Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN BENEATH THE WIG
Daniel remained halfway down the staircase.
His hand gripped the curved wooden rail.
Dirty water dripped from my wig onto the marble floor.
Vanessa stood beside the empty bucket with one hand pressed against her chest.
“Mom?” Daniel whispered again.
I removed the thick glasses.
Then I pulled the dark wig from my head.
My silver hair fell against my wet face.
Daniel stared at me.
Vanessa took one step backward.
For the first time since she entered our family, she had nothing prepared to say.
I reached into the pocket of my faded uniform.
My thumb pressed the recorder again.
The red light stopped blinking.
Vanessa recovered quickly.
“This is insane.”
Daniel finally reached the foyer.
He looked from the bucket to my soaked clothes.
“What happened?”
Vanessa rushed toward him.
“Your mother tricked me.”
“She came into the house disguised as a stranger.”
“She insulted me.”
“She threatened me.”
I looked at my son.
“Did I threaten you, Vanessa?”
She turned toward me.
“You know what you did.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“Mom, why are you dressed like this?”
“Because you asked me to give Vanessa another chance.”
“This was your idea of a chance?”
“No.”
“This was my way of seeing how she treated people when she believed no one important was watching.”
Vanessa began crying.
The tears appeared quickly.
She had always been talented at producing emotion when it became useful.
“I cannot believe you would test me like an animal.”
I glanced toward the dirty bucket.
“That is an interesting choice of words.”
Daniel looked at the water around my shoes.
“Did you throw that over her?”
Vanessa did not answer directly.
“She refused to clean the floor.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You threw dirty water over my mother because she would not scrub a muddy mark with her hands?”
“I did not know it was her.”
The foyer became silent.
Vanessa heard her own mistake.
Daniel heard it too.
I folded the wet uniform sleeve away from my wrist.
“Would it have been acceptable if I were really a housekeeper?”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
No answer came.
I held out the recorder.
“This contains the last fifty-eight minutes.”
Daniel did not take it.
His eyes remained fixed on Vanessa.
She reached for his arm.
“Darling, your mother staged this.”
“She wanted me to fail.”
I nodded.
“You are right about one thing.”
“Today was arranged.”
“Your words were not.”
Daniel finally took the recorder.
Vanessa’s fingers tightened around his sleeve.
“Do not listen to that.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because she edited it.”
I almost smiled.
“It has not left my pocket.”
Daniel pressed play.
Vanessa’s voice filled the foyer.
“People like you should be grateful people like me let you indoors.”
May you like
The color drained from Daniel’s face.
But the recording had only begun.
