I told them I was going away for three days to attend a conference overseas. I said it with the same flat tone I used when announcing meetings or acquisitions, as if my absence were routine and insignificant. The house would be theirs during that time. Full access, no supervision, no interference. I wanted to see who that woman truly was when she thought no one was watching.
I stepped out of the car and stood under the morning sun, but a strange cold crawled through me, starting in my stomach and spreading upward. It made no sense. The weather was mild, the sky clear, yet I felt as if something inside me had already gone wrong. It had only been a month since I hired Grace Miller, a young woman sent by a cheap agency after every licensed nurse refused the position. They cited my temperament, the isolation of the estate, and the emotional weight of caring for a child who could not walk. I paid the agency more and stopped asking questions.