Page 78 of The Billionaire’s Nanny

"I didn't come here for that."

"I know you didn't. If you had, I'd have shown you the door." Deborah folded the towel over the back of her own chair. "You told me what was going on in that house. That's all I asked for."

Deborah walked her to the door, and they said goodbye. Carrington got into the car and sat with her keys in her hand. She drove home owing Deborah nothing at all. She would rather have owed her anything at all.

At half past eight, Carrington clicked the closet door shut and read Grace two pages of the book. Grace had her eyes closed before the end of the first one but wasn't asleep. Carrington told her that Deborah had asked after her, waited to see whether Grace would say anything back, and then said goodnight and went down.

Carrington dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed. Diane Bell picked up on the first ring. Carrington had never once called her on a Sunday.

"I'm going to write to Melinda myself," Carrington said.

"About the household list?" Diane asked.

"About the answer I gave her."

"Don't," Diane said.

"Why not?"

"Because nobody is asking you about it anymore. Ms. Harper doesn't live on that property, and the list you signed is accurate today." Something creaked at Diane's end. "What you're proposing is to write to a state agency and tell them you lied to a caseworker during a review of your guardianship of a child. That is not something I can work with. I've never advised a client to do it, and I'm not going to start with you."

"I understand you."

"Then let me draft it."

"No."

"Let me read it before you send it then."

"No," Carrington said.

Diane said nothing for so long that Carrington thought the call dropped. "Send it to the office, not to her," she said. "It gets scanned in either way and it can't get lost. And make sure to date it." She hung up.

Carrington grabbed a notebook and pen. The first attempt began: I write further to the household schedule returned to your office, and she read it back. No good. The second one started with Grace and turned into an argument by the fourth line, and she was arguing with a woman who hadn't accused her of anything.

The third one she wrote while standing and leaning over her desk.

Ms. Alvarez.

At the visit on the twentieth you asked me whether my relationship with Lucy Harper was personal. I told you it was not. That was a lie and I knew it while I was saying it. Ms. Harper answered the same question, knowing what it would do to her.

I required her to conceal it. She agreed because I asked her to and for no other reason. I ended her employment the same afternoon. I am not asking you for anything, for her or for myself.

One further matter. The statement from Deborah Mensah asked to be considered as somebody with a relationship to my niece. I opposed it. I was wrong. She has known Grace since the day she was born and she is the only other person left alive who knew her mother. If my opinion carries any weight in that file, I would like that on the record.

She signed and dated it, then she folded the page in thirds, put it in the envelope, ran her tongue along the flap, and pressed it down under her thumb. She held it there longer than she needed to, just to make sure it was secured.

In the morning, Grace went out to the car without waiting to be told. Carrington stayed at the window until the gate had shut behind them, then took the envelope off the desk and drove into town on her own.

The collection box stood on the corner outside the post office, next to a rack of newspapers she didn't look at. She pulled the handle down, laid the envelope in the tray, and let go of it.

28

LUCY

When somebody knocked, Lucy took her time walking down the stairs, because at that hour it was always the landlady's sister. This time, though, it was Bettina, standing on the step in a buttoned coat with the car keys still in her hands. One of the cars from Carrington’s house was waiting at the curb with the engine idling.

"I'm not staying long," Bettina said when Lucy opened the door.