Then her eyes moved toward the house.
Her shoulders stiffened.
“Nothing.””
Rosa followed her gaze.
Evelyn stood behind the glass doors.
She wasn’t smiling anymore.
She was watching them.
Rosa lowered her head and resumed folding towels.
A moment later, the doors opened.
“Lily, darling!”” Evelyn called brightly.
“Come inside. It’s time for your afternoon rest.””
Lily climbed down from the chair.
Her knees wobbled.
She caught the table before she fell.
Evelyn crossed the terrace quickly and seized the girl’s wrist.
“Careful,” she said through a smile that never reached her eyes.
“We don’t want another little accident, do we?””
Lily went completely still.
Rosa felt the blood drain from her face.
Another accident?
Evelyn pulled the girl toward the house.
As they passed, Lily’s fingers brushed Rosa’s apron.
Something small and folded slipped into Rosa’s palm.
Rosa didn’t look down until the glass doors closed behind them.
It was a scrap of paper, torn from a drawing pad.
Three crooked words had been written in a child’s uneven handwriting.
*DADDY, HELP ME.*
Underneath, Lily had drawn a little girl beside a swimming pool.
And beside the pool stood a woman with long, dark hair.
Not a woman with silver hair.
Rosa stared at the drawing, trying to understand.
Then she turned it over.
On the back, Lily had written another sentence.
*GRANDMA SAYS MOMMY DIED BECAUSE OF ME.*
Rosa’s knees nearly gave way.
Lily’s mother, Caroline Bennett, had died in a car accident three years earlier. The family had always said the crash was unavoidable, a tragic loss that had left little Lily too young to remember much about her mother.
But Rosa remembered Caroline.
She remembered a woman who laughed loudly, hugged everyone in the kitchen, and never let a child leave the table without dessert.
Most of all, she remembered Caroline’s final visit to the estate before her death.
The woman had pulled Rosa aside near the laundry room and asked a strange question.
“If anything ever happens to me, Rosa, will you promise to keep Lily safe?””
At the time, Rosa had laughed nervously.
“Of course, Mrs. Bennett. Why would you say such a thing?””
Caroline hadn’t answered.
She had only kissed her daughter on the forehead and left.
Three days later, she was dead.
Now Rosa stared at Lily’s drawing, at the dark-haired woman by the pool, and at the words that suggested the child had been carrying a secret for years.
The service door clicked open behind her.
Denise slipped out, her phone pressed against her chest.
“Did you call him?”” Rosa whispered.
Denise nodded, but her face was pale.
“He answered.””
“What did he say?””
Denise glanced toward the upstairs windows.
“He asked me one question.””
Rosa’s stomach tightened.
“What question?””
Denise leaned closer.
“He asked whether his mother had taken Lily near the pool today.””
Before Rosa could respond, a man’s voice came from the terrace entrance.
“Why are you two whispering about my daughter?””
Both women turned.
Daniel Bennett stood beneath the stone archway, still wearing his navy business suit. His tie hung loose around his neck, and his car keys were clenched in one hand.
He had arrived much earlier than expected.
And from the look on his face, he already suspected that something was terribly wrong.
But before either housekeeper could speak, the upstairs window opened.
Evelyn leaned out.
“Daniel!”” she called sweetly.
“What a surprise. Come inside, darling. Lily has been asking for you.””
Daniel looked up at his mother.
Then he looked at the two frightened housekeepers.
Finally, his gaze dropped to the crumpled piece of paper in Rosa’s hand.
“Give me that,” he said.
Rosa placed the drawing in his palm.
Daniel read the first line.
His expression barely changed.
Then he turned the paper over.
When he reached the final words, his fingers began to tremble.
Because beneath the sentence about Lily’s mother, the child had drawn one more thing.
A black car.
A broken headlight.
And a license plate Daniel recognized immediately.
It belonged to his own car.
The vehicle he had been driving on the night Caroline died.
Daniel read the drawing three times.
The third time, he stopped at the license plate.
“No,” he whispered.
Rosa stood motionless beside the pool. Denise kept glancing toward the upstairs window, where Evelyn had disappeared moments earlier.
Daniel lifted his eyes.
“Where is Lily?””
“Upstairs, sir,” Rosa said.
“Your mother took her to the nursery.””
“Did Lily draw this?””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“This morning, I think. I found it folded in my apron after she touched my hand.””
Daniel stared at the picture.
His car’s license plate had been written backward, with several letters missing, but there was no mistaking the final four characters. He had owned the same black Mercedes for six years.
