Chapter 4
I went back through the estate footage.
Not one hour.
Three weeks.
Maisie appeared near Renata repeatedly.
Too repeatedly.
At breakfast.
Near the east hall.
Outside the old family chapel.
Renata never touched her on camera.
But she was always close.
Watching.
Waiting.
Frank appeared in more of the clips than I expected.
That bothered me.
He had officially retired from daily family affairs two years earlier.
Yet he seemed to know exactly where Maisie would be.
I called her nanny.
She came into the study shaking.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her eyes filled.
“Tell you what?”
“That Frank keeps appearing around my daughter.”
She looked confused.
“Mr. Frank said you asked him to spend more time with her.”
My jaw tightened.
“I did not.”
Her face drained.
“He said Maisie needed stronger family influence.”
Of course he did.
“How long?”
“About a month.”
One month.
Same period as the surveillance pattern.
Then she added:
“He sometimes dismissed me.”
My hands curled.
“You left Maisie alone with him?”
“He said you approved.”
She started crying.
I raised a hand.
Not blame.
Not yet.
“What happened after?”
“Usually nothing.”
Usually.
Dangerous word.
“Usually?”
“Maisie would be quiet afterward.”
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Not obvious bruises.
Behavior.
The thing adults miss because silence is convenient.
“Did she ever say anything?”
The nanny hesitated.
“She said Grandpa Frank makes games.”
“What games?”
“I thought pretend games.”
“What did she say?”
“She said he asks who Daddy loves more.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
The nanny looked at me.
“She said he asks whether you love Maisie more than the family.”
I felt something cold settle through me.
This was not discipline.
It was testing.
Frank had been using my daughter to measure something.
Maybe loyalty.
Maybe fear.
Maybe how easily a three-year-old could be taught that loving her father put her against the family.
May you like
I knew that game.
Frank had played it with me when I was a boy.
