Chương 2
“Without telling anyone?”
Celeste looked at Pilar and Lionel as though their presence were an insult Adrian had invented. “Could we have this conversation privately?”
Adrian turned to Anna. “Tell me what happened.”
Celeste folded her arms. “You cannot be serious.”
“I’m asking the person you accused.”
Anna pressed her thumbnail into the side of her finger. She had imagined being questioned by wealthy employers before. In those imagined scenes, she had always been calm. She spoke in full sentences. She remembered every detail in the correct order. No one interrupted.
The real room kept tilting slightly to the left.
“Ms. Santos asked me to finish dusting the lower frames before the appraiser came tomorrow,” she said. “Ms. Vale was already here when I came in. She had the small ladder.”
“What ladder?” Adrian asked.
“The brass library steps,” Lionel said. “They’re normally kept in the east alcove.”
Adrian looked at Celeste.
She gave an impatient shrug. “I needed to inspect the frame.”
Anna continued. “She had moved the portrait away from the wall. Just a little. I saw the backing paper was open. She was holding the envelope.”
“And then?” Adrian asked.
“I asked if Mr. Reed knew she was removing something from the frame.”
Celeste’s laugh was quiet and sharp. “She challenged me in my own house.”
Anna looked down at her wrinkled sleeve. “I asked a question.”
“And then?” Adrian repeated.
“She told me to leave. I said I needed to call Mr. Reed because we’re supposed to record anything found during inventory. She walked toward the table. I stepped in front of the door.”
“You blocked me,” Celeste said.
“I didn’t touch you.”
“You put your body in my way.”
Anna swallowed. “You caught my sleeve when I reached for my phone.”
“And the portrait?” Adrian asked.
“The ladder was still beside it. Ms. Vale stepped backward. Her heel hit the bottom step. The top rail tipped against the glass.”
Celeste stared at her. “That is not what happened.”
“The glass cracked,” Anna said. “You looked at it, and then you told me I had done it.”
The room became still again.
Adrian’s gaze moved between the brass steps and Celeste’s high heels.
“Pilar,” he said, “take Anna to the blue sitting room. Stay with her.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed. “You’re dismissing her from the room before I can respond?”
“I’m getting her away from you.”
“I barely touched her.”
Anna felt the words land more heavily than a denial would have.
Pilar held out a hand. Anna stood without taking it, embarrassed by the possibility that she might need help. The movement sent a wave of nausea through her. She waited until it passed.
As they reached the side door, Adrian spoke again.
“Anna.”
She turned.
“No one is dismissing you. No one is calling the agency. I want your account in writing, but not until you’ve had time to settle.”
Celeste said, “You cannot promise that.”
Adrian did not look at her. “I just did.”
The blue sitting room had been designed for people who did not know what to do with themselves between dinner and departure. Its furniture was elegant and uncomfortable, upholstered in pale silk that showed every crease. Pilar ignored the sofa and led Anna to a small armchair near the radiator.
“You’re white as the wall,” she said.
“I’m fine.”
“That phrase should be banned from this house.”
Pilar knelt and removed one of Anna’s shoes before Anna understood what she was doing.
“What—”
“Your ankle.”
Anna looked down. A red mark crossed the skin where she had twisted her foot near the ladder. It had not begun to swell.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“That is not the same as being fine.”
Pilar pressed lightly around the joint, then sat back on her heels.
“You can move it?”
Anna rotated her foot.
“Good. Keep the shoe off for a minute.”
Pilar stood and went to the sideboard. She poured water into a crystal tumbler, frowned at it, and replaced it with an ordinary glass from a cabinet below. The practicality of the decision nearly made Anna cry.
She drank slowly.
Pilar sat across from her. “Did Celeste hit you?”
“No.”
“Push you?”
“No.”
“Did you fall?”
“No.”
“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
Anna’s hand had returned to her abdomen.
Pilar noticed.
Her voice softened without becoming sentimental. “How far along?”
Anna stared at her.
“I have three sisters,” Pilar said. “All of them touched their stomachs before they had anything to touch.”
“Eleven weeks.”
“Does anyone here know?”
“No.”
“The father?”
Anna looked toward the dark window. Beyond the glass, the lawn sloped toward the Hudson, which was disappearing under the evening haze.
“Not yet.”
Pilar waited. When Anna offered nothing more, she nodded.
“Have you had pain?”
“No. Just nausea.”
“Bleeding?”
“No.”
“Then we are not creating disasters in advance. But I’m calling a car to take you to urgent care.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“My insurance through the agency doesn’t start until next month.”
“The estate will pay.”
Anna’s laugh came out wrong, almost a cough. “That will look like they’re paying because something happened.”
“Something did happen.”
“Not to the baby.”
Pilar leaned back. “You don’t know that. Neither do I. That is why doctors exist, though lately they seem determined to make appointments impossible.”
Anna rubbed the condensation from the glass with her thumb. “I need this job.”
“I know.”
“I’m still on the agency’s ninety-day review. If Celeste tells them I damaged artwork—”
“Adrian said he wouldn’t call.”
“Adrian isn’t the only Vale.”
Pilar’s mouth tightened. She had worked at Vale House for nineteen years and had mastered the art of expressing agreement without openly criticizing the family.
“No,” she said. “He is not.”
In the foyer, Adrian waited until the side door closed behind Anna and Pilar.
Then he picked up the envelope.
Celeste reached for it. He moved it beyond her hand.
May you like
“You said no one touches it,” she said.
“I said no one touches it before we established where it came from.”
