Chapter 4 - The Thief Who Wouldn’t Kneel
Harper stared at the bracelet.
It glittered beneath the locker room’s fluorescent lights, absurdly beautiful against her faded sweater.
“I didn’t put that there.”
Miranda folded her arms.
“Of course you didn’t.”
Mrs. Aldridge remained in the doorway.
“Miss Quinn, step away from the locker.”
Harper obeyed.
Within minutes, Daniel Reyes arrived with Adrian behind him.
Miranda moved toward Adrian immediately.
“I didn’t want to involve you. It’s humiliating enough.”
“For whom?” Adrian asked.
She blinked.
“My bracelet was stolen.”
“Then we’ll establish what happened.”
Harper kept her hands flat against her sides so no one would see them shaking.
She imagined calling the hospital from a police station. Imagined her father hearing the word theft attached to her name. Imagined every joke told about her becoming proof that she had deserved them.
Daniel asked when Miranda had last seen the bracelet.
“At breakfast.”
“Where did you leave it?”
“In the upstairs powder room.”
“What time?”
“Eight thirty, perhaps.”
Daniel looked at Harper.
“Where were you?”
“At the guesthouse until ten. Then the laundry.”
Mrs. Aldridge nodded reluctantly.
“I assigned her there.”
Miranda gave a thin smile.
“The bracelet is in her locker.”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “That’s what we’re investigating.”
He asked everyone to leave the room while he photographed the locker and secured the bracelet.
Adrian accompanied Harper to an unused sitting room.
She remained standing.
“You can sit,” he said.
“I’d rather not.”
“All right.”
He waited.
Finally, she looked at him.
“Do you think I took it?”
“I think someone has already threatened you. I’m not going to ignore that because an expensive object appeared in your coat.”
Her eyes burned.
She hated that kindness could still surprise her enough to hurt.
An hour later, Daniel returned.
The camera covering the staff corridor had captured Caroline, one of the younger maids, entering the locker room at nine twelve.
Harper was visible on another camera outside the guesthouse at the same time.
Caroline had no assignment in the main house that morning.
At first, she insisted she had been looking for cleaning supplies.
Then Daniel mentioned preserving her messages.
She began to cry.
Miranda had asked her to put an envelope in Harper’s locker.
She claimed she hadn’t known what was inside.
“Did she pay you?” Adrian asked.
Caroline nodded.
“How much?”
“A thousand dollars.”
The room fell silent.
Harper thought of the extra shifts she had worked for less.
Caroline covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
Harper looked away.
She did not yet have anything kind to give her.
Miranda denied everything.
She said Caroline was lying to protect herself. She said Daniel was biased. She said Adrian had allowed an employee to turn his own house against him.
Adrian listened until she finished.
“Your access to staff areas is revoked,” he said. “You will not speak to Harper privately.”
“Are you serious?”
“Completely.”
Miranda’s face hardened.
“My father is negotiating a major transaction with your company.”
“Then he should negotiate with our lawyers.”
For the first time, Harper saw fear behind Miranda’s anger.
It vanished quickly.
“You’ll regret humiliating me over a maid.”
Adrian opened the door.
“We’re finished.”
That evening, Mrs. Aldridge found Harper in the linen room.
“I should have listened when you asked about the medication,” she said.
Harper folded another towel.
“Yes.”
The housekeeper accepted the answer.
After a moment, she placed a small notebook on the table.
“Mrs. Blackthorne asked me to keep a record of unusual visitors last month. I thought it was another anxious habit.”
Harper opened it.
Julian Rusk’s name appeared several times.
So did Victor Caldwell’s.
Miranda’s father.
Both men had visited Evelyn when Adrian was traveling.
“What did they want?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
“Have you shown Adrian?”
“I’m going to.”
Harper looked up.
“Why now?”
Mrs. Aldridge’s mouth tightened.
“Because I’m beginning to suspect that being discreet has made me useful to the wrong people.”
Later, Adrian found Harper leaving through the staff entrance.
“Caroline has been suspended pending the investigation,” he said. “You’ll receive written confirmation that the theft allegation was unsupported.”
“Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t need a letter to prove you didn’t do something.”
“I might need another job someday.”
He absorbed that.
Then he said, “My mother’s independent accountant arrives Monday.”
Harper felt relief for the first time all day.
As Adrian walked back toward the house, her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
The message contained no photograph this time.
Just six words.
Ask what happened to the accountant.
May you like
Harper stopped beneath the entrance light.
Behind the dark windows of Blackthorne Estate, someone was watching.
