Chapter 3 - THE MAID WHO WASN'T REALLY A MAID
Mara refused to explain until Gideon agreed to three conditions.
First, he would not tell Celeste anything she said.
Second, he would not allow Mrs. Pike near her hospital room.
Third, he would help locate her father.
Gideon agreed immediately.
“Where is he?”
Mara looked toward the window.
“That's the problem.”
She swallowed.
“I don't know.”
Her father, Thomas Whitlock, had been an investigative accountant.
Not the kind who wore expensive suits and worked in glass towers.
Thomas specialized in reconstructing financial records after fraud, bankruptcy, and corporate theft.
Three years earlier, he'd been hired by Gideon's mother, Eleanor Vale.
Gideon sat straighter.
“My mother hired him?”
Mara nodded.
“She believed someone was stealing from the Vale charitable foundation.”
Gideon's expression darkened.
The foundation had been his mother's proudest achievement.
It funded mountain rescue teams, domestic violence shelters, and scholarships for children whose parents had died in industrial accidents.
“Who?”
Mara hesitated.
“Your father's business partners.”
“The Harrows?”
She nodded.
Gideon looked away.
His mother had opposed the engagement.
Now he understood why.
Mara continued.
“Dad discovered that money was being redirected through fake vendors. But it wasn't only theft.”
“What else?”
“Some of the companies were connected to illegal land acquisitions.”
Gideon stared.
Mara's voice trembled.
“People were losing homes. Businesses. Family property. And the foundation was being used to hide the payments.”
“Why didn't your father come to me?”
“He tried.”
Gideon frowned.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Gideon remembered that winter.
His mother had been ill.
His father had still been alive.
The family was fighting over a proposed merger with Harrow Capital.
Mara looked at him.
“Your father blocked the meeting.”
Gideon's hands curled into fists.
“Why?”
“Because he was involved.”
Silence.
Then Mara said:
“Two weeks later, my father was in a car accident.”
Gideon looked up.
“He survived?”
“Yes. Barely.”
“Where is he now?”
“He disappeared six months ago.”
Mara's eyes filled.
“After he received a letter from someone inside your house.”
Gideon leaned forward.
“What letter?”
Mara reached beneath her pillow.
She removed a folded piece of paper.
On it were four handwritten words.
THE BLUE STAR REMAINS.
Gideon stared.
His mother had owned a blue glass Christmas star.
Every year, she hung it in a different place.
After her death, the decoration disappeared.
He had assumed it was broken or packed away.
But Mara was watching him carefully.
“You know what it means.”
Gideon nodded slowly.
“I think so.”
Mara swallowed.
“My father said your mother hid something inside it.”
“What?”
“Evidence.”
Gideon stood.
He walked toward the window.
Outside, the mountains were white beneath the morning sun.
Then he turned back.
“Mara, why did you come to Vale House as a maid?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Because someone had to get inside.”
“And Celeste found out?”
Mara nodded.
“I think she recognized my last name.”
Gideon looked toward the door.
“Then we need to find that star before she does.”
Mara reached for his sleeve.
“Mr. Vale.”
He turned.
May you like
Her voice was barely audible.
“Your mother didn't die naturally.”
