Chapter 12 - The Housekeeper's Account
Her name was Maribel Soto, and she had worked for Hal and me for twelve years.
She'd stopped coming after Nathan changed the locks.
I called her from Elise's office, half afraid she would refuse to speak to me.
Instead she answered on the first ring.
“Mrs. Braddock, I've been worried sick.”
Maribel told us Nathan had said I was moving into assisted living and would no longer need help with the house.
She had asked to see me before leaving.
He refused.
Two days before the lock change, she had watched Corinne carry boxes of files from Hal's study into an SUV.
The vehicle belonged to Graham Hollis.
I felt my pulse quicken.
“Did you see what was in the boxes?”
“Papers, ma'am. And one of Mr. Hal's notebooks.”
“The red one?”
“No. A black one, with a brass clasp.”
I hadn't thought of the black notebook in years.
Hal used it for private project bids and occasional notes about neighbors who asked for favors.
Maribel said she had taken a photograph because the scene struck her as strange.
When Elise asked why she hadn't spoken earlier, her voice dropped.
“Mrs. Corinne told me if I said anything, she'd make sure I never worked in this county again.”
I closed my eyes.
Corinne knew where to press because she understood that honest people have something to lose.
Elise helped arrange a formal interview and asked Maribel to preserve the photograph in its original form.
A few days later, officers executing a properly authorized search in connection with the suspected forged documents recovered boxes of papers from an office linked to the land transaction.
I wasn't present.
I heard about it through my attorney.
Among the recovered items was a black notebook with Hal's handwriting.
Its contents connected payments, promised access rights, and meetings Nathan had never disclosed to me.
But the most disturbing page was not about property.
It listed dates when Nathan visited our home while Hal was in the hospital.
Beside one entry Hal had written, Quinn must never be left alone with him while he is angry.
I stared at those words until the paper blurred.
Elise offered to stop for the day.
I refused.
A person can endure more truth than the people lying to them imagine.
Then she turned the page.
There was a second note, written in another hand.
May you like
If Quinn challenges the transaction, use the doctor.
