Chapter 12 - The Housekeeper's SecretRosa Flores had worked at Wrenwood for eleven years.
She had known Eleanor before Daisy was born.
She remembered the day Eleanor returned from the hospital carrying her daughter in a yellow blanket.
She remembered Eleanor teaching Daisy to smell rosemary without crushing its leaves.
And she remembered the afternoon Vanessa first walked through the front door.
Vanessa had looked around the entrance hall and said the house needed updating.
Eleanor's paintings disappeared first.
Then the old family photographs.
Eventually, even the flowers in Daisy's room were replaced with decorations Vanessa considered more appropriate.
Rosa had watched the changes.
She had told herself she was merely an employee.
An employee with bills.
An employee whose nineteen-year-old son, Mateo, was attending community college and hoping to transfer to a university.
When Vanessa offered to increase Rosa's salary in exchange for greater discretion about household matters, Rosa accepted.
Now she sat opposite Detective Ortiz with tears running down her face.
“I saw things,” she admitted.
Ortiz placed a notebook on the table.
“What things?”
“Vanessa punished Daisy for small mistakes. She made her stand alone in the laundry room. Sometimes she took away her toys.”
“Did you see physical abuse?”
“Not before that day. I saw fear. I should have recognized what it meant.”
Ortiz allowed her to continue.
Rosa explained that six weeks earlier a large delivery truck brought the wheeled metal cage.
Vanessa instructed her to keep Daisy away from the garage while the delivery crew assembled it.
Later, a handyman installed an exterior latch and adjusted one wheel that did not roll properly.
Rosa had assumed the cage would be used for garden storage.
“Did Vanessa tell you why it needed to lock from the outside?”
“She said there were expensive tools.”
Ortiz asked about the day of the incident.
Rosa had been working in the greenhouse, sorting linens and seasonal supplies. Vanessa told her the children would be playing outdoors and that she did not need assistance.
When Adam returned, Rosa was inside carrying laundry.
She had heard no clear cries from the garden.
But she had noticed something unusual earlier.
Vanessa had asked her to turn up the greenhouse ventilation system.
It was noisy.
Rosa's eyes filled again.
“I didn't know why.”
Ortiz wrote down the detail.
“Did Vanessa ever give you instructions about speaking to Mr. Whitcomb?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me Daisy exaggerated. That Mr. Whitcomb was exhausted. That I would upset him if I complained about things that didn't concern me.”
Rosa wiped her face.
“Once, I told her Daisy shouldn't be left alone crying in the laundry room.”
“What happened?”
“Vanessa threatened to dismiss me. She said Mateo's tuition wouldn't pay itself.”
Ortiz leaned forward.
“Did she offer you money?”
Rosa hesitated.
Then she nodded.
“Eight thousand dollars.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before the cage incident.”
“For what?”
“She said it was a loyalty bonus. She made me sign a confidentiality agreement.”
Rosa twisted her hands.
“I didn't understand what was coming.”
“Do you still have the agreement?”
“Yes.”
“And the money?”
“In my account. I haven't spent it.”
Ortiz assured her that she should preserve all records and discuss any potential legal exposure with counsel.
Rosa nodded.
Then she reached into her handbag.
“There is something else.”
She removed her phone.
Several weeks earlier, Rosa had taken a photograph of Daisy's bedroom because Vanessa wanted to replace the furniture.
The photograph was ordinary.
A small bed.
A bookcase.
A rocking chair.
And the yellow wooden fox sitting on Daisy's pillow.
Rosa swiped to another picture.
It had been taken three days before Daisy was confined.
The fox was missing.
Rosa explained that she had seen Vanessa enter Daisy's room, remove the toy, and carry it downstairs.
That evening, Daisy cried because she could not find it.
Vanessa told Adam that Daisy was upset over something trivial.
Adam had told her to be patient.
Rosa had remained silent.
“Why photograph the room again?” Ortiz asked.
“Vanessa wanted proof I'd removed everything from the shelves.”
The second image had accidentally captured something else.
In the mirror beside Daisy's wardrobe, Vanessa's reflection was visible.
She held the yellow fox.
And in her other hand was a dark folder.
Ortiz enlarged the image.
The folder carried a printed label.
WHITCOMB — FAMILY STABILITY.
Rosa looked at the detective.
“There's something I need to tell Mr. Whitcomb.”
Ortiz asked what it was.
Rosa swallowed.
“Vanessa told me that if Daisy ever said she wanted to leave the house, I should write it down.”
“Did Daisy say that?”
“Once.”
“Under what circumstances?”
Rosa looked away.
“After Vanessa told her that good girls didn't cause trouble.”
“What exactly did Daisy say?”
Rosa began crying again.
“She said she wanted her real mommy.”
Detective Ortiz was silent.
The child had not asked to leave Wrenwood.
May you like
She had asked for someone who could never come back.
And Vanessa had apparently been collecting the words of a grieving four-year-old as evidence against her father.
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