Chapter 3 - The Teddy Bear's Secret.
Adrian took the teddy bear from Margaret with both hands.
Vanessa immediately moved forward.
"Give me that."
Adrian looked at her.
The urgency in her voice was more revealing than anything she had said that night.
He pulled the torn seam wider.
A tiny black plastic object dropped into his palm.
"Adrian?"
Adrian picked up the phone.
"I'll call you back."
He ended the call.
Margaret stared at the device.
"Is that a recorder?"
It was a miniature voice recorder with a removable memory card.
Vanessa crossed her arms.
"This is insane."
"Who put it there?" Adrian asked.
"How would I know?"
Margaret looked down.
Adrian turned toward her.
"Margaret."
The nanny's eyes filled with tears.
"Lily asked me to sew the ear closed three weeks ago."
"Why?"
"She said she had put a secret inside."
Adrian ignored her.
"Did you know what the secret was?"
Margaret shook her head.
"No."
Then she hesitated.
"But I knew she had started hiding things."
Adrian felt a wave of shame.
"What things?"
Margaret glanced toward Vanessa.
"Food."
"Explain."
"Crackers in her pillowcase."
"Fruit in the drawer beside her bed."
"Once, a dinner roll inside her toy chest."
Adrian looked at Vanessa.
"Why was my daughter hiding food?"
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
"Because Margaret indulges every strange habit she has."
Margaret's grief turned to anger.
"She hid food because you sent her to bed without dinner."
Vanessa stepped toward her.
"Watch yourself."
Adrian moved between them.
"How often?"
Margaret answered without taking her eyes off Vanessa.
"More than once."
"How many times?"
"I don't know."
"Five."
"Maybe six."
Adrian's face drained of color.
Vanessa pointed toward Margaret.
"She is lying because she knows you will fire her for allowing Lily to become impossible."
Margaret suddenly reached into her apron pocket.
She pulled out a small key.
"Then let him see the room."
Vanessa stopped breathing for a moment.
Adrian noticed.
"What room?"
Margaret held out the key.
"The old nursery at the east end of the second floor."
Adrian frowned.
The nursery had been closed since Lily was a toddler.
His late wife Claire had chosen the wallpaper herself.
After Claire's death, Adrian could barely walk past the door.
"Why do you have a key?"
Margaret's voice became almost a whisper.
"Because Mrs. Mercer changed the lock."
Vanessa turned toward the hallway.
Adrian caught her wrist before she reached the door.
He released it instantly, but his warning was clear.
"You are not leaving."
Vanessa stared at him.
"You don't get to hold me prisoner in this house."
"Then walk out the front door."
"But you are not going upstairs before I do."
For the first time that night, fear appeared plainly in her eyes.
That was enough for Adrian.
He took the key from Margaret.
They climbed the staircase together.
Vanessa followed several steps behind, arguing that they were invading her privacy.
Adrian did not respond.
At the east corridor, he saw a new brass lock on the nursery door.
Margaret's key fit.
The door opened with a soft click.
The room smelled of dust, perfume, and printer ink.
Claire's old rocking chair was gone.
In its place stood a desk.
On the desk were stacks of bank statements, legal forms, school reports, and photographs of Adrian entering hotels and restaurants on business trips.
A corkboard covered one wall.
Pinned to it was a timeline of his absences from home.
At the center was a photograph of Lily.
May you like
Beneath it, written in Vanessa's handwriting, were four words.
FATHER UNFIT BY CHRISTMAS.
