Chapter 4 - The Setup
I couldn't sleep that night.
Lily was snoring softly in her little bed in our staff quarters.
I kept checking the lock on the door.
Vanessa was a powerful woman.
She came from old money. I came from nothing.
The next morning, Marta called me to the main office.
Her face was grim.
“Maya. The police are here.”
My heart stopped.
“For what?”
Marta led me to the grand living room.
Two officers were standing by the fireplace.
Marcus was there, his arms crossed, looking furious.
And Vanessa was sitting on the sofa, dabbing her eyes with a tissue.
“That’s her,” Vanessa told the officers.
“Maya Vance?” one of the officers asked.
“Yes?” My voice shook.
“Ms. Cain has reported a stolen item. A diamond tennis bracelet, valued at eighty thousand dollars.”
I stepped back.
“I didn’t take anything.”
“We searched your staff quarters, Ms. Vance,” the officer said.
He pulled a plastic evidence bag from his pocket.
Inside the bag, sparkling in the light, was a diamond bracelet.
“We found this tucked inside your daughter’s stuffed rabbit.”
The air vanished from my lungs.
Lily’s rabbit.
Mr. Bun.
Vanessa had planted it.
She had somehow gotten back into the house, or paid someone to do it.
She was going to send me to prison to discredit me.
“I didn’t do this!” I cried, looking at Marcus.
Marcus’s face was unreadable.
“Arrest her,” Vanessa sniffled. “I can’t believe we trusted her.”
The officer reached for his handcuffs.
“Wait,” Marcus said.
His voice echoed off the marble walls.
He walked slowly toward the officer.
“You said you found it in the rabbit?”
“Yes, Mr. Cole.”
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
“That’s fascinating, Vanessa.”
He pulled something out of his pocket.
A small, plush rabbit ear.
“Because Lily’s rabbit is right here in my pocket. She left it in the security room yesterday.”
Vanessa froze.
May you like
Marcus smiled.
“I don't know whose stuffed animal you hid that bracelet in, Vanessa. But it wasn't Lily's.”
