I Watched Lily Tug His Gold Watch And Point Toward His Locked Room...

The dining room looked different in the morning. Without the candles lit, the dark wood table was just dark wood, and the white runner showed a spot near Lily's plate where gravy had soaked through. The wall sconces were off. Pale daylight came in around the edges of the curtains and made the glasses from last night look dusty.

I was alone in there, stacking the water glasses on a tray. My hair was pulled back the same as always, my black dress and white apron on straight. I had gotten Lily off to the school pick-up line an hour earlier with her backpack zipped and her pink dress traded for jeans and a sweater. The house was quiet in that way it got after Mr. Balanki went up to his office.

I heard shoes on the hardwood before I saw him. The guest from last night stopped in the doorway. Same short dark hair, light stubble. No tuxedo jacket now, just the white shirt with the sleeves rolled once and dark pants. He looked tired.

"Hey," he said. "Am I in the way?"

"No," I said. "I'm just clearing."

He stepped in anyway and stopped by the chair Mr. Balanki had pulled out for Lily. The dark wood chair with the white upholstery. He touched the back of it with two fingers, then let his hand drop.

"I keep thinking about last night," he said.

I didn't answer right away. I wrapped a wine glass in my dish towel and set it careful on the tray. My hands knew the work even if my chest felt tight.

He glanced toward the hallway, where the blue light from last night was just daylight now. "That line about family, not the help. That was rough to hear. Especially said to a five-year-old."

My throat moved. "Yes."

"I didn't like it," he said. "I wanted to say something at the table. I didn't. I'm not proud of that."

I looked up at him then. He wasn't looking at me like staff. He was looking at the chair.

"It's not my house," he said quietly. "That's no excuse, I know."

I wiped the table where the spot was. "Lily heard it. That's what matters to me."

He nodded and was quiet for a second. The clock in the hallway ticked. Somewhere upstairs a door shut soft.

"I was here early yesterday," he said. "Before dinner. I came to drop a bottle off for Balanki and I waited in the hall by the stairs."

My hand stopped on the runner.

He kept his voice low. "Selene came down the staircase. She had that little light purse with her, the metallic one. She was moving fast, like she'd forgotten something downstairs. She saw me and smiled and said dinner would be late."

I tried to keep my breathing even. "What time was that?"

He shook his head. "I didn't check my phone. It was still light out, but getting dark. Maybe an hour before we sat down? I wasn't paying that kind of attention."

"Did you see where she came from?" I asked. "Which door? Upstairs?"

"No," he said quickly. "That's the thing. I didn't see a door. I just saw her on the stairs, near the top, then coming down. I didn't see any card. I didn't see her open or close anything. I just remember the purse because it caught the light."

I nodded and went back to stacking. That was honest, at least. Not enough, but honest.

"I told Mr. Balanki last night—" I started, then stopped. I wasn't supposed to talk about that private talk. "Lily said she saw something. About a locked room."

"I heard what she said," he said. "About the card."

He moved around the table a little, closer but still leaving space. His shoes made almost no sound on the rug.

"Look," he said. "I'm not going to go accuse his fiancee of something I didn't see. You understand that, right? Balanki and I do business. And I don't know what door, what card. I can't walk in there and point a finger."

"I know," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted.

"But I'm telling you because you should know someone else saw her up there," he said. "Not where she was supposed to be right before dinner. With that purse."

A bus went by outside, low and far. The curtains moved a little with the heat coming on.

He picked up an empty water glass and handed it to me so I wouldn't have to reach. "Write it down," he said. "What Lily said, when she said it. What I just told you, with the time as best as you remember. Don't guess at the parts you don't know. Just what you saw."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because memories shift," he said. "Especially with kids. And especially in houses like this. If this turns into something, you'll want it straight."

I set the glass on the tray. "I'm not trying to turn it into anything. I just want Lily safe. And I need this job."

"I get that," he said. "That's why I'm saying don't confront her alone. Don't ask her about the purse or the stairs by yourself. She already embarrassed herself in front of a table. People get mean when they're embarrassed."

That landed hard because it was true. I had seen Selene's face last night, arms crossed, then clutching that small purse tight to her side. The diamond teardrop necklace catching candlelight while she stared at Lily.

"Mr. Balanki asked me to watch," I said before I could stop myself. "Just watch. And keep Lily out of the way."

The guest studied me. "Then do that. Watch. Write. Don't go looking for the card yourself."

I wanted to ask him to tell Mr. Balanki what he'd just told me. The words were right there. But I could see he'd already decided not to. His eyes went to the doorway, checking it was empty. He was willing to talk to the maid in a quiet room in the morning. He wasn't willing to stand up at the table.

"You'll be here a few days?" I asked.

"Through tomorrow," he said. "Then I'm gone."

He hesitated, then added, "For what it's worth, I believed your girl last night when she tugged his sleeve. Kids don't make up that kind of scared."

My eyes burned. I blinked and focused on the tray.

"Thank you for telling me," I said.

He nodded once and stepped back. "Take care of her. That chair thing — Balanki meant it. That counts for something."

He left me in the dining room with the tray full and the spot still faint on the runner no matter how hard I rubbed. I stood there listening to his steps fade down the hall.

I had what he'd given me. An adult who saw Selene near the staircase before dinner with her purse in her hand. An adult who thought the family remark was wrong.

It wasn't proof. He hadn't seen the locked door. He hadn't seen the card. He wouldn't say it in front of them.

I pulled the small notepad I kept in my apron pocket for grocery lists and wrote on the back: guest saw S. on stairs before dinner w/ purse. No door, no card. ~1 hr before sit-down. Told me write times down. Do not confront alone.