Chapter 6 - The Maid They Tried to Frame
I had never been inside a police interview room. The walls were pale, the clock was loud, and the detective across from me had a face that revealed nothing. Evelyn sat beside me and told me to answer only what I knew.
The complaint claimed I had stolen jewelry, copied private records, and pressured Teresa into making false statements. It included a photograph of me leaving the bank with Luca and a receipt bearing my signature for a bracelet I had never touched.
"Is this your signature?" the detective asked.
"It looks like mine," I admitted. "But I didn't sign it."
He leaned forward. "How do you explain that?"
"Someone had access to my employment forms. Vanessa kept copies of all the staff paperwork."
I could hear my pulse. If I lost my job, Eli and I could lose our apartment. If I were arrested, even briefly, who would pick him up from school? The thought made my hands go cold.
Evelyn requested the original receipt and pointed out a discrepancy in the date. On the day the jewelry was supposedly taken, I had been at the hospital with Eli, who had a fever. There were records, bills, and a photograph I had sent my neighbor.
The detective wrote something down. "We'll verify it."
When I left the station, Luca waited beside the car. "You didn't need to come," I told him.
"I wanted you to know I believed you."
"Belief doesn't erase a police report."
"No," he said. "But evidence can."
He had hired an independent forensic accountant and given investigators full access to the household records. I appreciated the help, but I also needed something from him that money couldn't buy.
"Promise me you won't threaten anyone over this," I said. "I need this solved the right way."
He studied my face, then nodded. "I promise."
Back at the mansion, Teresa was furious. "They accuse Hannah because she was kind to an old dog?" she demanded.
"Because she saw something they wanted hidden," Evelyn replied.
Teresa called her oldest friends, women who had served on nonprofit boards for decades. She asked them to attend the emergency foundation meeting as observers. One by one, they agreed.
Meanwhile, Eli made Duke a paper medal that read BRAVEST DOG. He hung it from a ribbon around the dog's neck, careful not to disturb the old collar. Duke wagged his tail twice, and Eli declared the ceremony a success.
I laughed despite everything. Luca watched from the doorway, smiling. When Eli ran outside to show Teresa his next drawing, Luca stayed.
"I owe you an apology," he said.
"For what?"
"I let Vanessa manage this house because I didn't want to see how unhappy everyone had become. You told me the truth while I was choosing not to look."
His words landed somewhere tender. "Then keep looking," I said.
"I intend to."
That night, the forensic accountant found that Vanessa's jewelry receipt had been generated from an office computer while I was logged into the hospital's patient portal across town. Security footage placed Dominic's assistant in the office at the same time.
The detective called to say the evidence substantially undermined the complaint. He would continue investigating the forgery.
I should have felt relieved. Instead, I looked at the window and saw a small toy dinosaur on the cottage steps. It was Eli's favorite, the one he'd left in our locked apartment.
A note was tied around its neck: NEXT TIME WE WON'T RETURN A TOY.
May you like
I called Marco before touching anything.
This time, the threat was no longer just a message. Someone had been inside our home.
