She was close enough to see Anna.
Far enough not to hear every adult word.
“How long?” Julian asked.
Anna glanced at the clock.
“About half an hour.”
His jaw tightened.
Half an hour in a house full of people.
Long enough to become frightened.
Long enough to discover that calling for help did not always mean someone would come.
“Did anyone know?”
“I don’t know.”
Mrs. Holloway looked toward them.
“I was in the front rooms. Estelle said Anna had left suddenly and she was handling Maisie until Mr. Vale came home.”
Julian’s eyes moved to the child.
She was spreading butter with intense concentration.
“What did she tell you?”
Mrs. Holloway’s face tightened.
“That Anna resigned.”
Anna looked down.
The lie had already traveled farther than the locked door.
Julian asked whether the nanny wanted someone contacted.
“My sister.”
He nodded.
She called.
He moved away while she spoke.
There were arrangements he could make.
Cars.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Money.
But a woman who had just been confined in his house needed choices that did not all pass through him.
He understood that much.
He hoped he could keep understanding it when the choices became uncomfortable.
Maisie watched Anna put down the phone.
“Are you going?”
The nanny came to sit beside her.
“My sister is coming to collect me.”
The little girl’s face crumpled.
“No.”
“I know this is upsetting.”
“I told.”
“You did.”
“Then you can stay.”
Anna looked toward Julian.
He saw the trap.
Not one Maisie intended.
One the adults had created by making the child believe she could secure every important person through the right words.
Julian sat beside his daughter.
“Anna needs to decide what helps her feel safe.”
