Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN MY UNCLE WAS AFRAID OF
“Give me the key, Mia.”
Nell's whisper was barely audible over the footsteps behind us.
I looked at the small brass object resting against my injured palm.
“Why?”
“Because if Richard sees it, he'll know exactly what I came here to find.”
Before I could answer, Grant pushed open the basement door.
“Move.”
Nell tried to take another step, but her injured ankle buckled.
I caught her elbow.
“She needs a doctor.”
“Your uncle said downstairs.”
“Then tell my uncle to come carry her himself.”
Grant stopped.
He was a broad-shouldered man in his forties who had worked security at the estate for six years. I'd never known him to argue with Richard.
But something changed in his expression when he looked at Nell's swollen ankle.
“There's a chair in the old laundry room,” he said.
“I'm not putting her in a locked room.”
“Neither am I.”
That surprised me.
Behind us, Richard's voice echoed down the staircase.
“Grant! I expect those two secured before Daniel comes looking for Caroline!”
Nell squeezed my arm.
“Hide it.”
I slipped the brass key beneath the cuff of my uniform.
Its teeth pressed against my skin.
Grant led us into the old laundry room, where unused ironing boards leaned against the walls.
The room smelled of detergent and damp stone.
He pulled out a wooden chair.
I helped Nell sit.
Then Richard appeared.
His face was no longer composed.
“Where's the bracelet?”
“Ask your daughter,” I answered.
He stepped toward me.
“You've been living under this roof for eleven months. I've provided employment, meals, and a place to sleep. And this is how you repay us?”
“You paid me to work. You didn't buy the right to accuse me.”
His jaw tightened.
For a moment, I saw the same expression Caroline wore whenever somebody refused to obey her.
Then his attention shifted to Nell.
“Who are you?”
Nell folded her hands.
“You've already seen my identification.”
“I asked who you are.”
“Nell. Temporary housekeeping.”
Richard looked at her carefully.
“You look familiar.”
“Old women often do to men who never bother learning their names.”
Grant lowered his eyes.
I almost smiled.
Richard didn't.
He pulled a folded incident report from his jacket.
“Grant found the missing bracelet in Mia's locker. She will sign an acknowledgment, surrender her keys, and leave the property after the party.”
“I'm not signing anything.”
“Then the police can handle it.”
He placed the report on an ironing board.
I noticed the time written beside the accusation.
5:40 p.m.
My stomach tightened.
At 5:40, I'd been helping the catering staff arrange champagne glasses.
The staircase accident happened several minutes later.
Caroline hadn't even claimed the bracelet was missing until after I'd brought Nell into the breakfast room.
“Your report is wrong.”
Richard glanced at the paper.
“Excuse me?”
“This says the bracelet was recovered at 5:40. Grant didn't search my locker until after six.”
Richard's face changed.
Not much.
Just enough.
Nell looked directly at me.
“That's why I told you to remember the time.”
Richard snatched up the report.
“It's a clerical mistake.”
“Then why was it written before Grant even brought the bracelet back?” I asked.
Grant remained silent.
But his eyes had moved to the report.
He looked almost as surprised as I felt.
Richard folded the paper sharply.
“Enough.”
He pointed toward the door.
“Grant, take Mia's other locker key. Nobody enters the staff wing until I authorize it.”
“My mother's shawl is still upstairs,” I said.
Richard's expression softened for the first time.
A false, practiced softness.
“I understand you're upset about your mother's belongings.”
“Don't talk about her.”
“She would be disappointed to see you behaving like this.”
The words struck harder than Caroline's grip on my wrist.
My mother had been dead for four years.
Richard had barely attended her funeral.
And now he was using her memory to silence me.
Nell rose suddenly.
Pain crossed her face, but she remained standing.
“Rose Bennett would be disappointed,” she said, “but not in her daughter.”
The room became silent.
I turned toward her.
“You knew my mother?”
Nell's eyes filled with something I couldn't identify.
“Yes.”
Richard took one quick step toward her.
“You need to stop talking.”
Nell didn't move.
“Does Daniel know what you've done with the Riverside property?”
Richard's face lost its color.
I had never seen that happen before.
Not when his business failed.
Not when the bank threatened foreclosure on his investment property.
Not even when Caroline announced she was marrying a man worth more than anyone in our family had ever imagined.
“Grant,” Richard said quietly, “take that woman somewhere she cannot interfere.”
Grant hesitated.
Then a new voice came from the doorway.
“Interfere with what?”
Daniel Whitmore stood at the bottom of the stairs.
He wore a dark evening suit, his tie slightly loosened.
He looked from my injured wrist to Nell's bloodstained sleeve.
Then he saw her face.
The color drained from his own.
He crossed the room so quickly that Richard stepped aside.
“Mom?”
Nell closed her eyes.
May you like
And Daniel whispered something that made my heart stop.
“They told me you were in Switzerland.”
