I didn't sleep well that night, after all, seeing either an angel or a demon outside your window does not exactly make for business as usual.
If the watcher were a guardian, it signalled I was facing grave danger. But the same was true if it were a demon, except the apparition in that case would be threatening and intended as a warning.
Either scenario was upsetting and the experience caused me hours of staring at the ceiling.
Andie was far more optimistic than I was the following morning.
"Don't you see, Sugar, you were blessed and given a privileged glimpse into the heavenlies."
I frowned. "How can you be so sure?"
"You are a regular Doubting Thomas. The watcher wasn't just guarding this property, he stood outside the window where you slept and was protecting you. You have a mission here, and we'll see tonight how things turn out at Bane's cocktail party."
The mention of Bane and his visiting his estate threw me into a panic.
"I'm not sure I can do that. I mean, this whole business started when I jogged too close to Bane's property—entering his house is an entirely different matter. Who knows what demons might be lurking there?"
"You're not wrong," she said solemnly, "it wouldn't be the first time that a business was a front for something more nefarious."
I was doubtful.
"I don't know, Andie—maybe I'm getting carried away here. This is beginning to sound like some cracked conspiracy theory, like the Proctor and Gamble rumour in the 1980's that claimed the company supported The Church of Satan and its company logo contained Satanic symbols."
"Well, I can see you're a skeptic, Sugar, so all the more reason why you should attend Bane's party to see if what we're suspecting is true or false."
I had to admit she had a point. Maybe The Great North Corp where I've worked for the last five years is not the prestigious investment company I thought it was.
What was I afraid of here anyway—that I might discover I was working for demons all the while I thought I was contributing to the economy and building a career?
Yeah, and maybe that's the real crux of the matter. But if what Andie suspects is true, then my career plan is a sham and I'll have to start over just whenI thought I was finally moving up the corporate ladder.
Yep, it all comes down to filthy lucre, as my Irish grandmother used to say, and I'm no better than the dupes working for a money laundering operation and not even knowing it...
Or, everything's fine and Andie and I have succumbed to Satanic Panic as happened back in the day and tarnished the reputation of a solid business enterprise that flourished for over a century.
There was only one way to resolve this—get control of my imagination and confront my fears directly, and that's what I intended to do this very evening.
