Chapter 4
At the end of her shift, Mercy grabbed a light sweater and left to go for a walk. She had a decision to make. She’d just received the harshest reprimand of her adult life. Still smarting, she headed down the driveway to the gates.
There was no reason why she shouldn’t be allowed to leave. She wasn’t a prisoner. With the outside security all messed up as it was, the gates were still open. With her shoulders hunched, and her head tucked down against the blowing wind, she walked down the driveway. She stood in front of the security camera so they could see her for a moment, and then she walked through the open gateway. Out on the main road, she chose one shoulder and kept walking.
It was hard to imagine being as useless as the housekeeper made Mercy feel. The fact that she couldn’t find any information about her sister just compounded the problem. Everywhere she went, she imagined her sister’s hands doing the same work she was doing. Her fingers stroking along the same walls, the same windows.
There was such a sense of connectedness to Anna in the mansion that, for the first time in a long time, Mercy realized how much she had missed her sister’s presence over the years. Had her sister missed her? Or had she written off her mother and sister and not given them a thought? Mercy would like to think her sister had regretted some of her actions. But it was hard to say.
She wasn’t more than a block away when a light rain fell. “Great. Just what I need right now.” She was sore and tired and almost ready to call a cab and to keep on going. But she had her meager belongings in her room which she would prefer not to leave behind. Neither could she afford to walk away from her car. She didn’t want anyone from the Freeman estate tracking her down and finding her. She hadn’t even brought her purse with her. So she had to return.
The light rain became a soaking drizzle. Even knowing it was foolish to keep going, she couldn’t stop. She was desperate to get as many feet between her and the nasty job she’d left behind—at least for a moment. Finally her footsteps slowed, and she turned reluctantly to retrace her steps.
She hadn’t been walking toward the house for more than a few seconds when a truck slowed. She froze as it pulled up beside her. Behind the steering wheel was the gardener. She frowned as the power window dropped so he could talk to her.
“Do you want a ride back?”
She shook her head instinctively.
He gave a disgusted snort. “Yes, you do. You’re soaked to the skin. If you want to keep your job, you can’t afford to get sick.”
For a brief moment she thought about that being a lovely way to get out of her job. Obviously they wouldn’t keep her if she was sick. Not these people. A person who worked for them was just a number, and more numbers were easily found. She put a hand on the door handle and opened it, then hesitated.
He shook his head and said, “I’m not worried about the seats getting wet. Hop in, and let’s get you back to dry off.”
Without making a comment, she scrambled into the front seat and closed the door. Reaching for the seat belt, she buckled in. He pulled back onto the pavement of the deserted road.
“What are you doing out here anyway?”
“Getting some fresh air and leaving the oppression behind,” she said quietly.
He shot her a curious glance. “Is it that bad?”
She nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“Time for a new job?”
She stared at the gray skies, the rain now running heavily down the window, and muttered, “I don’t know.”
“Why did you take your sister’s place?”
She gasped. “What are you talking about?”
The look in his eyes made her realize he was no fool. She didn’t know what his role in this business was, but it was obvious he wouldn’t take any excuses.
She stared at her fingers for a long moment, then said, “My sister was murdered. I was hoping I could find out something about her last days. They don’t even have her belongings anymore.”
“Besides the utmost stupidity of your actions, did you ask the police for her belongings?”
She nodded and explained, “The detective said they hadn’t received anything of hers, but they did have Sammy’s belongings delivered by the estate. The detective did say he’d contact me if they found out anything new, but I haven’t heard from him yet.”
On that thought, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and checked for messages, but again there were none. But then, who else would contact her? Her mother was gone, now her sister too. Mercy only wanted to hear from the detective. Of course she wasn’t even on his priority list.
“And, if your sister was murdered, what makes you think you’d find any information here?”
“It’s where she lived, where she worked. And maybe where she had a boyfriend, but I don’t know about that yet.” She looked at him. “You’re replacing a man who was murdered too.”
He nodded. “I know. But I didn’t have anything to do with either of the murders.”
“Neither did I.”
They came up to the gates of the estate, which were still open. He drove through and around to the back entrance to let her out. “Make sure you watch your back.”
She had the door open when she understood the gist of his words. She turned back to him. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, with two dead, a third won’t make any difference.”
With his cryptic words ringing in her ears, she hopped out and slammed the truck door. She didn’t know who he was, but he certainly didn’t appear to fit the role of whatever he’d taken on here. Unless he was also a bodyguard. With eyes that looked like steel and his hard body, he had a panther’s grace and the air of a predator. One that seemed to be in a relaxed state, looking normal, but was always ready for action, with muscles that would bunch and move on demand like the big untamed cat he was inside.
She hurried back into the house and upstairs to her small room. She passed no one on her way, but she had no illusions about being watched. She was always being watched. She’d just never caught them at it.
Once inside her room, she quickly stripped off her clothes and hopped into a hot shower. When she was warm and her hair shampooed, she stepped out and wrapped up in a big towel.
The medicine cabinet in front of her opened easily, and she took out her toothbrush. It was early yet, but she might as well get ready for bed. She needed the extra rest. While she was brushing her teeth, her eyes surveyed the cabinet. It was loose in the wall. She jiggled the corner to see if it would fall. It was only a foot and a half across, but she wasn’t sure how heavy it was, although it appeared to be made of plastic.
She carefully pulled it forward and set it down on top of the sink counter. A small notebook was left in the recessed area. With excitement coursing through her, she picked up the notebook and placed it atop her clean nightie, then carefully replaced the medicine cabinet. She finished brushing her teeth and found herself looking around the small bathroom, searching for cameras.
There was always a chance this room was bugged or under video monitor, and she had to be careful. Though it was illegal, she didn’t think anybody here would give a shit about laws.
She went through the motions as if going to bed—grabbed a book she had on her nightstand, crawled into bed, turned on the lamp. With the notebook tucked inside the book’s pages, she opened both the book and notebook and started to read.
On the first page was her sister’s name—Anna. Not knowing why her sister would have this book and why she had hidden it, Mercy flipped through the pages, finding detailed entries of things going on in the house. Curious, yet disturbed at the same time, she read her sister’s notes about weapons being unloaded in the garage.
Not a gun or two but crates of them. Her heart pounding, she flipped through the pages to find more entries of random unnamed guests but no further mention of guns was made.
When she finally made her way to the end of the book, she found little personal notes about her sister being desperate to leave. She’d hooked up with Sammy, and together they planned on moving. Not around the corner where they would still be close to the mansion and could keep working here, but they would head north to get away. Anna confessed she was in love with Sammy, but something about him worried her.
Secretive, dangerous. And then she wrote the word Trustworthy?
Her last entry was I have to take this chance. I can’t stay where I am. I have to trust Sammy. I love him. I hope I’m doing the right thing.
With her heart pounding and tears in her eyes, Mercy slowly lowered the book and tucked it inside her pillowcase under her head. Hearing the words in her sister’s heart was so damn difficult. Mercy’s own heart filled with regret about all that could have been. This notebook wouldn’t convict anyone, but it could help. Except … with all the eyes on her, how would she get it to the detective?
*
Ice’s intel confirmed that Mercy had used her real name when applying for this maid position. Michael should’ve asked her if her employer knew who she was. It could determine if she was here on the sly or if they were aware of her connection to their previous maid. They might not have cared. On the other hand, they might care in a big way if they hadn’t found out beforehand.
In his days here, he hadn’t found proof of any wrongdoing. Sammy had been a good SEAL. He should’ve left some warning signs somewhere. It was up to Michael to find them. But he couldn’t afford to take time to find something that may not exist.
He drove around to his little apartment and parked in the back. Pulling out the bag of groceries along with his laptop, he headed inside. There, he found the main door still locked to his room. The hair he had placed was still there too. He walked inside, locked the door behind him and placed his items on the counter. He checked to see if the other security measures he had put in place were untouched, and the slivers of invisible tape were still affixed randomly to all the windows—which meant nobody had entered the apartment since he’d left. At least through that door. He did a quick search of his apartment as he did every time he entered. He couldn’t afford to be sloppy.
Reassured, he made himself a small pot of coffee and booted up his laptop again. He had security measures on his internet connection too that would stop others from hacking in. He’d sabotaged the security system in and around the estate but hadn’t had a chance to deal with Freeman’s internet feed, and he would love to get access to that. So far, he hadn’t been granted entrance into the mansion long enough to even have a cup of coffee.
Now that he knew the name of the previous maid, he did a search to check out more about who Anna Romano Gardini was, what she was, and what she was doing here. The information was fairly limited, and, outside of a few mentions of her name that could be found by anybody on Google, he couldn’t unearth much.
Anna had a clean driving record, no criminal record, and appeared to be in the best of health, with one issue over a decade earlier of note but not connected with gun-running terrorists. There was no explanation for why she had been here at this estate. Worst-case scenario was Anna was involved with the terrorist cell. Best-case scenario was she had gotten pulled in by Sammy and killed because she’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Michael hoped, for the family’s sake, the latter was the case.
It was always hard for family members to understand and accept the murder of a loved one, but it was always way worse when they found out the loved one had been involved in something so terrible.
As he sat with his coffee, a text came through from Levi. One single word.
Nothing.
Michael tossed his phone on the table and walked to the small couch to sit down. Nothing. So there’s nothing in all of Sammy’s belongings to indicate what the hell’s going on here. He shook his head. Come on, Sammy. You knew better than not to leave something behind.
He glanced out the window and saw the light going out in the new maid’s room. It was awfully early for her to go to bed. On the other hand, she might’ve been chilled from her walk in the rain. Not to mention tired. She didn’t look to be having an easy time of it in the house.
The memories triggered by being here had to be difficult. Hell, they were difficult for him, and Sammy wasn’t family. He was a team member, and that made him family, but, at the moment, Michael couldn’t think of Sammy as such. Michael had to stay detached.
He studied the dark side of the house now—the servants’ quarters wing, as Ice’s blueprint of the estate had revealed multiple tiny en suite bedrooms. Then a light at the bottom of the stairs turned on. He watched a shadow walk upstairs toward the maid’s room.
The security men had rooms on the far side of the building. The maids had housing on this side. At the moment there was only one on staff. Which was ludicrous for a house this size.
He frowned and shifted slightly for a better view. He didn’t know who else lived on the second floor, but no more lights were on, and only one window was on that side. He’d yet to see anyone other than the new maid use that entrance either. Thankfully she had the bedroom with the only window he could see. He waited and watched.
Suddenly the light turned on again in the maid’s room. He could see the woman wave at him. The stranger left, his shadow disappearing down the stairs. He glanced back at the woman, to watch as she turned on the light. Why would somebody come to the servants’ quarters at night? And why especially to her room?
“Dammit,” he muttered under his breath. Her getting mixed up in this would mess with his timetable. On these undercover ops, especially when slipping in so soon after the incident, it was best to take it slow, not draw unneeded attention, let things meander along as the bad guys lose interest in the new guys.
Now he had to work faster. It would put him in more danger, but it may take some attention off the new maid.