Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Stayed
"Lock the door," Daniel said. "I'm calling the police."
"My sister already did."
Maria moved away from the window. Through the phone Daniel heard a voice from the parking lot.
"Maria, nobody wants trouble. I just need the notes you wrote."
Owen.
He never entered the building. By the time officers reached the lot, his car was gone. Maria gave them the license plate and made a statement. The next morning, Daniel met her at a public café with Ruth and Simone.
"You're not expected to solve this for us," Simone told her. "But don't meet either of them alone."
Maria looked at Daniel. "I kept writing things down because I thought I was losing my mind. She'd give me instructions, then tell you she'd said the opposite. I started needing proof that my own memory worked."
"I'm sorry I made that necessary."
"Sorry doesn't repair everything," Maria said. "But it can be a start if you change something."
She showed him a text from another caregiver, a night nurse named Josie Dean. Josie had worked at the house briefly and quit without explanation.
JOSIE: Ask Daniel why Vanessa ordered me not to call him when Noah wouldn't stop crying.
Daniel barely remembered Josie. Vanessa had said she was unreliable and he'd accepted that assessment. Now he asked Maria for her number.
Josie answered on the third ring.
"I was hoping you'd call," she said. "I saw the story Vanessa is telling. It's wrong."
"Can you meet me?"
"Not at your house. And bring someone you trust."
May you like
"Why?"
Josie lowered her voice. "Because I kept one photograph. Vanessa told me she'd ruin my license if I showed you."
