The guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion. Oksana knew from snippets of conversation overheard while gathering empty wineglasses in sitting rooms or wiping down kitchen counters as homeowners chatted on the phone. Brooklyn Heights’ potential jury pool had already decided what word to scrawl on their ballots. Philip Banks had misappropriated Nate Walker’s investment in his spinoff restaurant by directing it toward the rent for the larger establishment. Confronted with that fact—and an inevitable lawsuit—he’d freaked out and killed his famous director friend, robbing the world of the movies that the man might one day create.

Oksana hadn’t known the killer’s motive when she’d moved that empty bottle of Black Bushmills onto Nate’s desk, but she’d suspected the man involved. As she sat in her favorite chair in the living room of her Sheepshead Bay apartment, the New York Post open to the metro section folded on her lap, she thought about all the bottles of Black Bushmills that she’d taken to the recycling bin over the years while working for the Banks family.

Philip’s excuse for letting her go at the beginning of the pandemic never made sense to Oksana. A guy who worked in a restaurant kitchen, interacting with a full staff and the occasional patron, wouldn’t worry about catching anything from the masked cleaning lady who tidied up while everyone was at school or in the office. She’d reasoned that Philip couldn’t afford her anymore.

Just like she’d guessed that he’d been drinking with Nate and something had gone south. In all the time that she’d cleaned for both families, she’d only ever seen Philip’s favorite whiskey at the Walkers’ residence after a visit from the Banks brood, which she’d inevitably hear about from either Imani’s or Melissa’s attempts at casual conversation the following day. Oh, you were at the Walkers’ place this morning? We were there the prior night. Hope we didn’t make too much of a mess. Or sorry for all the glasses downstairs. We had the Bankses over for a nightcap.

As Oksana looked at the paper in her lap, she felt some pride in the role she’d played in solving the case. She could never have accused Philip publicly without risking all her clients in the neighborhood. But she’d made sure to include the liquor in the photograph, figuring that some mutual friend of the Bankses and Walkers might make the connection. According to the article, seeing the whiskey had led Imani to accuse her husband. So Oksana had ultimately done her part.