“No. I told you. I didn’t see anyone else, or any other car.”
“Are you certain?”
“There was no other vehicle in the driveway.” Her gaze darts back toward the doors. The woman is getting flighty, looking increasingly cornered. Mal senses their window for obtaining information from Daisy Rittenberg is closing fast.
“What if I told you that we have a witness who saw both you and your husband pulling into the Northview driveway in a dark-gray Audi S6 sedan at six fourteen p.m.? You parked the Audi right behind a yellow Subaru. And our witness saw your Audi and the yellow Subaru were still in that driveway until just before midnight. After which both the Audi and the Subaru were driven away together. At speed.”
“I’d say your witness is lying. Or seeing things. And that we’re done here.”
Benoit says, “Someone was seriously hurt inside that house, Mrs.Rittenberg, and your cooperation would—”
“What?”
“I said, someone was hurt—”
“Who?Whowas hurt?” Panic brightens her eyes. Red spots form on her cheeks.
“If you could just answer our questions,” Mal says.
“Dad!” She pushes to her feet and waddles toward the french doors, her hand pressing on the small of her back. The doors swing open before she reaches them.
Her father steps into the room. He takes one look at his daughter and says, “Okay, officers, you need to leave. Now.”
Mal surges to her feet. “Just one more question. Please. A woman’s life could depend on it.”
Labden Wentworth wavers, then glances at his daughter. Mal uses the moment to reach for her phone. Hurriedly, she pulls up the image of Kit Darling provided by Holly McGuire. She holds her phone toward Daisy.
“Do you recognize this person?”
Daisy leans forward, swallows hard. “No.”
“Are you certain? Take a good look.”
“Of course I’m certain. Who is she?”
“Your maid. Up until October 27.”
Daisy goes sheet white. “What?”
“Her name is Kit Darling. She cleaned Rose Cottage for Holly’s Help until October 27, after which you got a new maid.”
Daisy keeps her gaze fixed on the photo as though afraid to meet Mal’s eyes again. “I’m always out of the house when the maid comes. I’ve never laid eyes on this person. If Holly sent someone different at the end of October, I don’t know that, either. All I know is my house gets cleaned.” Her hands start to tremble. “Dad, I—I think I’m going to faint. I need to lie down. Tell these people to get out of here. Now.”
As Annabelle Wentworth hurriedly ushers Mal and Benoit toward the front door, Mal hears Daisy Rittenberg’s voice going shrill as she says to her father, “I don’t know! I havenoidea what happened at the house. Of course I’m telling you the truth.”
THE MAID’S DIARY
I’m hot and edgy with anxiety as I insert Daisy’s flash drive into my laptop. I do it as soon as I am back in my apartment. I’m besieged with a sharp urgency. What I saw—what I now know, the evidence I have in my phone—it makes me dangerous to both Jon and Daisy, which in turn makes them dangerous to me. I need to return this drive ASAP.
I open the flash drive folder. There is just one file inside. A video. I click on it and hit PLAY.
At first the footage is confusing. Bad angles, jerky camera, lots of moving people, grainy, low light. Music, loud voices, laughing. But as the footage unspools on my laptop monitor, I realize with horror what I am seeing.
Someone recorded that night.
This is the visual proof that underpins the contents of the documents that Daisy hides under lock and key.
I watch in mounting dread. Then I hear something in the footage. A laugh. It rises above the music and the voices. A high, whooping laugh. It winds up, higher. I go ice cold. I can’t breathe. I hit STOP.
