Chapter 5 - THE THREE MAIDS WHO DISAPPEARED
Sophie could not stop thinking about the three women who had worked at Ravenswood before her.
Mrs. Fairbanks had said they quit.
No explanations.
No forwarding addresses.
Just three empty positions.
Miriam hired an investigator named Thomas Reed.
He located the first former maid within a day.
Her name was Olivia Barnes.
She lived in Albany and worked at a hotel.
When Thomas contacted her, she refused to discuss Ravenswood.
Then Sophie called.
“I was the maid after you,” Sophie explained.
Silence.
“Mr. Whitmore is in the hospital.”
Olivia inhaled sharply.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
A long pause.
Then Olivia whispered, “Thank God.”
They met in a public café.
Olivia was twenty-seven, with nervous hands and dark circles beneath her eyes.
She stared at Sophie.
“Did you see the west wing?”
“Yes.”
Olivia looked toward the window.
“I cleaned it once.”
“What happened?”
“I found a medical tray. There were used supplies and a schedule with Mr. Whitmore's name.”
Sophie waited.
“I asked Mrs. Fairbanks why a private house needed a treatment room.”
“What did she say?”
“That I was fired.”
Olivia had been offered money to sign a confidentiality agreement.
She refused.
Then someone began following her.
She moved.
Changed jobs.
Stopped answering unknown numbers.
The second maid, Hannah Price, had discovered that Alexander's meals were sometimes prepared separately and delivered under Mrs. Fairbanks's supervision.
She had noticed that certain supplements were never listed on the kitchen inventory.
After asking questions, she was dismissed.
The third, Grace Moreno, had witnessed Alexander being escorted into the west wing while barely conscious.
She had tried to contact his personal attorney.
But the number given to her belonged to the company legal department.
Two days later, she was accused of stealing jewelry.
Sophie stared at the accounts.
“Why didn't anyone report this?”
Olivia's eyes filled.
“Some of us did.”
She opened her purse.
Inside was a folded copy of a police report.
The allegation had been recorded as a workplace dispute.
There had been no evidence sufficient to proceed.
Sophie looked down.
The women had not been cowards.
They had been isolated.
Poor.
Frightened.
And threatened by people with resources they could barely imagine.
That evening, Sophie told Alexander.
He listened without interrupting.
Then he asked, “Did they suffer because of me?”
Sophie shook her head.
“They suffered because someone was hiding what happened to you.”
Alexander looked away.
“I should have known.”
“You were sick.”
“I was still their employer.”
Sophie hesitated.
“Then you can make sure it doesn't happen again.”
He looked at her.
“How?”
“Listen when people tell you something is wrong.”
Alexander nodded slowly.
Miriam arranged for the former employees to provide formal statements to investigators.
Their accounts established a pattern.
Questions about Alexander's condition were followed by dismissal, threats, or accusations.
Then Thomas Reed discovered something else.
All three women had been hired through the same private staffing agency.
So had Sophie.
And the agency's owner was connected to Richard Whitmore.
Sophie stared at the records.
“Why hire women who might notice?”
Miriam answered quietly.
“Because they expected those women to be easy to silence.”
Alexander's expression hardened.
“They underestimated them.”
May you like
Sophie looked at him.
“They underestimated you too.”
