Chapter 4: What the Housekeeper Remembered
Daniel's house had a kitchen that felt nothing like the rest of it — warm, slightly cluttered, a row of herbs on the windowsill that I suspected were Victoria's idea of staging rather than actual use.
He handed me a towel and poured two cups of coffee without asking if I wanted one.
Victoria did not come into the kitchen.
I could hear her in the hallway.
Low voice.
Pauses.
Someone on the other end of the line.
"How long has she been like this?" I asked.
Daniel set the cups down.
He didn't answer immediately.
"Daniel."
"She's not always like this," he said.
"She's — particular.
About the house.
About appearances.
She has strong ideas about how things should look."
"That's not what I asked."
He sat down across from me.
He looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with the time of day.
"There was an incident," he said.
"About eight months ago.
With the woman who used to clean for us."
I waited.
"Victoria accused her of stealing a bracelet.
Had her removed from the property.
Told me she'd seen her going through her jewelry box." He turned his coffee cup slowly.
"The bracelet turned up three weeks later.
In Victoria's own coat pocket."
"Did she apologize to the woman?"
"She said the woman must have put it back."
I looked at him.
"I know," he said quietly.
"I know how that sounds."
"Did you let the woman go?"
"Victoria had already let her go.
By the time I found out about the bracelet, the woman had found another position.
I sent her three months' pay.
Anonymously." He paused.
"I didn't tell Victoria."
The sound of Victoria's voice in the hallway stopped.
A door closed somewhere in the back of the house.
I wrapped both hands around my coffee cup.
"The message said she's done this before.
You just told me about the housekeeper.
What else?"
He was quiet for a moment too long.
"There was a woman at her gym," he said.
"Victoria complained to the management that she was harassing her.
The woman was asked to leave the gym.
Victoria had been a member there for four years — they took her word for it." He looked up.
"I only found out because I ran into the woman's husband at a conference.
He told me his wife had been going to that gym for six years.
No complaints.
Nothing.
Until Victoria."
"What was the woman's name?"
"Renata.
Renata Holloway."
I set my cup down.
"And you didn't think to mention any of this to me?"
"I didn't think it was—" He stopped.
Started again.
"I told myself it was complicated.
That I didn't have the full picture.
That marriages are—"
"Daniel."
He looked at me.
"She threw muddy water in my face."
The words sat between us.
"I know," he said.
"I know she did."
I heard the back door open.
Then close.
Then Victoria's footsteps coming back down the hallway toward the kitchen.
She appeared in the doorway.
She had changed her shoes.
She was carrying a small envelope.
"I'd like to speak to Clara alone," she said.
"If that's all right."
Daniel looked at me.
"It's fine," I said.
He stood, took his cup, and left the room.
Victoria waited until his footsteps reached the stairs.
Then she sat down in the chair he had just left and placed the envelope on the table between us.
"I want to make this right," she said.
"Properly.
Not just an apology."
I looked at the envelope.
I didn't touch it.
"What's in there?"
"A check," she said.
"For whatever distress I caused.
I want this to stay between us."
I looked up at her.
Her expression was steady.
Practiced.
"You're trying to buy my silence," I said.
"I'm trying to make amends."
"Those aren't the same thing, Victoria."
She pushed the envelope an inch closer.
"Clara.
You're a businesswoman.
You understand that sometimes the cleanest resolution is the simplest one.
No police.
No drama.
No family upheaval.
Just — closure."
I looked at the envelope for a long moment.
Then I stood up.
"I'm going to need the name of the woman from your gym," I said.
"Renata Holloway.
Do you have a number for her?"
Victoria's hand, still resting near the envelope, went very still.
"Why would you need that?"
May you like
"Because," I said, "I'd like to ask her what happened."
The color that had come back into Victoria's face began, very slowly, to leave it again.
