Chapter 2 - The Suitcase Already Packed.
Mason did not raise his voice.
That made Patricia more uneasy than anger would have.
He folded the false termination letter once, placed it on the marble island, and looked at Clara.
"What does she mean by why you were really hired?"
Clara's lips parted, but Patricia answered first.
"Not here."
Mason turned toward her.
"You lost the privilege of deciding where this conversation happens when you put my name on a document I never signed."
Patricia's eyes narrowed.
"I did what was necessary for this household."
"That is not an answer."
Clara looked between them.
"Mason, I can explain what I know."
The phrase what I know landed strangely.
It did not sound like a confession.
It sounded like someone standing at the edge of a much larger story.
Before she could continue, a soft wheel scraped against the hallway floor.
All three adults looked toward the doorway.
A house attendant named Russell appeared with a vintage brown suitcase on a luggage cart.
Clara stared at it.
"That's mine."
Russell stopped so abruptly that the wheels bumped the baseboard.
"Mrs. Vale asked me to bring it downstairs."
Mason's eyes moved to Patricia.
"You packed her room?"
Patricia lifted her chin.
"Her room was prepared for departure."
Clara crossed the kitchen and opened the suitcase.
Her folded clothes were inside.
So were her books, her winter coat, and the framed photograph she kept beside her bed.
But she began searching more quickly after a few seconds.
"Something is missing."
Patricia's expression became unreadable.
Mason noticed the change.
"What?"
Clara pulled aside a sweater.
"A small blue notebook."
Patricia gave a quiet sigh.
"This is becoming theatrical."
"Where is it?" Clara asked.
Her warm manner was gone.
For the first time since Mason had known her, her voice carried steel.
Patricia looked directly at her.
"You should have destroyed it when you were told."
Mason stepped between them.
"Nobody is leaving this kitchen until I understand what that notebook contains."
Patricia glanced at the breakfast room door.
"You are doing this while Avery is ten feet away."
"You involved Avery first."
That silenced her.
Clara closed the suitcase.
"The notebook belonged to Evelyn."
Mason did not move.
Even after four years, his late wife's name had a way of making time feel badly stitched together.
Patricia's face sharpened.
"Clara."
"He deserves to know."
Mason turned toward Clara slowly.
"How did you get something that belonged to my wife?"
Clara's hands tightened around the suitcase handle.
"Because she gave it to me."
The kitchen seemed suddenly too bright.
"You never met Evelyn," Mason said.
That was what he believed.
Clara looked at the floor.
"I never told you that."
Mason searched his memory.
He had assumed it because Clara had come through an agency after Evelyn's death.
He had assumed many things about the quiet woman who kept Avery's world steady.
Patricia stepped forward.
"This is exactly why she cannot remain here."
Mason looked at her.
"You knew?"
Patricia did not answer.
Clara did.
"Evelyn contacted me almost three years before the accident."
Mason's heartbeat seemed to slow.
"Why?"
Clara glanced at Patricia.
"I didn't know at first."
The breakfast room door opened.
Avery appeared holding her empty cake plate.
"Can I have more?"
Every adult turned toward her too quickly.
Avery stopped.
Her smile disappeared.
Mason walked over, crouched to her height, and took the plate gently.
"Russell is going to make you cocoa upstairs."
Avery looked toward the suitcase.
"Is Clara going somewhere?"
Mason looked over his shoulder at Patricia.
"No one is going anywhere tonight."
Avery seemed satisfied with that answer.
Russell guided her toward the stairs.
As soon as they were gone, Mason locked the kitchen door.
Patricia stared at him.
"You cannot lock your family into a room and demand a trial."
"I'm locking out interruptions."
He faced Clara again.
"Tell me about Evelyn."
Clara took a slow breath.
"She found me through a genealogy service."
Patricia closed her eyes for half a second.
Mason caught it.
"And?"
Clara's voice became quieter.
"She said there was a connection between us that she needed to prove."
Mason's gaze moved to Patricia.
Patricia's face had gone pale.
"What connection?"
Clara reached beneath the lining of the suitcase.
Her fingers found something Mason had not seen.
She pulled out a small brass key taped to the underside of the fabric.
"Evelyn told me that if anyone ever tried to force me out of this house, I was supposed to open a box in the old library."
Patricia moved toward her.
Mason blocked the way.
"What box?"
May you like
Clara looked at the key in her palm.
"The one Patricia told me never existed."
