Chapter 2: What the Maid Heard
The ambulance came before the police did.
Claire was still on the floor when the paramedics reached her.
She wouldn't let go of Ethan's sleeve — not even when they asked her to lie back.
Her eyes kept moving.
Kept finding Eleanor.
Eleanor had reached the bottom of the stairs by then.
She stood near the doorway, arms folded, watching the paramedics work like she was observing something mildly inconvenient.
"She needs to leave," Eleanor said to no one in particular.
"She was asked to leave.
Whatever happened after that is not my responsibility."
One of the guests made a sound — half disbelief, half disgust.
The maid turned away.
Her hands were shaking.
Ethan looked up at Eleanor slowly.
"Not another word."
Eleanor's eyes didn't move.
"You know what she came here to do, Ethan.
You know exactly what she was trying to start."
"I said stop."
"She's been lying to you for—"
"*Stop.*"
The room went silent.
Then Claire's hand tightened on Ethan's arm again.
Hard.
Urgent.
"My bag," she breathed.
"Ethan — my bag.
Don't let her near it."
He turned.
Scanned the hallway.
The bag was gone.
Eleanor was already looking somewhere else — too deliberately, too calmly.
And the maid, still standing near the wall, whispered something so quietly that only the guest beside her heard it.
Her face went white.
---
What was in Claire's bag — and did Eleanor already take it?
What the maid whispered changes everything.
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The truth is worse than anyone in that room realized.
