Chapter 4 - LILA IS AFRAID OF HERThe next morning, Vivian asked Dana Cole to bring breakfast to the sunroom.
Dana had worked at Foxmere House for twelve years.
She was not technically a housekeeper anymore.
Her title was household coordinator, though Vivian still called everyone by their names rather than positions.
Dana set down coffee.
Vivian asked:
“Is Lila afraid of Marissa?”
Dana nearly dropped the sugar bowl.
Vivian saw it.
“That was not a complicated question.”
Dana looked toward the doorway.
“No one is here.”
“Mrs. Prescott—”
“Vivian.”
Dana swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
Vivian waited.
Dana corrected herself.
“I don’t know enough.”
“That is different.”
Dana nodded.
Vivian gestured toward the chair.
“Sit.”
Dana did reluctantly.
“Tell me what you do know.”
Dana’s hands tightened.
“Lila cries more with Marissa than with me.”
“How much more?”
“Enough that I noticed.”
“Why didn’t you tell Caroline?”
Dana looked ashamed.
“Marissa said Mrs. Prescott already knew Lila was going through a difficult phase.”
“Did Caroline say that?”
“No.”
“So Marissa did.”
“Yes.”
Vivian took a slow sip of coffee.
“What else?”
“Sometimes Miles would come downstairs while Marissa was feeding Lila.”
“Sometimes?”
“Most days, actually.”
“Why?”
Dana shook her head.
“I thought he was clingy.”
Vivian’s eyes sharpened.
“You thought.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask him?”
“No.”
Dana looked down.
Vivian did not shame her.
That would have been easy and useless.
Instead she asked:
“Does Marissa behave differently when family members are present?”
Dana looked up.
That answer took longer.
“She’s more patient.”
“With whom?”
“Everyone.”
Vivian leaned back.
That was the first meaningful piece.
By noon she called the estate’s security manager, Colin Reeves.
“Dining-room camera.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“I want footage from the last thirty days.”
There was a pause.
“Mrs. Prescott…”
Vivian disliked pauses when she asked simple questions.
“What?”
“That camera has been offline.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
“Why?”
“We thought renovations caused a network issue.”
“There have been no renovations in the dining room.”
“No, ma’am.”
Vivian’s face became still.
“Who reported the fault?”
“I’d have to check.”
“Check.”
Ten minutes later Colin called back.
“Nobody.”
Vivian said nothing.
“The camera stopped transmitting at 3:14 p.m. on September twenty-third.”
“Can you determine why?”
“We have to pull system logs.”
“Do it.”
Vivian hung up.
Miles sat outside her study.
She had not known he was there.
“What do you want?”
He stepped inside.
“Did the camera see it?”
“No.”
His face fell.
“It was disabled before yesterday.”
Miles stared.
“Marissa knows where cameras are.”
Vivian looked at him.
“How?”
“She told me once.”
“When?”
“I asked why Lila’s nursery camera had a blue light.”
Vivian’s spine straightened.
“What did she say?”
“She said every room has different cameras.”
“Every room does not.”
Miles frowned.
“She said she knows which ones work.”
Vivian studied him.
“Anything else?”
Miles hesitated.
“Grandma?”
“Yes?”
“Are you trying to prove I’m lying?”
Vivian took off her glasses.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I am trying to prove what happened.”
“Isn’t that the same?”
“No.”
She folded her hands.
“If I simply say I believe you because I love you, Marissa can say I am biased.”
Miles listened.
“If I know exactly what happened, she cannot hide behind anybody’s feelings.”
“Do you believe me?”
Vivian did not answer immediately.
Miles hated that.
Then she said:
“I believe you are telling me what you believe happened.”
His face fell.
Vivian continued.
“And I believe Lila is frightened of Marissa.”
Miles looked up.
“And I believe I have not yet heard enough.”
He nodded slowly.
It was not the answer he wanted.
But it did not feel like rejection.
That afternoon Colin returned.
He placed a printed security log on Vivian’s desk.
“The dining-room camera was disabled manually.”
“By whom?”
“The system doesn’t track individual physical access, but the command came through an administrative account.”
“Whose?”
Colin looked uncomfortable.
Vivian’s gaze hardened.
“Say it.”
He did.
“Graham Prescott.”
Vivian did not move.
Her younger son.
Ethan’s brother.
May you like
A man who did not even live at Foxmere House.
And suddenly the problem was no longer just a housekeeper.
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