Chapter 2 - OLIVIA HAD BEEN WATCHING
The second recording had been made three nights earlier.
Olivia had placed her phone behind a row of books on the upstairs landing.
She had started recording because Vanessa had been arguing with Clara whenever Adrian was away.
The video showed Vanessa standing outside Emma’s nursery.
Clara was holding a basket of folded baby clothes.
Vanessa’s voice was low.
“You’re getting too comfortable here.”
Clara looked confused.
“I work here.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Emma reaches for you before she reaches for me.”
Clara’s expression softened.
“She’s a baby.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She spends most weekdays with me while you and Adrian are working.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You love pointing that out.”
“I wasn’t pointing anything out.”
“You think you’re better with her.”
Clara shook her head.
“I think Emma needs adults who care about her.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“And you think I don’t.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
The recording continued.
Vanessa glanced toward the stairs.
Then she lowered her voice.
“If Adrian thinks you’re careless, you’re gone.”
Clara’s face hardened.
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m reminding you that you work for us.”
Olivia stopped the video.
Adrian stood beside the couch with Emma resting against his shoulder.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then he asked Olivia a question he already feared hearing the answer to.
“How long has this been happening?”
Olivia looked down.
“Since about two weeks after Clara started.”
Adrian felt something cold move through his chest.
Clara had worked for them for six months.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Olivia looked at him with disbelief.
“I did.”
Adrian opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Olivia continued.
“I told you Vanessa kept going through Clara’s things.”
Adrian remembered.
He had told Olivia Vanessa was probably looking for one of Emma’s blankets.
“I told you she yelled at Clara for holding Emma after dinner.”
He remembered that too.
Vanessa had called it a misunderstanding.
“I told you she unplugged the nursery camera.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
He remembered Vanessa saying the camera had stopped working.
“I told you she kept blaming Clara for things that didn’t make sense.”
Olivia’s voice cracked.
“You kept telling me to stop creating drama.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Every warning he had dismissed returned at once.
He had trusted the easiest explanation.
He had trusted the person sleeping beside him.
He had failed to listen to his own daughter.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“This is ridiculous.”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“You told Clara I’d fire her if I thought she was careless.”
“I was angry.”
“You pushed Emma’s stroller toward a staircase.”
“I didn’t mean for it to go that far.”
Clara stared at her.
That was the first admission.
Olivia heard it too.
“So you admit you pushed it.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“I moved it.”
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“Stop changing words.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I wanted Clara to catch it.”
The room seemed to become smaller.
Clara’s face went pale.
“You what?”
Vanessa shook her head quickly.
“I knew she was nearby.”
“You used my daughter as part of some performance?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be dangerous.”
“The stroller rolled toward the stairs.”
“I thought Clara would stop it.”
“And what if she hadn’t?”
Vanessa had no answer.
Emma stirred against Adrian’s shoulder.
He instinctively tightened his hold.
For the first time, the full weight of what could have happened hit him.
One second later.
One shoe slipping.
One delayed reaction.
One closed kitchen door.
Emma could have gone down those stairs.
Adrian looked toward Clara’s swollen knee.
She had injured herself stopping the stroller.
Then he looked at the mark on her cheek.
He had punished the person who saved his child.
Vanessa suddenly reached for his arm.
“Adrian, I made a terrible mistake.”
He pulled away.
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
“You don’t get to call this a mistake yet.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m calling the police.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You cannot be serious.”
Olivia spoke from behind him.
“He is.”
Vanessa’s fear turned to anger.
“You think the police are going to arrest me because a stroller rolled three feet?”
Clara answered quietly.
“No.”
Vanessa turned toward her.
Clara looked at the television.
“They might be interested in why the nursery camera was disconnected first.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
Clara swallowed.
“I checked it this afternoon.”
Her eyes moved to Vanessa.
“The cable hadn’t fallen out.”
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“It had been cut.”
Vanessa’s face became completely still.
