Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM
The first person at Ravenwood who helped Willa was a woman named Teresa Alvarez.
Teresa was fifty-six and had worked for the Kane family for twenty-three years.
She managed the laundry.
She also knew which servants had been dismissed, which rooms were kept locked, and which men came to the estate after midnight.
Willa found her folding towels in the basement.
“Mrs. Alvarez?”
Teresa looked up.
“Mrs. Kane.”
“Please call me Willa.”
Teresa studied her.
“You shouldn't be down here.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you?”
Willa hesitated.
“Because I need help.”
Teresa continued folding.
“Everybody in this house needs help.”
Willa lowered her voice.
“Everett can hear me.”
Teresa stopped.
Slowly, she looked up.
“What?”
“He responds to my voice.”
Teresa's face drained.
“Don't say that where anyone can hear.”
Willa stepped closer.
“Why?”
Teresa looked toward the stairs.
Then whispered:
“Because the last person who said Mr. Kane was improving disappeared from this house.”
Willa felt cold.
“Who?”
“A nurse named Olivia Marsh.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“What happened to her?”
Teresa shook her head.
“Sterling said she resigned.”
“Did she?”
“I don't know.”
Willa stared.
Teresa placed the towel down.
“But she left her coat.”
Willa frowned.
“What?”
“Olivia never went anywhere without that coat. Her mother gave it to her.”
Teresa opened a cabinet.
Inside was a dark green wool coat.
A hospital identification badge remained in one pocket.
Willa took it.
OLIVIA MARSH, RN.
Beneath the badge was a folded receipt.
A parking receipt from St. Ambrose Medical Center.
Dated six months earlier.
Willa looked up.
“Why would Olivia go there?”
Teresa shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Then she whispered:
“But she told me she was going to speak to someone about Mr. Kane's medication.”
Willa took the badge and receipt.
She thanked Teresa.
Before leaving, Teresa caught her arm.
“Willa.”
“Yes?”
“Mr. Kane wasn't always a good man.”
Willa looked at her.
“I know.”
Teresa's eyes filled.
“But he paid for my husband's surgery when nobody else would. He helped my daughter finish college. He remembered birthdays.”
She swallowed.
“Whatever people say about him, he doesn't deserve to die in that bed.”
Willa nodded.
“Neither did Harold Fisk.”
Teresa stared.
Then whispered:
“You know that name?”
Willa's heart stopped.
“Why?”
May you like
Teresa looked toward the stairs.
“Because Mr. Kane said it the night before his accident.”
