By afternoon, Celia had called about a separate problem. An event planner who had previously referred work to her company was putting a forthcoming proposal on hold. Blythe had spoken to him about the party, describing Celia’s staff as having taken sides in a private dispute. The planner wanted to know whether Ellis would remain on Celia’s team.
“He’s still on the schedule,” Celia told Callum. “I’m dealing with the client myself. I wanted you to know because this is no longer just a conversation about what happened on your lawn. People who weren’t there are starting to make decisions about people who were.”
Callum offered to speak to the planner, then stopped when Celia declined. A call from him might make it harder for her to establish that her employees were giving their own accounts. He agreed to let her handle the business relationship and asked her to preserve any correspondence she thought relevant. After the call, he sat at his desk without opening the hotel plans waiting beside his laptop.
Merritt contacted him again later. She had spoken with Celia, who refused to discuss Ellis’s account for him but confirmed what she had personally seen. Blythe had told Merritt that the hose was already off when Dessa reached Maisie. Celia’s description placed Dessa between the child and running water, with Blythe then directing it toward her.
“I called her afterward and asked her to explain that difference,” Merritt said. “She told me Celia needed to protect her employee because he’d failed to help. That doesn’t explain why she told me the water had stopped. Then she wanted me to find out whether you’d paid the catering bill, as though a normal invoice would prove something.”
Callum stayed quiet while Merritt described the people she had contacted. She had presented herself as informed because she knew Blythe and had helped her leave the estate. Now she was calling those same people to say she had repeated claims she could not substantiate. He heard her discomfort, but he could not tell how many of those corrections would travel as far as the first account.
“I’ve withdrawn from helping her with this,” she continued. “I’ll correct what I said, and I’ll give you the names of the people I spoke to. I understand that doesn’t undo it. I should have been clearer about how little I’d actually witnessed.”
He thanked her for making the corrections and asked that future communication about Blythe go through Nadine. When he returned to the kitchen, Maisie was standing beside Dessa with a banana she wanted peeled. Dessa was speaking to a cook while the child waited patiently, holding it against her chest. Callum crouched and offered his hand, and Maisie passed it to him after looking at Dessa.
Ein Gärtner drehte den Außenwasserhahn auf, als Callum den Stiel abbrach. Wasser rauschte kurz durch das Rohr hinter der Mauer und zischte dann gegen das Pflaster. Maisie wich zurück, hielt Dessas Rock fest und ließ die Banane zu Boden fallen. Callum legte sie beiseite, ging in die Knie und gab ihr Platz, um näher zu kommen.
Er bat den Gärtner anzuhalten und führte Maisie in das ruhigere Wohnzimmer. Dessa begleitete sie zunächst, dann wartete sie im Türrahmen, während er das Kind an seine Schulter drückte. Er erzählte ihr von dem Zimmer, in dem sie sich befanden, von dem Buch auf dem Sessel und von dem Fenster, das er schließen konnte, wenn sie wollte. Ihr Atem beruhigte sich allmählich, doch sie hielt ihre Hände weiterhin fest in seinem Hemd verkrampft.
Später, als Maisie sich oben ausruhte und Lenna in der Nähe war, bat Dessa Callum, sich zu ihr zu setzen. Sie hatte ihre eigene Tasse aus der Küche geholt und hielt sie in der Hand, ohne daraus zu trinken. Er nahm an, sie wolle Gideons Nachricht noch einmal besprechen. Stattdessen erzählte sie ihm, dass der andere Arbeitgeber ihr einen Arbeitsbeginn angeboten hatte.
„Ich werde die Stelle annehmen“, sagte sie. „Ich gebe Ihnen etwas Zeit, alles zu regeln, und ich möchte Maisie sehen, nachdem ich gegangen bin. Aber ich kann nicht länger diejenige sein, die bleibt, weil alle Angst davor haben, was passiert, wenn ich weg bin. Sie braucht Ihre Hilfe, um einen Nachmittag wie diesen zu überstehen.“
Callum jeta un coup d’œil à l’escalier, à l’affût du moindre bruit. Il s’apprêtait justement à demander à Dessa de rester jusqu’à ce que Maisie retrouve son état normal – une date qu’aucun d’eux ne pouvait inscrire dans son agenda. Il demanda donc la date de début et la nota. Avant de monter, il consulta son agenda de la semaine suivante et réfléchit à ceux qu’il devrait peut-être reporter.
