Chapter 13 - Marisol Finally Explained Why She Had WaitedConrad found Marisol alone in Nina's kitchen that evening.
Wren and Penny were upstairs.
Nina was speaking with Detective Sloan.
Marisol was making soup because cooking was what she did when nervous.
Conrad stood in the doorway.
"Can we talk?"
She turned off the burner.
"Yes."
He sat.
For several seconds he didn't know where to start.
Finally:
"Thank you."
Marisol looked away.
"Please don't."
"Why?"
"Because I waited."
"You collected evidence."
"I waited."
She sat across from him.
"The first time I saw your mother corner Wren, I convinced myself it was one ugly moment."
"When?"
"About four months ago."
Conrad froze.
Earlier than the first video.
"What happened?"
"Wren broke a porcelain bird."
"Mom loved that thing."
"Yes."
"Then?"
"Maureen grabbed Wren's arm and said she destroyed everything her mother touched."
Conrad felt sick.
"Did she hurt her?"
"No injury. But Wren was terrified."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I almost did."
"What stopped you?"
Marisol looked ashamed.
"Your mother."
"How?"
"She came to the kitchen afterward."
"What did she say?"
"That Wren was having behavioral problems."
Conrad laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
"She said you were already overwhelmed at work and didn't need household staff exaggerating things."
"And you believed her?"
"Some."
Marisol's honesty mattered.
"Then Denise saw the pantry incident."
"Yes."
"Mom fired her."
"Yes."
"That's when you knew."
Marisol shook her head.
"That's when I suspected."
Conrad frowned.
"What made you know?"
"One night Wren came downstairs after everyone was asleep."
"What happened?"
"She asked if I thought bad children could make their mothers die."
Conrad stopped breathing.
Marisol's eyes filled.
"I asked why."
"What did she say?"
"Maureen told her Elise got sicker because Wren stressed her."
Conrad covered his face.
The cruelty was difficult to comprehend.
"She blamed a five-year-old child for cancer."
"Not directly."
"Direct enough."
Marisol wiped her eyes.
"I told Wren that wasn't true."
"Good."
"Then she begged me not to tell you she'd asked."
"Why?"
"She said Grandma would know."
"How?"
"Maureen told her she had cameras everywhere."
Conrad looked up.
"She made Wren think she was always watched."
"Yes."
That explained so much.
Wren's fear.
Her careful answers.
Her glances toward corners.
The security-camera access Maureen once held.
"Did Mom actually watch cameras?"
"Sometimes."
"How do you know?"
"She would call the kitchen and comment on things she'd seen."
Conrad felt another wave of guilt.
He had installed cameras for security.
Maureen turned them into surveillance.
"I should have known."
Marisol shook her head.
"Mr. Whitaker—"
"I lived there."
"You were working."
"That's not an excuse."
"No."
Her agreement surprised him.
She continued.
"But guilt won't help Wren."
Conrad stared at her.
"You're right."
Marisol folded her hands.
"I started recording because I knew if I told you without proof, Maureen would say I misunderstood."
"Would I have believed her?"
Marisol didn't answer.
Conrad did.
"Probably."
"She is your mother."
"And you're an employee."
"Yes."
Painful.
True.
"How many times did you see something?"
"Seven that worried me."
"Seven."
"Four recorded."
"Three not."
"What were the others?"
Marisol described them.
Maureen tearing up one of Wren's drawings because it included Elise but not her.
Maureen refusing to let Wren attend a friend's birthday party because Wren wouldn't answer questions about the key.
The porcelain-bird incident.
Conrad's anger became colder.
Pattern.
Not loss of temper.
Coercion.
"What did she want from Wren?"
"At first, the necklace."
"Then?"
"The key."
"And later?"
"The yellow paper."
"Did Wren ever say where it was?"
"No."
"Did Maureen?"
"She said Elise was too clever."
Conrad looked toward the stairs.
His wife had been dying and still managed to outmaneuver Maureen.
At least for a while.
"Marisol."
"Yes?"
"Why send everything today?"
She became quiet.
"Because of something Maureen said after I stopped recording."
Conrad's heartbeat changed.
"What?"
"She thought I had gone downstairs."
"What did she say?"
Marisol's voice lowered.
"She told Wren, 'Your father is leaving for California next week. We'll have plenty of time alone then.'"
Conrad stared.
He was scheduled for a four-day investor conference in San Francisco.
Maureen knew.
Wren knew.
"And Wren?"
"She started crying harder."
Conrad understood.
Today hadn't been the worst.
It was the warning.
Maureen intended to continue when Conrad traveled.
Marisol continued:
"I realized collecting more proof wasn't protecting Wren anymore."
Conrad nodded slowly.
Then she said:
"There's something else I haven't told police yet."
He looked at her.
"What?"
"The night Elise died, Maureen came home before you."
Conrad's body went still.
"From the hospital?"
"No."
"You were there?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Maureen went directly into Elise's office."
Conrad stared.
"How long?"
"Maybe fifteen minutes."
"What did she take?"
"I don't know."
"But she was carrying something when she left."
"What?"
May you like
Marisol tried to remember.
"A yellow envelope."
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