Chapter 4 - The Housekeeper Who Remembered Nothing

Mrs. Delaney denied being there.

She did it politely.

Almost convincingly.

“I was at my sister's house that evening, Mr. Moretti. Your father knew.”

Santiago stood beside the study fireplace while Tomas examined a copy of the household duty roster.

“Your sister lives in Milwaukee,” Tomas said.

“She did then, yes.”

“And you returned the next morning?”

“That's correct.”

Tomas turned the page.

“Your vehicle entered the estate at eleven forty that night.”

Mrs. Delaney looked at him.

“I must have misremembered.”

Santiago studied the woman who had helped raise him.

“Do you remember Sophia's last spoken words?”

Her expression shifted.

“Of course. She was upset after the accident. She asked where your father had gone.”

The accident.

Everyone called it that.

Seven years ago, a car carrying Alessandro Moretti had struck a barrier on a private access road. The driver survived. Alessandro did not. Sophia, who had been riding behind them in another vehicle, was brought home unharmed physically but inconsolable.

Soon afterward, she stopped speaking.

“Who told you she asked about him?” Santiago said.

“Dr. Vale.”

“So you didn't hear her say it.”

Mrs. Delaney folded her hands.

“No.”

After she left, Tomas placed the roster on the desk.

“She's lying about something.”

“Find out what.”

Meanwhile, Ruby sat with Sophia by the bedroom window.

The curtains were still blue.

Not for long.

Ruby signed slowly.

Do you want to tell Santiago what happened?

Sophia looked at her brother sitting near the door.

Then she shook her head.

Santiago nodded, though it took effort.

“That's all right.”

Sophia's shoulders relaxed.

He reached into his pocket and produced three fabric samples.

Emerald. Sage. Olive.

“Your decision,” he said.

Sophia took the emerald sample immediately.

For the first time that evening, she smiled at him.

Later, alone in the hall, Ruby explained the importance of that small moment.

“She needs to know her choices won't be punished.”

Santiago looked through the open doorway.

“Who punished her?”

“We don't know yet.”

He disliked the answer.

But he was learning to live with answers that didn't arrive on command.

The next morning, Tomas recovered a storage box from the family's former security office.

Inside were old visitor logs, a damaged hard drive, and the report of Alessandro's fatal crash.

One detail had been crossed out in the final report.

A second vehicle at the scene.

Its registration belonged to a private clinic associated with Dr. Vale.

Santiago read the line again.

“Why would Sophia's doctor be on that road?”

Tomas set down a photograph recovered from the damaged drive.

It showed the clinic vehicle parked beside the Moretti residence at eleven thirty-seven on the night of the accident.

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Standing next to it was Mrs. Delaney.

And in the rear seat, partly hidden behind the glass, sat a frightened twelve-year-old Sophia.