Chapter 7: The Accusation
He didn't show Olivia the message.
Not that night.
He sat with it for an hour, turning it over.
Then he called Marcus Webb.
Marcus answered on the second ring, which told Caleb he had been expecting the call.
"Caleb.
What can I do for you?"
"Someone sent me a message tonight from an unknown number.
They mentioned the Aldridge account and implied Olivia had taken something from it." He kept his voice neutral.
"Do you know anything about that?"
A pause.
Carefully measured.
"I may have spoken to Mr.
Aldridge recently.
He had some concerns about items missing from his apartment after a cleaning visit."
"When?"
"About two months ago."
"Two months ago.
And no one informed me.
No one informed the agency.
No one informed Olivia."
"It was still being looked into—"
"Marcus." Caleb stopped him.
"Did Olivia clean Aldridge's apartment?"
"She covered for another cleaner twice, yes.
The regular cleaner was ill."
"And what exactly does Aldridge claim is missing?"
Another pause.
"A watch.
And some cash he kept in a drawer."
"A watch and cash kept in a drawer." Caleb let that sit for a moment.
"And he reported this to you instead of to the police because—"
"He wanted to handle it discreetly."
"Or because he knew a police report would require actual evidence." Caleb stood up and walked to the window.
The city was dark below, lights scattered across it like something broken and beautiful.
"I want the dates she was in that apartment.
I want the agency's entry logs.
And I want to know who else had access to Aldridge's unit in that same period."
"Caleb, I don't think—"
"I'm not asking for your opinion, Marcus.
I'm asking for records that exist and that you have access to." He paused.
"Or I can ask my lawyer to request them formally.
Your choice."
The silence on the other end was a different kind of silence than before.
"I'll send them tomorrow," Marcus said.
"Tonight," Caleb said, and ended the call.
He got the records at eleven-fifteen.
He sat at his kitchen table and went through them carefully.
Olivia had been in Aldridge's apartment on two dates.
The first was a Thursday.
The second was the following Monday.
The watch and the cash, according to Aldridge's complaint, had been noticed missing on a Wednesday — the Wednesday between those two dates.
There was a third name in the entry log for that Wednesday.
A maintenance contractor.
Authorized by Marcus Webb personally.
Caleb looked at the name for a long time.
Then he got up, poured a glass of water, and stood at the counter drinking it slowly.
In the morning he would need to make some calls.
He would need to be careful and he would need to be thorough, because if he was going to clear Olivia's name he was going to do it in a way that left no room for anyone to reopen the question.
He set the glass in the sink.
The bedroom door at the end of the hall was closed.
Behind it, three babies were sleeping.
A woman who had been carrying far too much for far too long was sleeping too, or trying to.
He went back to his desk and started making notes.
He wrote Aldridge's name at the top.
Then Marcus's name.
Then the contractor's.
Then he drew a line connecting Marcus to the contractor and wrote one word beside it: *why.*
Because that was the question that mattered.
May you like
Not just who had taken the watch.
But why Marcus Webb had pointed the finger at Olivia — quietly, through an anonymous text, two months after the fact — on the exact day she had stood in his lobby and refused to leave.
