Chapter 2 - The Card in Her Pocket
Chief Johnson did not raise his voice.
That made Annabelle nervous.
“Where did you get this?”
Chica swallowed.
“It fell on the floor, sir.”
“From whom?”
Silence.
Annabelle moved first.
“It’s probably an old card.”
Chief Johnson looked at her.
“No.”
He held it between two fingers.
“This card opens my private office.”
Victoria stood.
“Admila, surely this can wait.”
“It can.”
He looked at Alice’s bag.
“But apparently something else cannot.”
Alice remained near the entrance.
Chief Johnson turned toward her.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why?”
Victoria answered.
“I dismissed her.”
“Why?”
“She behaved aggressively toward Annabelle.”
Alice said nothing.
Chief Johnson looked from his wife to his daughter.
Then he looked at Alice.
“What happened?”
Annabelle spoke quickly.
“She grabbed me.”
Alice met his eyes.
“She raised her hand toward me, sir.”
“To do what?”
Alice hesitated.
“To slap me.”
Chief Johnson looked at his daughter.
“Is that true?”
Annabelle rolled her eyes.
“Oh, please. She was being disrespectful.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Annabelle’s confidence faltered.
Victoria stepped between them verbally.
“This has been handled.”
Chief Johnson turned toward his wife.
“Then handling it should make explaining it easy.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
Alice realized something important.
Everyone in the mansion feared Annabelle.
Annabelle feared her father.
Chief Johnson walked toward the center of the hall.
“Chica.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Did you see what happened?”
Chica looked at Victoria.
Then Annabelle.
Then Alice.
“Yes, sir.”
“Did Alice attempt to strike my daughter?”
“No, sir.”
“Did she threaten her?”
“No.”
“Did Annabelle raise her hand first?”
Chica’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Yes.”
Chief Johnson nodded.
“Anyone else?”
Daniel raised his hand awkwardly.
“I saw it, sir.”
Then another maid.
Then the cook.
One after another.
The truth became impossible to dismiss.
Annabelle stared at them.
“You’re all unbelievable.”
Chief Johnson looked at Alice.
“And you stopped her hand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Twice?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hurt her?”
“No.”
He turned to Annabelle.
“Were you hurt?”
“No, but that isn’t—”
“Good.”
He looked back at Alice.
“You’re not fired.”
Victoria’s face changed.
“Admila.”
He ignored her.
Alice stared at him.
“Sir, I appreciate that, but—”
“You don’t want the job?”
Alice looked around.
“I want the job very much.”
“Then stay.”
Annabelle laughed bitterly.
“So that’s it? She humiliates me and gets rewarded?”
Chief Johnson finally raised his voice slightly.
“No. She stopped you from humiliating her.”
The words struck the room.
Annabelle looked stunned.
Victoria stepped forward.
“You’re undermining me in front of the staff.”
Chief Johnson’s eyes moved toward her.
“And someone has been entering my private office.”
Everything changed.
The access card returned to the center of the conversation.
He held it up.
“I keep this in my locked bedroom drawer.”
Victoria’s expression remained controlled.
Annabelle’s did not.
Alice noticed.
Chief Johnson noticed too.
“When did you last see it?” Victoria asked.
“Yesterday morning.”
Annabelle turned away.
Chief Johnson watched her.
“Annabelle.”
“What?”
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Was this card in your purse?”
“No.”
Alice spoke carefully.
“Sir.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It fell beside me when Miss Annabelle turned toward the staircase.”
Annabelle’s eyes flashed.
“You don’t know where it came from.”
“No,” Alice said. “I only know where it landed.”
Chief Johnson nodded.
“That’s enough.”
He walked toward his office corridor.
“Bello.”
The security supervisor followed.
“Sir?”
“Pull the camera records from yesterday evening until now.”
Annabelle suddenly spoke.
“The cameras were being serviced.”
Chief Johnson stopped.
“How do you know?”
Annabelle realized too late.
“I heard someone mention it.”
Bello looked confused.
“Sir, no maintenance was scheduled.”
Chief Johnson slowly turned.
The mansion became silent again.
He ordered everyone back to work.
Alice carried her bag to her room.
But the atmosphere had changed.
By evening, whispers moved through the servants’ quarters.
Someone had entered Chief Johnson’s office.
The corridor camera had stopped recording for seventeen minutes.
Nothing appeared stolen.
That somehow made it worse.
Alice tried to stay out of it.
She had enough problems.
But shortly after ten, someone knocked on her door.
It was Chief Johnson.
Alice stood immediately.
“Sir.”
“I owe you an apology.”
She blinked.
“For what?”
“For what happened today.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“No. But it happened under my roof.”
Alice did not know how to respond.
Chief Johnson noticed the university letter on her desk.
“You’re studying?”
“Trying to.”
He glanced at the envelope.
“Business administration?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When do you begin?”
“When I can afford it.”
He nodded.
Then he surprised her.
“My company runs an employee education program.”
Alice stared at him.
“I’m domestic staff.”
“You’re an employee.”
Before she could answer, footsteps sounded outside.
Chief Johnson opened the door.
Nobody was there.
But something had been pushed beneath Alice’s door.
A white envelope.
Her name was written across it.
ALICE.
Chief Johnson picked it up.
Inside was a photograph.
Alice standing outside the university admissions building three weeks earlier.
On the back, someone had written five words.
LEAVE THIS HOUSE TOMORROW.
Alice’s stomach tightened.
Chief Johnson turned the photograph over again.
Then he noticed something in the corner.
A date.
The picture had been taken before Alice ever started working at the mansion.
Someone had known she was coming.
May you like
Chief Johnson looked down the empty corridor.
At the far end, a door slowly closed.
