Chapter 7 - The Things Removed
The missing poem became, irrationally, the thing Adrian could not stop thinking about.
Not the engagement ring sealed in an evidence bag.
Not the reports from lawyers.
Not the television trucks outside the mansion gates.
A sheet of cream paper, written in Claire's slanted handwriting, had disappeared from the nursery wall.
She had written the poem late in pregnancy when she could not sleep. It was not good poetry. Claire knew that. The last line rhymed "moon" with "spoon," and Adrian had teased her for three days.
Then Oliver was born, and she taped it beside the crib.
Adrian searched every drawer.
Nina searched the wastebaskets even though housekeeping had emptied them days earlier.
Mrs. Patel called two housekeepers who were off duty.
One remembered Vanessa removing it.
"She said you asked her to," the woman told Adrian over speakerphone. "She put it inside a blue folder. I thought it was being framed."
Adrian sat on the floor of the nursery.
Nina leaned against the wall.
"Why take a poem?"
"Because Claire wrote it."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I have."
His phone rang.
Detective Bell.
Adrian answered.
"Mr. Cole, we need to ask Ms. Santos a few more questions. Do you know where she's staying?"
"With her sister. Why?"
"We reviewed audio from the hall camera. It supports her account that Ms. Sterling threatened to drop Oliver if Ms. Santos approached the stairs."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Okay."
"There's also an earlier segment, about nine minutes before the fall. Ms. Sterling and Ms. Santos were arguing near the library entrance. The words 'drive' and 'Claire' are audible."
Adrian looked at Nina.
"What did Vanessa say?"
"Some of the audio is muffled. We need Maria to identify context."
"I'll call her."
He ended the call.
Nina crouched beside him.
"You don't have to be the one to manage everybody."
"I'm making a phone call."
"You're about to turn Maria's police interview into your assignment."
Adrian looked at her sharply.
Nina held up both hands.
"Fine. Call her. But ask what she needs before you tell her what everyone else needs."
Adrian hated how often people were now giving him instructions that sounded obvious after they were spoken.
Maria answered on the fourth ring.
"Hi."
Her voice sounded thick with sleep.
"Did I wake you?"
"Yes."
"Sorry. Go back to sleep."
There was a pause.
"Adrian?"
"The detective wants to talk again. But he can call later."
Another pause.
"Are you feeling all right?"
"No."
Maria laughed once, softly.
"Good answer."
Adrian looked at the pale rectangle where Claire's poem had been.
"How's your shoulder?"
"Hairline fracture. They missed it on the first film. I have a better brace and strict instructions not to catch any more falling babies."
Adrian swallowed.
"Maria-"
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Thank me again. I know you're grateful. I also know you're angry that I kept Claire's recordings. Both can be true."
He rubbed his forehead.
"I found out Vanessa had been changing staff schedules and removing Claire's things."
Maria was quiet.
"I knew about the schedules."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried twice."
Adrian looked up.
"When?"
"Once after dinner in February. You were leaving for the airport. You said, 'If Vanessa thinks the schedule works better, let her handle it.'"
He remembered the conversation dimly.
Maria standing near the coat closet.
His car waiting.
Three people texting him about a delayed flight.
"And the second time?"
"I emailed you. Your assistant replied and copied Vanessa."
Adrian felt a dull pressure behind his ribs.
"I didn't see it."
"I know."
"Did Vanessa remove Claire's poem?"
Maria inhaled.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"She said Oliver didn't need to grow up in a shrine."
Nina mouthed something vicious from across the room.
Adrian stood.
"Did you stop her?"
"I took it out of the trash after she left."
He stopped.
"You have it?"
"No. I hid it in the linen closet behind the extra crib sheets. I planned to put it back after the engagement party."
Adrian crossed the room and opened the closet.
Behind two stacks of sheets was a blue folder.
His hands shook as he opened it.
The poem was inside, creased once down the middle.
"I found it," he said.
Maria exhaled.
Adrian sat on the floor again.
"Why did the USB become urgent yesterday? Was it just the photographs?"
Maria did not answer immediately.
"No."
"Tell me."
"Vanessa found me holding the blue folder. She asked what else I had saved."
Adrian's grip tightened around the phone.
"I told her Claire had left recordings. I was angry. I shouldn't have said it."
"What did Vanessa do?"
"She went very quiet. Then she asked whether you had heard them."
"And you said no."
"Yes. She told me I would ruin your life if I gave them to you. I said your life was already built on lies."
Maria's voice cracked.
"That was cruel. I knew it would hurt her."
"Maria."
"She asked where the drive was. I said not in the house. That was true. It was in my coat pocket because I planned to give it to you after dinner."
Adrian listened.
"She left the nursery. I thought the argument was over. Ten minutes later, she came back carrying Oliver."
Nina covered her mouth.
"Why Oliver?" Adrian whispered.
"I don't know."
"What did she say?"
Maria's breathing changed.
"She said, 'You all keep saving pieces of Claire. Let's see what you're willing to save now.'"
Adrian closed his eyes.
The sentence was so ugly that it felt rehearsed, but Maria sounded ashamed to repeat it.
"Then she walked toward the balcony."
Adrian pressed his knuckles to his mouth.
Maria continued.
"I followed. I kept talking. I told her she was right about one thing."
"What?"
"That I knew more than I had told you."
"Why would that help?"
"Because she wanted me guilty too. She wanted somebody else inside what she was doing."
Adrian stared at the poem in his hand.
"And she was right," Maria said.
"No."
"Adrian, I let Claire's recordings sit in a drawer for five months. I watched Vanessa move into the house. I watched you propose. I told myself I was waiting for the right time because Claire had told me not to act unless I was sure. But part of me was afraid you'd fire me and I'd lose Oliver too."
Adrian said nothing.
"I wasn't only protecting you," Maria said. "I was protecting my place here."
The honesty hurt more than another clean explanation would have.
"Do you want to come back?" Adrian asked.
Maria was quiet.
"Not as the nanny."
He stared at the wall.
"Okay."
"I haven't decided anything permanent. I just know I can't sleep in that house again."
"You don't have to."
"Thank you."
After they ended the call, Adrian stayed on the nursery floor holding Claire's poem.
Nina sat beside him.
"She might leave," she said.
"I know."
"You can't fix that by offering more money."
"I know."
Nina glanced at him.
"You're learning fast."
"I hate you."
"Also healthy."
Adrian unfolded the poem.
At the bottom, beneath the silly rhyme, Claire had added one sentence he had forgotten.
If you wake scared, make noise. Someone who loves you should come.
Adrian read it twice.
May you like
Then he lowered his head.
