Lilly said, “Not to evade housework, during the day she managed to clean and straighten up beautifully. Even though that’s not what she was originally hired for, the plan was to get a maid twice a week.”

Donald said, “Adriana insisted it wasn’t necessary, the place isn’t big, she could handle everything. We offered to pay her whatever we were going to pay the maid but she refused. We didn’t want to take advantage of her and insisted she get something extra. Finally, she agreed to an additional hundred dollars a week. Which was a huge bargain for us. So when she considered her day over and went into her room, that was fine.”

Lilly said, “Right from the get-go, she was great with May, but we were careful anyway, installed hidden baby cams. Watching the recordings reassured us. She couldn’t have been more patient or loving or attentive.”

Milo said, “Do you have the recordings?”

“Sorry, everything was uploaded to my computer at work and once I was confident Adriana was okay, I deleted the file and got rid of the system.”

Donald said, “We removed the cameras when Adriana was out walking May. We didn’t want her discovering them, thinking we hadn’t trusted her. Though, of course, we hadn’t. Trust needs to be earned.”

I said, “And Adriana earned it.”

“In spades,” said Lilly. “She was a gem.”

Same term Susan Van Dyne had used.

Donald said, “For someone like that to be murdered is astonishing. Do you have any idea who did it?”

“Not yet, Doctor,” said Milo. “What else can you tell me about her?”

Donald turned to his wife. She shook her head.

I said, “Where did she sleep?”

“In the spare bedroom.”

“Could we see it?”

“There’s nothing of hers left in there, it’s all the current nanny’s stuff and she’s sleeping in there.”

“How’s the new nanny working out?”

“She’s nice,” said Lilly.

I said, “But no Adriana.”

“Corinne’s pleasant, May seems to be attaching to her. But Adriana had something special. A real kid person.”

Donald said, “Corinne’s also not much for cleaning, now we do bring a maid in once a week.”

I said, “Did Adriana talk about herself?”

“Not really,” said Lilly. “She wasn’t rude but she had a way of … I guess deflecting would be the right word.”

“How so?”

“With ambiguous answers, then changing the subject. ‘Oops, there’s a stain on the counter,’ and she’d get busy cleaning. I wondered if her personal history was painful, maybe a past relationship that had hurt her.”

Donald stared at her. “Really?”

“Yes, darling.”

He said, “I always thought she was just shy. What specific evidence of being hurt did you pick up?”

She smiled. “No evidence at all, it was just a feeling.”

I said, “Did you pick up signs of her worrying about anything?”

Lilly thought. “Like depression?”