Chapter 7 - The Name Hidden in Elise's Notebook)
Vivienne left the house in handcuffs.
Grant should have felt relief.
Instead, her final words remained in his mind.
Ask Tessa why Elise knew her name before you ever hired her.
The police took photographs.
They collected the vase.
They copied the recovered security footage.
They interviewed Tessa separately.
An ambulance examined the mark near her temple.
No serious injury.
Noah was checked by a pediatric emergency team.
No fracture.
No visible lasting injury.
Grant held him throughout the examination.
The doctor said the words Grant needed most.
"He appears to be okay."
Only then did Grant realize he had been holding his breath for nearly an hour.
Tessa stood near the kitchen doorway.
She looked exhausted.
Grant approached her.
"You should go to the hospital."
"I said I'm fine."
"You were hit in the head."
"And Noah needs familiar people around him."
"He has me."
Tessa looked at him.
Grant understood immediately.
Noah had him now.
But there had been many days when Noah had waited for a father trapped in meetings, airports and conference rooms.
Grant looked down.
Tessa softened.
"I didn't mean that."
"You didn't have to."
Silence passed.
Grant finally said, "Thank you."
Tessa looked away.
"For what?"
"My son."
"He's my job."
"No."
Grant looked at Noah.
"Not what you did today."
Tessa did not answer.
Grant took out the memory card.
Her face changed.
"You found it."
"Under the vase."
"I had it before."
Grant looked at her.
Tessa told him everything.
The envelope.
The recordings.
The phone call.
The package.
The blue hospital blanket.
The photograph of Elise near her car.
Grant listened without interruption.
Then Tessa mentioned Margaret Hale.
Grant frowned.
"You met Margaret?"
"Two days ago."
"Why?"
"I found her name in an old notebook."
"What notebook?"
"Elise's."
Grant's expression sharpened.
Tessa walked upstairs and returned with a small leather book.
Grant recognized it instantly.
Elise's emergency planner.
She had carried it everywhere during the pregnancy.
"Where did you find this?"
"In the nursery closet three weeks ago."
Grant opened it.
Most pages contained ordinary notes.
Doctor appointments.
Feeding schedules.
Shopping lists.
Phone numbers.
Then Tessa turned to the back.
Several pages had been removed.
On the final remaining page, Elise had written a list of names.
Margaret Hale.
Daniel Reeves.
Vivienne Cross.
Tessa Monroe.
Grant stared at the final name.
Tessa spoke quietly.
"I had never met Elise."
Grant looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Completely."
"Did you ever apply to work for us before she died?"
"No."
"Did you know anyone who worked here?"
"No."
Grant stared at the notebook.
Elise had written Tessa's name at least ten months earlier.
Tessa had been hired six months ago.
"How did you get this job?"
Tessa frowned.
"Through the agency."
"Which agency?"
"Brighton Domestic."
Grant took out his phone.
He searched.
The company website still existed.
He called the number.
Disconnected.
He searched the business registration.
Brighton Domestic Services had been dissolved five months earlier.
One month after Tessa was hired.
Grant looked up.
"Who interviewed you?"
"A woman named Rebecca Lane."
"Did you meet her in person?"
"Video call."
"Do you still have the emails?"
"Probably."
Tessa opened her phone.
The messages existed.
Rebecca's email address ended in a private domain.
Grant searched it.
No public information.
He forwarded the address to his corporate security director.
Then he looked again at Elise's notebook.
Why would his wife write down the name of a caregiver she had never met?
The police finished collecting evidence and left.
Grant locked the door.
For the first time all day, the house became quiet.
Noah had fallen asleep in Tessa's arms.
Grant watched them.
Vivienne's final accusation entered his mind again.
Ask Tessa.
Grant hated himself for wondering.
But he had trusted Vivienne too.
And Noah had nearly paid for that trust.
"Tessa."
She looked at him.
"I need to ask you something."
"I know."
Grant hesitated.
"Did you know Elise?"
"No."
"Do you know why your name is here?"
"No."
"Did anyone tell you to apply for this position?"
Tessa's expression changed.
Not guilt.
Memory.
"There was one thing."
Grant waited.
"About a week before the agency contacted me, I received an email."
"From who?"
"I don't know. It said a family in the area needed someone experienced with infants."
"Why did you respond?"
"I had just left a hospital childcare program. I needed work."
"Do you still have it?"
Tessa searched her inbox.
After several minutes she found the message.
No sender name.
Only an address.
The subject read:
For Noah.
Grant went still.
Tessa opened the email.
The body contained three lines.
You will be offered a position soon.
If you accept it, protect the child.
Do not trust the woman in red.
Neither spoke.
Tessa finally whispered, "I thought it was spam."
Grant looked at the timestamp.
The email had been sent four months after Elise's death.
Two weeks before Tessa was hired.
Grant forwarded it to security.
Then a thought struck him.
"What color did Vivienne wear to Elise's funeral?"
Tessa did not know.
Grant did.
Black.
But the night Elise died, she had worn a wine-red dress.
He remembered because they had attended a charity dinner earlier that evening.
The same shade she wore today.
Grant looked at the email again.
Do not trust the woman in red.
Someone had known Vivienne would eventually be around Noah.
Someone had chosen Tessa.
Someone had been watching Grant's family for months.
His phone rang.
Corporate security.
Grant answered.
His director spoke immediately.
"We traced the employment agency."
Grant stood.
"What did you find?"
"It was a shell company."
"Owned by who?"
"That's the problem."
Grant waited.
"The original registration was filed by your wife."
Grant stopped breathing.
"Elise?"
"Yes."
"Before she died?"
"Six weeks before."
Grant looked at Tessa.
She looked equally stunned.
His security director continued.
"There's more."
"What?"
"The agency hired only one caregiver in its entire existence."
Grant already knew the answer.
But he asked anyway.
"Who?"
May you like
The voice on the phone replied.
"Tessa Monroe."
