Chapter 10 - Chicago
Richard waited until Leo was asleep again.
“What happened in Chicago?”
“Five years ago, I worked for another family.”
“As a nanny?”
“The Brenners.”
Richard’s eyes sharpened. “I know that name.”
A wealthy Chicago family. A child injured. A nanny blamed. A lawsuit quietly settled.
“Their daughter, Sophie, fell from a balcony.”
“You were there?”
“I was in the kitchen.”
“The mother said I left the balcony door open.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Richard’s jaw tightened. “Why didn’t this come up in your background check?”
“Because I wasn’t charged. The police called it an accident. The family settled a civil claim, and the agreement sealed most of it.”
“You signed a settlement?”
“My lawyer told me to. I was twenty-four, broke, and terrified.”
Richard paced once. “Vanessa knew.”
“Apparently.”
He looked at her with something worse than anger.
Doubt.
Anna hated that look more than shouting.
“You think I’m lying.”
“I think I keep discovering things after the fact.”
“So do I.”
Officer Daniels returned with the envelope from the car, sealed in evidence plastic.
Inside was a copy of a newspaper clipping about Sophie Brenner’s fall.
And a photograph.
Anna standing outside the Brenner home.
Beside her, half hidden by a car door, stood a young woman.
Vanessa.
Anna stared.
“No.”
Richard looked at her. “You knew her?”
“I never met her.”
Daniels turned the photo over.
A date had been written on the back.
Five years ago.
Three days before Sophie’s fall.
Anna looked again at Vanessa’s younger face.
The haircut was different.
The expression wasn’t.
Cold. Watchful. Patient.
Daniels asked, “Who was Vanessa to the Brenner family?”
Anna’s memory snapped into place.
A substitute home health aide had visited Sophie’s grandmother that week.
She had introduced herself by a different name.
Valerie.
Anna whispered, “Oh my God.”
Richard leaned closer.
May you like
Anna looked at him.
“Vanessa was in that house before Sophie fell.”
