Chapter 4 - The Maid Who Became Nanny Number NineteenGrace barely had time to react.
Technically, Eli always had a medical appointment somewhere on the horizon, which made the lie feel slightly less terrible.
Marcus had locked his repair shop before she arrived.
He pulled the blinds down.
“That bad?” Grace asked.
“That weird.”
He turned his laptop toward her.
The recovered video lasted forty-three seconds.
Elena Vale appeared on-screen.
Grace recognized her instantly from photographs.
But the woman in the recording looked nothing like the elegant figure framed throughout the mansion.
Her hair was messy.
Her eyes were swollen.
She kept glancing behind her.
A bruise darkened her wrist.
“I don’t know how much time I have,” Elena whispered.
“If Dominic sees this, tell him I’m sorry I didn’t trust him sooner.”
Grace leaned closer.
Elena continued.
“The cameras aren’t protecting us. Someone has been using them to watch Noah and me. Files are being erased. Messages have disappeared from my phone.”
The recording shook.
“I found payments connected to Nathan.”
Grace’s stomach dropped.
Dr. Mercer.
“But I don’t know if he’s alone.”
Elena looked off-screen.
Footsteps.
Her expression became terrified.
“If anything happens to me, look behind Noah’s blue elephant. Dominic will understand.”
The video ended.
Grace stared at Marcus.
“That’s it?”
“There are more corrupted files.”
“Can you recover them?”
“I can try.”
Grace thought of the stuffed blue elephant Noah carried constantly.
“What does ‘behind Noah’s blue elephant’ mean?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Maybe something hidden in the toy?”
Grace stood.
“I need to go.”
Marcus grabbed her wrist.
“You need to go to the police.”
“With what?”
“A dead woman saying someone might hurt her.”
“A dead billionaire’s wife saying it.”
“Exactly. And the man she named still visits that house.”
Marcus frowned.
“Which means you definitely shouldn’t go back.”
Grace pulled on her coat.
“My brother needs surgery.”
“I’ll loan you money.”
“You have three hundred dollars.”
“Four seventy.”
“Thank you, Warren Buffett.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Grace left.
Back at the estate, Dominic was in his office arguing with someone on the phone.
“I don’t care what the behavioral specialists say. Find someone who understands trauma without treating my son like an animal.”
Grace walked upstairs.
Noah’s bedroom was empty.
She checked the playroom.
Nothing.
Then she heard soft tapping.
From inside a closet.
Noah was hiding behind coats.
He held the blue elephant.
Grace crouched.
“Can I see him?”
Noah tightened his arms.
“I won’t take him.”
He studied her.
Then slowly held the toy forward.
Grace examined it.
Nothing unusual.
Blue fabric.
Gray ears.
One stitched eye.
She remembered Elena’s words.
Look behind Noah’s blue elephant.
Not inside.
Behind.
Grace looked toward the shelf where the toy normally sat.
On the wall behind it hung a framed illustration of the night sky.
Blue elephant.
Behind it.
Grace lifted the frame.
A small recessed compartment sat in the wall.
Inside was a key.
Noah whimpered.
Grace looked at him.
“The east wing?”
He nodded.
The first time he had clearly answered her.
Grace’s pulse raced.
She needed to tell Dominic.
But before she could move, Noah grabbed her hand.
He shook his head violently.
“Daddy,” Grace whispered.
Noah shook harder.
Not because he feared Dominic.
Because he feared Dominic knowing.
Why?
Then Noah pointed toward the camera.
Grace understood.
Whoever monitored the cameras would know if she told him inside the mansion.
She slipped the key into her pocket.
At dinner, Dominic barely ate.
Noah sat at the opposite end of the table, pushing peas across his plate.
Dr. Mercer had been invited.
Grace served water.
Mercer watched Noah.
“You really should consider residential treatment.”
Dominic’s fork stopped.
“He’s four.”
“Some specialized pediatric programs—”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“I said no.”
Mercer sighed.
“You’re allowing guilt to interfere with judgment.”
Dominic’s gaze turned cold.
“Be careful.”
Mercer leaned back.
“I’ve known you twenty years.”
“That doesn’t give you permission to diagnose me.”
Grace watched them.
Twenty years.
Mercer wasn’t merely Noah’s doctor.
He was Dominic’s longtime friend.
After dessert, Noah disappeared.
Grace found him halfway toward the east wing.
She followed.
For the first time, she inserted Elena’s hidden key into the locked door.
It clicked.
Noah grabbed her sleeve.
She looked down.
“Do you want me to stop?”
He shook his head.
Grace opened the door.
Darkness.
Dust.
Furniture covered in white cloth.
The east wing had apparently been Elena’s private space.
Her music room.
Office.
Reading room.
Dominic had sealed it after her death.
Grace switched on her phone flashlight.
Noah remained beside the doorway.
He refused to enter.
Grace moved deeper.
Photographs lined one wall.
Elena with Noah.
Elena with Dominic.
Elena standing beside Dr. Mercer at a charity event.
Something about that image bothered Grace.
Mercer was looking at Elena.
Not at the camera.
Grace continued.
A desk sat near the window.
Its drawers were empty.
Someone had searched them.
Then she spotted a narrow closet.
Inside were boxes.
Old clothes.
Documents.
And a child’s car seat.
Noah screamed.
Grace spun.
He was pointing at the car seat.
“Noah?”
He backed away.
The seat had dark staining along one side.
Grace stepped closer.
A torn piece of fabric was trapped beneath the buckle.
Black wool.
Men’s coat fabric.
Then footsteps echoed in the corridor outside.
Grace switched off the flashlight.
Noah vanished behind a curtain.
Someone entered.
Grace hid behind a tall wardrobe.
The door opened.
A beam of light swept across the room.
Dr. Mercer.
Grace held her breath.
Mercer walked directly to the desk.
He opened a hidden panel Grace had not noticed.
Removed a folder.
Then quietly said into his phone:
“No. The boy hasn’t spoken.”
A pause.
Grace’s blood went cold.
“I told you, trauma took care of that.”
Another pause.
Mercer’s expression hardened.
“If he ever remembers enough to identify who was in the car, we have a much bigger problem.”
Grace’s fingers tightened around her phone.
Mercer walked toward the exit.
Then stopped.
His flashlight moved toward the floor.
Grace followed the beam.
Noah’s stuffed elephant lay in the doorway.
Mercer slowly bent down.
Picked it up.
And smiled.
May you like
“So,” he whispered.
“You’ve been here.”
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