Chapter 3 - THE MAID WHO REMEMBERED TOO LATE
Beatrice had hidden Serena's envelope because she had promised to hide it.
Then grief had swallowed the mansion whole, and memory had buried the promise beneath routines, funeral flowers, therapists, medication schedules, and a little girl who refused to speak.
Now, two years later, remembering felt almost like betrayal.
Leo stared at her in the hospital corridor.
"You forgot?"
The disbelief in his voice cut deeper than anger would have.
Beatrice flinched.
"I didn't forget her."
"You forgot the envelope."
"Yes."
"For two years."
"Yes."
"Something Serena thought could put Lily in danger."
Beatrice's shame became heat beneath her skin.
"I thought she meant a custody document or a letter."
"You didn't open it?"
"She told me not to."
Leo laughed once without humor.
"You obeyed that part."
Beatrice stood.
Pain shot through her wrist as she grabbed her coat.
"I am going back to the house."
"No."
"Then you can search every floorboard yourself."
"Beatrice."
She turned on him.
"Do not speak to me like I wanted your wife dead."
Leo's face changed.
The corridor went silent around them even though nurses continued moving in the distance.
Beatrice's voice shook, but she did not lower it.
"I loved Serena."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She had never spoken to him this way.
Not once in four years.
That made it impossible for him to dismiss.
"She was the first person in this house who asked me what I wanted to study before I became a maid."
Leo said nothing.
"She knew my mother's name."
"She remembered my birthday."
"When staff laughed about my weight, she fired the man who started it and told everyone else she would do the same to them."
Beatrice swallowed hard.
"When she died, I was trying to keep Lily alive inside herself."
Leo's anger drained by degrees.
"I should have remembered the envelope."
Beatrice looked down.
"I didn't."
"That is on me."
"Beatrice."
"But I will not let you make it sound like I failed Serena because I was busy carrying the pieces everyone else dropped."
Leo stared at her.
Then he looked away first.
"You're right."
The words seemed physically difficult for him.
"I shouldn't have said it that way."
Beatrice did not forgive him immediately.
She appreciated that he did not ask her to.
Mateo returned twenty minutes later with bad news and a location.
The call from Nico had bounced through two relays, but a traffic camera caught his car near an abandoned freight yard on the South Side.
A small team was already moving toward it.
"No one from the old Serena crew," Mateo said.
Leo nodded.
"Good."
Mateo looked at Beatrice.
"You remembered something?"
She told him about the envelope.
Unlike Leo, Mateo did not show surprise.
That bothered her.
"You knew?"
Mateo looked at her carefully.
"I knew Serena was collecting something."
Leo's head snapped toward him.
"You knew she was collecting evidence?"
"I knew she was worried."
"You never told me."
"At the time, you were the person she was worried about."
Leo stepped closer.
"Choose your next words carefully."
Mateo did not move.
"She thought your war with the Moretti crew was escalating."
"It was."
"She thought someone was using it to hide something else."
"Who?"
"She never told me."
Beatrice watched the two men with growing unease.
The fact that both had loved Serena did not mean either had known her fully.
Maybe nobody had.
Leo looked at Beatrice.
"Where did you hide the envelope?"
She closed her eyes.
The memory came in pieces.
Serena in a silk robe.
Bare feet against the kitchen tile.
The blue envelope clutched against her chest.
Beatrice washing flour from her hands.
Serena saying, Somewhere no man in this house would ever think to look.
Beatrice had smiled then.
She knew exactly where that was.
"The old baking pantry."
Mateo frowned.
"We don't have an old baking pantry."
"Not anymore."
Beatrice opened her eyes.
"It became the wine storage room after the remodel."
Leo stared at her.
"The west service wing?"
"Yes."
"Victoria redesigned that wing."
The three of them went silent.
Victoria had personally supervised the renovation eight months after Serena's death.
Walls had been opened.
Cabinetry had been removed.
Flooring had been replaced.
If the envelope had been hidden there, it might already be gone.
"Where exactly?" Leo asked.
"Behind the bottom drawer of the flour cabinet."
Mateo cursed under his breath.
"That cabinet was torn out."
Beatrice felt sick.
Leo was already calling the estate.
"Put two men in the west service wing."
"Nobody touches anything."
"Nobody enters except me, Mateo, or Beatrice."
He ended the call.
"Lily stays here tonight."
Beatrice nodded.
"I'm staying with her."
"So am I."
"Then who is going to the house?"
Leo looked at Mateo.
Mateo shook his head.
"No."
Leo's eyes narrowed.
"No?"
"You need to go yourself."
"My daughter is here."
"And the thing that nearly got her killed may be sitting in your house."
Leo's jaw tightened.
Mateo continued.
"Beatrice knows the hiding place."
"I'm not sending her into that house alone."
"I didn't say alone."
For a moment, the answer seemed obvious.
Mateo would take Beatrice.
Leo would stay with Lily.
Then Beatrice remembered the flicker in Mateo's expression when Leo ordered him to exclude everyone from Serena's old investigation.
She hated herself for noticing it.
She hated that this night had made suspicion feel sensible.
"I want Leo there," she said.
Both men looked at her.
"Why?" Mateo asked.
Beatrice chose the safest truth.
"Because Serena gave it to me for Lily."
"Leo is Lily's father."
Mateo studied her face one second longer than necessary.
Then he nodded.
"Fair."
A doctor entered before they could leave.
Lily would need overnight observation, but her oxygen levels had improved significantly.
She was frightened, exhausted, and asking repeatedly for Beatrice.
Leo made a decision.
"We wait until she sleeps."
Two hours passed.
By eleven thirty, Lily had finally drifted off with Beatrice sitting beside her and Leo in the chair near the window.
Mateo remained in the hall coordinating the search for Nico.
At eleven forty-seven, his phone rang.
He answered, listened, and said nothing for nearly a minute.
When he entered Lily's room, Leo stood immediately.
"You found him."
Mateo nodded.
"His car is at the freight yard."
"And Nico?"
"Not there."
"Blood?"
"Some."
Beatrice's stomach tightened.
"Enough to mean he's dead?"
Mateo looked at her.
"No."
"Anything else?"
"His jacket."
"Phone?"
"Gone."
"Weapon?"
"Gone."
Leo walked toward the door.
"We're leaving."
Beatrice leaned over Lily and kissed her forehead.
The child stirred.
"Bee?"
"I'm right here."
"Don't go home."
The words froze Beatrice.
Leo stepped closer.
"Why not, princess?"
Lily's eyes remained closed.
"Because she put something in Bee's room."
Beatrice's pulse jumped.
"Who did?"
Lily opened her eyes a crack.
"Victoria."
Leo crouched beside the bed.
"When?"
"Before dinner."
"What did she put there?"
Lily's voice faded.
"A key."
Beatrice and Leo stared at each other.
"What kind of key?" Beatrice asked.
"Big one."
Lily's eyes closed again.
"Like downstairs."
The cellar key.
Beatrice felt cold spread through her chest.
Victoria had planned to frame her.
If Leo had arrived minutes later and Lily had been found dead, the cellar key would have been discovered in Beatrice's room.
The bleeding maid would have become the perfect suspect.
Overweight, overlooked, poor, replaceable, and easy to describe as unstable after years of humiliation.
Victoria had known exactly what story people would believe.
Leo rose slowly.
"Mateo."
"I'm calling the house now."
"Tell them not to enter Beatrice's room."
"Already doing it."
Beatrice stood.
The room tilted for a second.
Leo caught her arm.
"Easy."
She pulled away.
"I'm fine."
"You keep saying that."
"Because nobody hears me when I say anything else."
He let that sit.
Then he opened the door for her.
They returned to the Rossi mansion shortly after midnight with four men Leo trusted because none had been employed by him when Serena died.
The estate looked different at night.
Not beautiful.
Not safe.
Every window seemed like an eye.
Victoria was still being held in the east sitting room under guard.
She demanded to speak to Leo as he passed.
"You are being manipulated!"
Leo did not stop.
"By a maid!"
Beatrice's shoulders tightened.
Victoria raised her voice.
"Ask her why she wanted Serena gone!"
Leo stopped.
Beatrice stopped too.
Victoria smiled from across the room.
There it was.
The first real weapon she had chosen to use.
"Go on, Beatrice," Victoria said.
"Tell him how much you loved his wife."
Beatrice said nothing.
Victoria's smile widened.
"Tell him what Serena promised you."
Leo looked at Beatrice.
"What is she talking about?"
Beatrice genuinely did not know.
Victoria laughed softly.
"Oh, she didn't tell you?"
A guard stepped between them, but Leo lifted one finger and the man stopped.
Victoria leaned forward in her chair.
"Your saintly maid was going to leave this house with Serena."
Beatrice's breath caught.
Leo's eyes moved to her.
That part was true.
Three weeks before the bombing, Serena had offered Beatrice a position at a nonprofit she planned to start for women leaving abusive households.
Beatrice had said yes.
Victoria watched recognition move across Leo's face.
"There," she whispered.
"Now we're telling the truth."
Leo looked at Beatrice.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it had nothing to do with her death."
"You were leaving?"
"Yes."
"With Serena?"
"To work for her."
Victoria laughed again.
"That is not what Serena told me."
Beatrice turned toward her.
"What did she tell you?"
Victoria's eyes glittered.
"She said she was taking Lily and disappearing."
Leo went completely still.
Beatrice shook her head.
"That's a lie."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
Victoria tilted her head.
"Then perhaps the envelope will prove it."
The room seemed to shrink.
Leo took one step toward her.
"You know about the envelope."
Victoria's smile vanished.
Too late.
She had said too much.
Mateo saw it.
Beatrice saw it.
Leo certainly saw it.
Victoria tried to recover.
"I heard you talking at the hospital."
Mateo's expression sharpened.
"You weren't at the hospital."
Silence.
Victoria looked toward the nearest guard.
The guard looked away.
Leo turned to Mateo.
"Search her."
Victoria shot to her feet.
"Don't you dare."
A female security officer was brought in from the gate detail.
Thirty seconds later, she removed a tiny wireless earpiece from beneath Victoria's hair.
Mateo stared at it.
"She's been listening to somebody."
Leo looked at Victoria.
"Or somebody has been listening to us."
Victoria said nothing.
Leo moved closer until only the guard stood between them.
"Who is on the other end?"
Victoria smiled again, but this time fear had reached her eyes.
"You should worry less about me."
"Why?"
"Because while you were standing here asking questions, somebody entered Beatrice's room."
Every head turned toward the upstairs corridor.
May you like
Then the mansion lights went out.
