ll never do it again.”
Henrik shook his head. “It’s too late for that. I might be able to convince him not to press charges, but you will definitely be fired.”
Fired. It was really going to happen. And here, only half an hour ago she was so excited.
A bank transfer of fifty thousand US dollars was at this exact moment on the way to her account.
Enough to furnish and rent an apartment for a long time.
She’d have to get a roommate when the money ran out, but at least she’d finally be free of her parents, free of the pitying looks from the neighbors and her sister’s smug smile.
“When Dominik comes back, I’ll go to the office and throw myself on his mercy.
He’s known me since I was born. He’ll forgive me. ”
“He won’t, Petra. You’ve known him since you were a baby, and yet you still betrayed him. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t.”
“Of course he can. He’s The Director, for god’s sake! He can do anything he wants.”
“A man doesn’t end up in his position by allowing people to break the rules.
He gets there because he does everything by the book.
He’s spent an entire career building the trust of the most powerful people in the country.
He’s not going to blow that because you cry and beg him to.
” Her father let out a heavy sigh. “No, you won’t even be allowed back in the building again. Not after today.”
“But…I have a plant on my desk, and some really expensive perfume,” she said before she realized how stupid that sounded.
“I’ll ask Tomislav to pick it up for you.”
“No! Please don’t tell him. And don’t tell Vita,” Petra said. “I couldn’t bear if they knew.”
Hermina appeared in the entrance to the kitchen, her eyebrows furrowed. “Knew what?”
Petra let out a sob and covered her mouth with both hands. She shook her head at her father, not wanting her mother to know what she had done.
Henrik’s shoulders dropped. “Petra has made a grave mistake.”