Chapter 2 - the maid who came back)
The ambulance took Ethan through the front entrance nineteen minutes later.
Jonathan refused to leave with him.
It surprised everyone.
It surprised Maya most.
He stood beneath the chandelier while paramedics wheeled his son away and watched until the doors closed.
Then he turned.
"Dr. Mercer goes with him."
Mercer nodded.
Jonathan pointed toward his head of security.
"Curtis, send two men to the hospital. Nobody enters Ethan's room without my approval."
Vivienne gave a cold laugh.
"You are behaving as though someone attempted murder."
Jonathan looked at her.
"My son collapsed at a party while a member of my staff accused you of putting something in his drink. Then the evidence vanished during a blackout."
He walked toward her.
"I'd say murder is one of several possibilities."
Vivienne's jaw tightened.
"You embarrass yourself."
"Maybe."
Jonathan turned to Maya.
"Come with me."
Vivienne stepped forward.
"Jonathan."
He did not stop.
Maya followed him through a side corridor.
Curtis joined them.
Jonathan entered the library and locked the door.
The room was darker and smaller than the ballroom, lined with walnut shelves and old family portraits.
Maya had cleaned it every Thursday morning.
She had never been invited to sit.
Jonathan pointed toward a chair.
"Sit down."
Maya remained standing.
"Why?"
"Because you're going to tell me everything."
"About what?"
"Your mother."
Maya looked at Curtis.
Jonathan noticed.
"He's staying."
Maya shook her head.
"I don't know who I can trust."
Curtis stiffened.
Jonathan studied her.
"Do you trust me?"
"I met you four months ago."
"Fair answer."
He walked behind the desk.
"Then start with what I can verify."
Maya slowly removed the brass key from her necklace.
"My mother worked here."
"When?"
"Fourteen years ago."
Jonathan's expression changed.
"What was her name?"
"Anna Reed."
Curtis looked toward him.
Jonathan whispered, "I remember her."
Maya had not expected that.
"You do?"
"She worked mostly upstairs. Guest rooms, laundry, sometimes the children's wing."
Maya stared.
"You knew her?"
"Not well."
Jonathan's eyes drifted toward one of the portraits.
"I was hardly home then."
"Because of your wife?"
His gaze snapped back.
"How do you know about Catherine?"
Maya took a breath.
"Because my mother wrote about her."
Jonathan became perfectly still.
Maya reached into the hidden pocket sewn inside her apron and removed a folded photograph.
She slid it across the desk.
Jonathan picked it up.
The picture was old.
Anna Reed stood outside Ashcroft Manor wearing a maid's uniform almost identical to Maya's.
Beside her stood Catherine Ashcroft.
Jonathan's late wife.
Both women were smiling.
Between them was a small boy.
Ethan.
He was six.
Jonathan sat down.
"I've never seen this."
"My mother kept it hidden."
Jonathan turned the photograph over.
Three words were written on the back.
Trust the glass.
Jonathan frowned.
Maya said, "She died six days after this photograph was taken."
Curtis asked, "Car accident?"
"That's what the police said."
Jonathan looked up.
"She drove off Rosebank Bridge."
"No."
Maya's answer came immediately.
Jonathan's face changed.
"No?"
"My mother didn't drive."
Silence.
Curtis looked at Jonathan.
Jonathan slowly lowered the photograph.
Maya continued.
"She never had a license. She was terrified of cars after my father died. She took buses everywhere."
Jonathan leaned back.
"But the report said she was alone in the vehicle."
"I know."
"How?"
"My aunt gave me the police report when I turned eighteen."
Jonathan's voice lowered.
"Why didn't anyone challenge it?"
"Because we were poor. Because the dead woman was a maid. Because the car belonged to a shell company that disappeared two months later."
Curtis crossed his arms.
"And you came here because of the photograph."
"Not only the photograph."
Maya held up the key.
"My mother left this with my aunt."
Jonathan looked at it.
"What does it open?"
"I don't know."
"You've had it fourteen years."
"My aunt didn't give it to me until last year."
"Why?"
"Because a letter arrived."
Jonathan frowned.
"From who?"
"No return address."
"What did it say?"
Maya hesitated.
Then quoted it.
"Your mother died because she learned what the Ashcrofts put in the glass."
Jonathan stared at her.
Curtis said nothing.
Maya continued.
"I applied for work here the next week."
"And you expected to find a murderer while changing bedsheets?"
"I expected to find something."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
Jonathan leaned forward.
"What?"
Maya looked at the locked library doors.
Then at the ceiling.
"There are twelve cameras inside this house that don't appear on the security map."
Curtis's head turned sharply.
"What?"
"I clean them."
Jonathan looked at him.
Curtis frowned.
"I've managed security here for six years. There are no hidden cameras."
"There are."
"Where?"
"Inside smoke detectors, decorative vents, two clocks, and one chandelier fixture."
Curtis swore quietly.
Jonathan asked, "Who watches them?"
"I don't know."
Maya continued before either man could interrupt.
"There is also a locked room behind the old linen storage area on the third floor. I found the keyhole three weeks ago."
She lifted the brass key.
"I think this fits."
Jonathan stood.
"Show me."
Curtis stepped toward the door.
His radio crackled.
He answered.
"What?"
A guard's voice came through.
"Sir, we have a problem."
"What kind?"
"The main security archive has been wiped."
Curtis's face hardened.
"All of it?"
"Everything from today."
Maya looked at Jonathan.
The guard continued.
"And Briggs is gone."
Curtis lowered the radio.
"He was stationed at the east exit."
Jonathan's expression turned cold.
"Find him."
Curtis unlocked the door.
Before he could open it, Maya said, "Wait."
Both men looked at her.
She had remembered Briggs during the blackout.
His hand releasing her.
His strange lack of surprise.
And something else.
A smell.
Cedar.
Strong cologne.
She had smelled that exact scent several times while cleaning the third floor.
Always near the locked linen room.
Maya looked down at the brass key.
"He's not leaving the mansion."
Jonathan frowned.
May you like
"How do you know?"
"Because I think Briggs has been inside the room my mother wanted me to find."
