As though someone else might recognize the authority she believed had been overlooked.
Nobody moved.
Julian turned to Anna.
“Would you like the sitting room, the kitchen, or somewhere else?”
The question seemed to steady her.
“The kitchen.”
She knew that room.
The people in it.
The door to the garden.
Maisie reached for her hand.
Anna stood slowly.
Then she walked out under her own control.
Julian followed.
Estelle’s necklace was in Anna’s apron pocket.
That fact did not make the accusation true.
The apron hung over a chair in the kitchen now.
Anna had removed it herself and placed it where everyone could see it.
She had worn it that afternoon while helping Maisie wash paint from a school smock and organize materials for the next day.
The little girl liked painting birds.
She disliked cleaning the brushes.
Anna had made the second part feel like a continuation of the first.
That was what she did well.
She turned care into a series of manageable things.
Wash this.
Hold that.
Let’s see whether the blue is finished coming out.
Then Estelle came into the laundry room.
She said she was looking for something.
She stood close to the apron while Anna helped Maisie with a wet sleeve.
The child saw her hand.
The necklace.
The pocket.
She thought Estelle was asking Anna to keep it safe.
A few minutes later, the accusation began.
Maisie tried to explain.
Estelle told her children sometimes mixed up what they saw.
Then she sent the girl into the hall.
The door closed behind Anna.
The key turned.
The nanny thought, at first, it had been a mistake.
She called out.
Estelle answered through the door.
She would come out when she was ready to tell the truth.
Anna had told the truth.
It had not opened anything.
Julian listened to that account in the kitchen while Mrs. Holloway stayed beside Maisie at the smaller table.
The child had warm milk and a piece of toast.
Nobody asked her to give a formal account over it.
