Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN CLARISSA FIREDMason called Nora Ellison the next morning.
Nora had been the children’s nanny for seven years.
She had cared for Ben from infancy.
Stayed after Diana died.
Helped Mason survive the first brutal year of single parenthood.
Then, eight months after Mason married Clarissa, Nora was fired.
Clarissa said money was missing from her bedroom.
Three thousand dollars in cash.
Nora denied taking it.
Mason had believed Clarissa.
Not completely.
Enough.
He gave Nora severance.
No police.
No accusation on paper.
And allowed her to leave crying.
When Nora answered his call, there was silence.
“Mason?”
“Yes.”
“Is something wrong with the kids?”
He closed his eyes.
The first thing she asked.
Not money.
Not why now.
The kids.
“Can you come?”
She hesitated.
“Is Clarissa there?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
That answer struck him.
“I can meet you.”
Two hours later they sat in a private conference room at Mason’s attorney’s office.
Nora looked older.
Not by much.
But harder.
Mason put the photograph of Ava’s severed hair on the table.
Nora stared.
Then closed her eyes.
“She finally did something you could see.”
Mason felt shame.
“What does that mean?”
Nora looked at him.
“You really don’t know.”
“No.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That was always the problem.”
Mason accepted it.
“What happened while you worked there?”
Nora began slowly.
Clarissa disliked Ben almost immediately.
Not because he was cruel.
Because he did not adore her.
Ava had been three.
Easy to charm.
Ben remembered Diana clearly.
He resisted calling Clarissa “Mom.”
Clarissa said that was fine.
Then punished him indirectly.
His desserts disappeared.
His screen time changed.
Playdates canceled.
Small enough to sound ridiculous individually.
“You complained?”
“To you once.”
Mason remembered.
Nora said Clarissa was being too hard on Ben.
Clarissa responded that Nora was jealous and resisting the “new family structure.”
Mason asked everyone to get along.
That had been his solution.
Peace through vagueness.
Nora continued.
The missing cash came after a larger incident.
“What incident?”
“Clarissa locked Ben in the laundry room.”
Mason stood.
“What?”
“Not for hours.”
Nora held up a hand.
“Ten minutes, maybe twelve.”
“That’s enough.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“He called her a liar.”
“About?”
“Diana’s necklace.”
Mason frowned.
Clarissa claimed one of Diana’s jewelry boxes needed to be moved to secure storage.
Ben objected.
He said those things belonged to Ava.
Clarissa told him children did not decide property.
He screamed.
She put him in the laundry room “until he calmed down.”
Nora let him out.
Clarissa exploded.
The following week cash vanished.
“I knew she planted it.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw her take the envelope out of her desk the next day.”
Mason stared.
“You said nothing.”
“I had already been fired.”
“You could have called.”
Nora’s expression changed.
“I did.”
Mason stopped.
“What?”
“Twice.”
He checked his memory.
Nothing.
Nora continued.
“Clarissa answered your phone once.”
The second time Nora left a voicemail.
Mason never heard it.
“She told me later that you wanted me to stop contacting the family.”
Mason felt physically ill.
“I never said that.”
“I know now.”
Nora opened her handbag.
“I kept this.”
A folded paper.
Mason unfolded it.
A child’s drawing.
Ben.
Seven years old.
A house split in half with red marker.
On one side:
DAD + AVA.
On the other:
ME.
Above Clarissa’s stick figure:
SHE WANTS ME GONE.
Nora had found it beneath Ben’s pillow.
“I asked him why.”
“He said Clarissa told him someday you’d realize the house was happier without him.”
Mason stared.
“Why didn’t you give me this?”
“I tried.”
Again.
Always.
Tried.
Mason had spent years thinking no one warned him.
People had.
He had simply created a home where Clarissa controlled access to him.
Nora leaned closer.
“There’s something else.”
Mason waited.
“Before I was fired, Clarissa asked me to write a statement.”
“What statement?”
“That Ben frightened Ava.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“She wanted examples.”
“Of what?”
“Tantrums. Shouting. Breaking toys.”
Mason understood.
Behavioral evidence.
The same narrative.
“What did you do?”
“I refused.”
A week later, money disappeared.
Nora looked at Ava’s photograph again.
“Whatever she’s doing now, she’s been preparing the ground for a long time.”
Mason asked the question he had begun to fear.
“Preparing it for what?”
May you like
Nora looked directly at him.
“To make you believe Ben has to leave.”
Related Stories
