Chapter 4 - WHAT SHE KEPT
Margaret locked her phone.
“Personal business.”
“Then you won’t mind waiting until the police arrive to discuss it.”
Her face tightened.
“Police? Over old paperwork?”
“Over my forged signature.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Then stop trying to leave the room.”
Ethan stepped aside and called his attorney, Rachel Kim.
He kept his voice level. Forged authorization. Suspicious financial records. A threatened employee. He wanted evidence preserved and the local police notified.
Margaret stood perfectly still.
When he finished, she said, “Your father would have handled this privately.”
“My father isn’t here.”
“No. He isn’t.”
Something in her tone followed Ethan back to the guest room where Dr. Chen had settled Maya.
A plate of toast sat on the bedside table.
Maya had eaten half a slice.
“I don’t stay in rooms like this,” she said when he entered.
“You do today.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
He didn’t pretend not to understand.
“We’ll figure that out after you sleep.”
“That’s what she kept saying.”
He stopped.
Maya looked at the blanket.
“Finish this shift. We’ll fix the schedule tomorrow. Work the weekend. We’ll review your pay Monday.”
Ethan pulled a chair closer, leaving space between them.
“Did you keep any of those messages?”
She nodded toward her phone.
Its screen was cracked across one corner.
“Every one.”
There were schedule changes sent after midnight. Threats to remove her staff housing. Warnings that refusing coverage would count as abandonment.
One message read:
MISS OLIVIA EXPECTS DISCRETION. QUESTIONS WILL BE REPORTED.
Another:
YOU WILL REST WHEN THE HOUSEHOLD’S NEEDS ARE MET.
Ethan felt heat climb his neck.
“How long?”
“The worst shifts started Wednesday. The threats started before that.”
“Why?”
Maya hesitated, then opened a photograph.
It showed a folded delivery receipt beside a mop bucket.
Harbor House Services.
“You recognized the company?” he asked.
“I used to do payroll for a small contractor. Numbers were my job before cleaning was.”
“What happened?”
“I reported hours being billed for people who didn’t work there.”
“And?”
“They fired me. Said I stole petty cash.”
Her voice went flat.
“Mrs. Davenport knew. She said nobody else would hire me.”
Ethan studied the receipt.
A handwritten note appeared at the bottom.
MOVE ORIGINALS BEFORE AUDIT.
Below it were two initials.
May you like
G.B.
His uncle’s name was Grant Blackwood.
