Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much

Sarah tightened her arms around the twins.

“What am I supposed to have heard?”

Vanessa smiled too quickly. “This house is old. Pipes knock. Vents rattle. You’ve been working here six weeks and you still jump at every sound.”

“I heard a woman’s voice on the monitor.”

Vanessa’s smile disappeared.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I know what I heard.”

“You’re tired.” Vanessa stepped closer. “Give me Mia.”

Mia buried her face against Sarah’s neck.

“No.”

The answer came out sharper than Sarah intended.

Vanessa’s eyes hardened.

Daniel Mercer had hired Sarah after three nannies quit within five months. He was thirty-nine, wealthy enough to own half the block, and exhausted in a way money could not fix. His wife had died after a car crash on a mountain road. The twins had survived because they had been home with a nurse.

Vanessa had arrived in Daniel’s life eight months later.

To everyone outside the house, she was patient, elegant, and endlessly kind.

Inside the house, Sarah had learned to watch her.

Vanessa never yelled when witnesses were nearby.

She never threatened anyone in words that could be repeated cleanly.

And she hated the nursery camera.

“Put the children back to bed,” Vanessa said. “And tomorrow, we’ll talk about whether you’re still a good fit for this family.”

Sarah stared at her. “Daniel should know what happened.”

“He’s in Seattle until Friday.”

“I can call him.”

Vanessa moved so close Sarah could smell her perfume.

“If you wake a grieving father at two in the morning because an old house made a noise, you won’t make it to breakfast as an employee.”

Then she walked away.

Sarah waited until Vanessa’s bedroom door closed.

She carried the twins downstairs to the guest room and locked the door.

Only then did she open the Mercer security app on her phone.

The nursery camera had recorded continuously since midnight.

Sarah dragged the timeline back to 2:13.

At 2:12:58, Noah stood up.

At 2:13:01, Mia began laughing.

At 2:13:03, the video froze.

The next image appeared at 2:16:47.

Nearly four minutes were missing.

Sarah stared at the gap.

A notification appeared at the bottom of the screen.

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Then, before Sarah could take a screenshot, the entire clip vanished.