Chapter 4 - The Thread on the Key.
Sophia waited until the security officer left before telling Julian about the blue thread.
Julian wanted to confront Celeste immediately.
Sophia stopped him because an accusation without proof would only help Bianca.
They agreed to photograph Celeste's uniform inventory before anyone could replace it.
In the staff laundry room, they found three pale-blue jackets and one empty hanger.
The inventory card listed four.
The missing jacket had been signed out at 3:50 that morning.
The signature belonged to a temporary housemaid named Nora Bell.
Celeste claimed Nora had quit without notice.
No one remembered seeing Nora leave.
Julian checked the front gate record.
Nora's badge had entered at midnight but had never recorded an exit.
Sophia felt the mansion close around them.
They searched the public rooms without alarming Leo.
In the service pantry, Sophia heard a faint vibration inside a locked flour cabinet.
Julian forced the weak latch and found a phone wrapped in a pale-blue jacket.
The phone belonged to Nora.
There was no sign of Nora herself.
One unsent message remained on the screen.
"They changed the bottle and put the key on Sophia.
I saved the drive." The rest of the message had not uploaded.
Julian called security again.
Bianca arrived first, almost as if someone had warned her.
She claimed the phone could have been planted by Sophia.
Grant advised everyone to stop touching potential evidence.
Celeste stared at the jacket but showed no surprise.
Sophia asked where Nora slept.
Celeste said temporary staff did not stay overnight.
The gate log proved otherwise.
At noon, a delivery driver reported finding a frightened young woman at a bus stop two miles away.
Nora returned with a borrowed coat and a story she could barely tell.
She said Celeste had ordered her to clean the camera cabinet.
When Nora discovered the missing drive, someone locked her in the pantry corridor.
She escaped through a service window and ran because her phone had been taken.
"Who changed the bottle?" Julian asked.
Nora looked toward Celeste.
Before she answered, Grant interrupted.
He said witness statements should be taken formally.
Bianca agreed and sent Nora to another room with security.
Sophia saw fear return to Nora's face.
An hour later, Nora signed a statement denying everything.
She said stress had confused her and Sophia had pressured her to invent the message.
Sophia was not allowed inside the interview.
Julian confronted Grant, but the attorney reminded him that Nora had signed voluntarily.
When Nora passed Sophia in the hallway, she whispered two words without moving her lips.
"Music box." That evening, Sophia opened the silver music box beside Leo's crib.
Beneath the velvet lining, she found the missing camera drive.
She also found a folded note in the handwriting of Leo's late mother, Elena.
May you like
The first line read, "If Bianca ever asks for guardianship, do not trust the family attorney."
THE NANNY WHO GAVE HIM HOPE
