Chapter 6: Morning
Elena did not sleep.
She sat in the small staff room off the kitchen with a cup of tea that went cold, listening to the house settle around her.
Doors opened and closed on the upper floor.
At some point after midnight she heard voices — Richard's attorney, she thought, and possibly someone else — but they were too far away to make out words.
Julian found her there at half past six.
He knocked on the open door before coming in, which she noticed.
Julian: You're still here.
Elena: I didn't know if I should leave or stay.
Nobody told me.
Julian: You should stay.
For now.
Richard asked me to tell you that your position is not in question.
He was very clear about that.
Elena: He doesn't need to do that.
Julian: He knows.
He wanted to anyway.
He pulled out the chair across from her and sat down.
Julian: Margaret filed her preliminary report at five this morning.
The documentation she has is enough to open a formal fraud investigation.
Richard's attorney has already been in contact with the relevant authorities.
Elena: What does that mean for Victoria?
Julian: It means the next conversation she has with Robert Haines will be very different from the ones she's been having.
And it means the asset transfers are frozen.
She can't touch the money.
Elena: She'll fight it.
Julian: She will.
She has resources and she'll use them.
But the footage, the texts, the financial records — it's a strong case.
Margaret has done this a long time.
Elena wrapped both hands around the cold cup.
Elena: Diane Marsh.
What happens to her?
Julian: That depends on how cooperative she decides to be.
She may be offered an arrangement in exchange for testimony.
Or she may decide to protect her brother and take her chances.
Elena: She seemed kind.
When I met her at the agency.
She told me this was a good house to work in.
Julian: I know.
Elena: I believed her.
Julian: Most people would have.
A silence settled between them.
Outside, the kitchen garden was coming into grey early light, the hedges still dark, a bird beginning somewhere in the distance.
Elena: Can I ask you something?
Julian: Yes.
Elena: How long have you known Richard?
You stepped in very quickly last night.
Most guests wouldn't have done that.
Julian: Fifteen years.
We were at university together.
I've been his legal advisor for the last nine.
Elena: So you knew Victoria too.
Julian: I did.
Elena: Did you like her?
Julian considered that with more care than she expected.
Julian: I respected her intelligence.
She is genuinely very smart.
And for a long time I thought the way she managed things — the house, the social calendar, Richard's image — I thought that was a kind of devotion.
I was wrong about what it was devoted to.
Elena: When did you realize?
Julian: Eight months ago.
When she let Diane go and started asking me questions about household liability and staff contracts.
The questions were too specific.
Too careful.
I started paying attention after that.
Elena: And you said nothing to Richard.
Julian: I had no proof.
Only suspicion.
And Richard —
He paused.
Julian: Richard loved her.
Genuinely.
I couldn't take that from him without being certain.
Elena looked at him.
Elena: That must have been hard.
Watching and waiting.
Julian: It was.
Yes.
The kettle on the counter had been sitting cold.
Elena stood and refilled it and set it back on the base without asking if he wanted tea.
He didn't object.
Julian: What will you do?
After this settles.
Elena: I don't know yet.
Stay, maybe, if Richard still wants me here.
This house needs someone who actually cares about it.
Julian: He'll want you to stay.
Elena: You can't know that.
Julian: I know Richard.
And I know what it means to him that you didn't take the check.
The kettle began to heat.
Elena leaned against the counter.
Elena: She offered me money to disappear quietly and I said no.
That's not heroism.
I just couldn't let her think she could do that to someone and walk away from it.
Julian: That's exactly what heroism is, most of the time.
Elena looked at him for a moment.
Then she turned to get two cups from the cabinet.
She set them both on the counter.
Outside, the light in the kitchen garden had shifted from grey to something almost gold.
The bird that had started alone was now joined by others, the sound building slowly, the way mornings do when you are awake early enough to notice them arriving.
Julian's phone buzzed on the table.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed — not alarm, but the focused attention of someone receiving information they have been waiting for.
Julian: Margaret.
He answered.
Julian: Yes.
— When?
— All of it, or just the primary account?
— And Haines, has he been contacted yet?
Elena watched his face.
Julian: I see.
— Yes.
I'll tell him.
Thank you, Margaret.
He ended the call and set the phone down.
Elena: What is it?
Julian: Robert Haines didn't wait for the authorities to contact him.
He called his own attorney at four this morning.
And in the process of trying to protect himself —
He paused.
Julian: He told them about a third account.
One that Margaret hadn't found yet.
The amount is significantly larger than the other three combined.
Elena set down the cup she was holding.
Elena: How much larger?
Julian looked at her.
May you like
Julian: Victoria wasn't planning to leave Richard and start over, Elena.
She was planning to disappear entirely.
