Chapter 2 - The Missing Nanny
Richard did not go downstairs.
For the first fifteen minutes, Victoria apparently assumed Maya had simply taken longer than expected to settle.
Then the messages started arriving.
Darling?
The senator from Connecticut is asking for you.
Richard?
Is Maya sick?
I can come upstairs if you need help.
The final message made Maya's body stiffen even though she could not possibly have read it.
Richard stared at his phone.
Come upstairs.
He typed three words.
Stay with guests.
Victoria answered immediately.
Of course.
Take your time.
Love you.
Richard felt no comfort from the words.
Mercer had moved them into the old library at the opposite end of the residential wing.
Maya sat on Richard's lap drinking warm milk from a small cup Anna had brought from the kitchen.
The child seemed exhausted.
Every few seconds her eyelids lowered.
Then she would jerk awake and check whether Richard was still there.
He was beginning to notice things that had existed in front of him for weeks.
Maya did not merely want him nearby.
She was monitoring him.
Watching doors.
Watching footsteps.
Watching whether adults left.
Two-year-old children should not have to monitor a room.
Mercer entered carrying a tablet.
“I've isolated all access logs.”
“And?”
“Someone using your residential administrator credentials disabled the nursery camera, modified door sensor notifications, and removed alerts from the east-wing storage system.”
Richard looked up.
“Storage system?”
“The closet door has a magnetic contact.”
“Why?”
“Original child-safety integration.”
Richard remembered now.
When the estate had been renovated before Maya's birth, Eleanor had insisted on door alerts around closets, balconies, pools, and utility areas.
She had teased Richard for spending millions protecting cargo containers while being annoyed about spending thousands childproofing a mansion.
He had kissed her and approved every feature.
“Was the sensor disabled?”
“Not exactly.”
Mercer turned the tablet around.
“The alert destination was changed.”
“To where?”
“Mrs. Sterling's phone.”
Richard said nothing.
Mercer continued.
“That happened approximately eleven weeks ago.”
Richard looked down at Maya.
Eleven weeks.
“Find Claire Bennett.”
“We already started.”
“No.”
Richard's voice sharpened.
“Find her tonight.”
Mercer nodded.
“One other thing.”
“What?”
“There were repeated access events involving the closet.”
“How repeated?”
Mercer hesitated.
Richard's jaw tightened.
“Daniel.”
“Forty-seven recorded openings in eleven weeks.”
Richard felt physically sick.
“Duration?”
“Most under two minutes.”
“Most?”
Mercer looked at him.
“Seven exceeded ten minutes.”
Maya's cup slipped from her hands.
Richard caught it before it hit the rug.
He looked at her.
“Dark.”
The word was quieter this time.
Not frantic.
Almost resigned.
Something inside Richard broke.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
It happened with the simple realization that his daughter recognized that data without knowing what data was.
He handed Maya to Anna.
“Stay with her.”
Maya immediately reached for him.
“Daddy.”
Richard caught her hands.
“I’m right here.”
“No go.”
“I’m going to stand by the door.”
Her eyes searched his face.
Then she nodded.
Richard moved only six feet away.
Mercer followed.
“Get me Claire.”
“I will.”
“And find Mrs. Gable.”
“Yes.”
“Also pull every entry record involving Victoria in the east wing.”
Mercer lowered his voice.
“Richard.”
It was the first time that evening he had abandoned formal address.
“What exactly do you think happened?”
Richard stared through the glass-paneled library doors.
“I don't know.”
“That’s not true.”
Richard looked at him.
Mercer had known him for fourteen years.
He had been present during kidnapping threats, corporate investigations, labor disputes, extortion attempts, and Eleanor's funeral.
He knew when Richard was frightened.
“I think my daughter is afraid of my wife.”
Saying the words aloud made them real.
Mercer remained still.
Richard continued.
“And I think I have been too busy explaining that fear to actually ask why it exists.”
Mercer nodded once.
“Then we find out why.”
Downstairs, the orchestra began playing the opening waltz.
Richard could hear faint applause through the floors.
His phone rang.
Victoria.
He rejected the call.
It rang again.
He rejected it again.
A minute later, Mercer received a message.
He read it.
“Mrs. Sterling is asking security if you're in a business call.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing.”
Richard almost smiled.
“Good.”
Twenty minutes passed.
Maya finally fell asleep on the sofa.
Her hand remained wrapped around Richard's index finger.
Mercer's phone vibrated.
He answered.
“Yes?”
He listened.
“Put her through.”
He handed the phone to Richard.
A woman's voice came through.
“Hello?”
“Claire?”
Silence.
Then a sharp intake of breath.
“Mr. Sterling?”
“This is Richard.”
Another pause.
“I didn't expect you to call.”
“I should have called three weeks ago.”
Claire said nothing.
Richard lowered his voice.
“Why did you leave my house?”
“I resigned.”
“Why?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
Richard looked at Mercer.
“You told someone using my email address.”
The silence changed.
“What do you mean?”
“I never received a resignation from you.”
Claire whispered something Richard could not hear.
“Claire.”
“Mr. Sterling, where is Maya?”
“She’s with me.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Is Victoria there?”
Richard looked toward the library door.
“No.”
Claire exhaled.
It sounded like relief.
“Claire, tell me what happened.”
“I signed papers.”
“I don't care about the papers.”
“She said you'd destroy me.”
“Who?”
But Richard already knew.
“Victoria.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“What did you see?”
Claire began crying.
Not loudly.
Her voice simply fractured.
“I saw Maya locked in that closet.”
Richard's hand tightened around the phone.
Mercer turned away slightly, giving him privacy.
“When?”
“The first time was September sixth.”
First time.
Richard's stomach twisted.
“You saw it more than once?”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Three.”
“Why didn't you call me?”
“I tried.”
Richard opened his eyes.
“Explain.”
“The first time, Victoria told me it was a behavioral exercise.”
“What kind of behavioral exercise puts a two-year-old child in a dark closet?”
“I told her that.”
Claire sounded ashamed.
“She said Maya had started having tantrums and needed a quiet place with no stimulation.”
Richard looked at Maya sleeping peacefully.
“Was she crying?”
“Yes.”
“How long was she inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Victoria wouldn't let me open the door.”
Richard had to force himself to remain quiet.
“What happened next?”
“I waited until Victoria went downstairs.”
“And?”
“I opened it.”
Claire's voice broke.
“Maya was sitting against the wall holding that rabbit Eleanor gave her.”
Richard looked toward the hallway.
“She wasn't screaming anymore.”
The sentence landed harder than anything else.
“She was just sitting there.”
Richard could barely speak.
“Why?”
“Because she'd learned screaming didn't open the door.”
For several seconds, Richard heard nothing but the faint breathing of his daughter.
“What happened the other times?”
“The second time I intervened immediately.”
“And the third?”
“I recorded it.”
Richard stood.
“You have a recording?”
“No.”
His hope disappeared.
“Victoria saw me.”
“What did she do?”
“She took my phone.”
“How?”
“She told me there had been a security breach and demanded it.”
“And you gave it to her?”
“I was frightened.”
Claire's voice rose.
“You have to understand what this house feels like when you're an employee.”
“Everyone knows Richard Sterling owns everything.”
“The guards.”
“The lawyers.”
“The company cars.”
“The contracts.”
“She told me you knew what she was doing.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Claire continued.
“She showed me messages.”
“What messages?”
“Messages supposedly from you.”
Richard looked at Mercer.
“What did they say?”
“That Maya needed firmer discipline.”
“That you were tired of her crying.”
“That if I undermined Victoria again, I'd be fired.”
Richard felt something inside him turn to ice.
“I never wrote those messages.”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“Because after I left, Mrs. Gable called me.”
Richard straightened.
“What did she say?”
“She asked why I disappeared.”
Claire began crying again.
“I told her.”
“She told me to keep everything.”
“Everything what?”
“Screenshots.”
“Schedules.”
“Photos.”
“Anything that could prove what happened.”
Richard looked at Mercer.
“Where are you?”
“Stamford.”
“Can you come back?”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
Claire hesitated.
“Will Victoria be there?”
Richard's voice became very calm.
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
Richard understood.
“Where can Mercer meet you?”
There was another pause.
Finally Claire gave an address.
Richard handed the phone back.
“Send two people.”
Mercer nodded.
“And bring her here?”
“No.”
Richard looked toward Maya.
“Take her somewhere Victoria cannot reach her.”
Mercer's expression changed.
“You’re planning something.”
“I'm planning to find out whether my wife has been terrorizing my child inside my own house.”
Richard looked toward the floor.
“And if she has, Victoria isn't leaving this estate tonight with control of the story.”
Mercer studied him.
“Be careful.”
“Why?”
“Because if she's been manipulating security systems and fabricating communications for months, she didn't start planning this tonight.”
Richard looked toward the distant ballroom.
Below them, Victoria's laughter carried faintly through the estate.
The sound was beautiful.
Elegant.
Perfectly controlled.
For the first time, Richard heard something underneath it.
Calculation.
Then Anna approached from the doorway.
“Mr. Sterling?”
Richard turned.
She was holding something in her hand.
A small silver bracelet.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was behind the radiator in Maya's nursery.”
Richard recognized it immediately.
It belonged to Victoria.
He had given it to her on their first wedding anniversary.
Anna turned it over.
Something dark stained one edge.
Richard took it.
“What is that?”
“I don't know.”
But Maya woke at the sound of Victoria's name.
She looked at the bracelet.
Her face drained of color.
Then she whispered two words.
“Bad mama.”
May you like
Richard stared at his daughter.
This time, he did not explain the words away.
