Chapter 11 - The Nanny's Confession.
Carla sealed the white tablets in an evidence bag before anyone else touched the gift box.
Vanessa immediately denied knowing they were there.
"He brought the box into the house."
Adrian stared at her.
"You picked it up."
"For three seconds."
"Long enough to turn it over."
Vanessa looked at Carla.
"This is absurd."
Then Margaret spoke from the staircase.
"I saw those pills before."
Vanessa turned so quickly that the sleeve of her robe struck the doorframe.
"Where?" Carla asked.
"In Mrs. Mercer's dressing room."
"When?"
"Two weeks ago."
"You search my private drawers now?"
Margaret ignored her.
"Lily had a fever."
"I went looking for the children's thermometer because Vanessa said she had borrowed it."
"The top drawer was open."
"There were several packets like that beside a prescription bottle."
Carla asked whether Margaret remembered the name on the bottle.
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Clonazepam."
Samuel looked toward Adrian.
Carla wrote the name down.
"That does not prove these tablets are the same medication," she said.
"The lab will determine that."
Margaret nodded.
Then she began crying.
"There is more."
Adrian felt dread return.
Margaret sat on the bottom stair.
"I should have told you months ago."
"I kept telling myself I could protect Lily while you were away."
Adrian sat across from her.
"Tell me now."
Margaret gripped the edge of her apron.
"Vanessa started small."
"She took away desserts when Lily talked about her mother."
"Then she took away dinner when Lily refused to call her Mom."
Adrian looked down at the floor.
Margaret continued.
"She would stand outside Lily's bedroom and make her repeat apologies through the door."
"Sometimes for things Lily had not done."
"Once she made her apologize for crying."
Adrian's throat tightened.
"Why didn't you call me?"
Margaret's answer came with visible shame.
"Because she showed me documents saying she could have me arrested for stealing jewelry."
"Because you did steal."
Margaret turned toward her.
"You put your bracelet in my handbag."
Margaret reached into her uniform and removed an old envelope.
Inside were three photographs.
One showed a diamond bracelet lying inside Margaret's handbag.
Another showed Vanessa's dressing table before the bracelet disappeared.
The third showed the bracelet returned to Vanessa's jewelry case two days later.
"I took these because I knew she was framing me," Margaret said.
"She told me if I contacted Mr. Mercer, she would send the first photograph to police and say I had begged her not to report me."
"You should have trusted me."
Margaret nodded through tears.
"I know."
"And I should have trusted what I was seeing."
"Lily changed."
"She stopped singing."
"She stopped running to the front door when your car came home because Vanessa told her you needed quiet."
Adrian looked toward the staircase.
He remembered arriving home to silence and assuming Lily was asleep.
He remembered Vanessa telling him not to wake her.
"Once."
Adrian stood so quickly the chair moved backward.
"What?"
"She said it was allergy medicine."
"Lily slept almost fourteen hours."
Vanessa stepped forward.
"She had a cold."
Margaret's voice rose for the first time.
"She was not sick."
Carla moved between them.
"When did this happen?"
Margaret gave the date.
Carla looked toward the forensic technician.
"Prioritize the tablets."
Vanessa's attorney Nolan moved into the doorway.
"My client is done answering questions."
Carla nodded.
"That's her right."
Nolan looked relieved.
Then Carla added one more sentence.
"But the child's teddy bear has eleven hours of recordings, and we've listened to only forty-three minutes."
Vanessa's face went still.
Margaret suddenly looked at the bear.
"There's one night you need to find."
Carla turned toward her.
"Which night?"
Margaret gave a date from three weeks earlier.
"That was the night Mr. Grant stayed after midnight."
Vanessa whispered something under her breath.
May you like
Adrian heard only two words.
"Not that."
