“Here’s what’s going to happen, Miriam.” She looks up at me and wipes her eyes and her nose. Snivels like a pig. “You are going to pretend this conversation never happened.”

She’s surprised at this. Nods enthusiastically. “Of course, sir. Of course! Thank you!”

“Don’t be so eager. If my mother or Theron get wind of this, if they find out that I know, I will haul you to a jail cell so fast you won’t know what hit you. Am I clear?”

“But… sir…”

I pick up the paperweight and toss it from one hand to the other as her face turns a shade of gray I didn’t know was possible for a living, breathing human being.

“And according to your file,” I say, opening the single folder on my desk. “It won’t be your first time. You were in prison before. Petty crimes but enough of them. I don’t imagine you liked it much. Inmates are brutal, aren’t they?” I give that a long minute to sink in. “None of the comings and goings of this house will be discussed with my mother or brother. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

I get to my feet, walk around the desk, and loom over her. “And if Mercedes so much as feels you’ve looked at her the wrong way, there will be hell to pay. Am I very fucking clear on that point, Miriam?”

A knock on the door interrupts our conversation. I barely have a moment to be pissed because whoever it is doesn’t wait for me to give the order to enter but keeps knocking and pushes the door open at the same time.

It’s Lois, which surprises me, but it’s the look on her face that has my heart drop to my stomach.

“Get out, Miriam.” I don’t wait for her to move but pick her up by her arm and give her a good shove toward the door. Lois gives her just enough space to clear the room, and I hear her running down the hall.

But I don’t care about Miriam. Because Lois is crying, shaking, too upset to speak.

I take her arms, squeeze.

“What is it? What the hell has happened?”

“She’s gone. She’s just…”

“What?”

“Mercedes. She was feeling sick so I opened the window to give her some fresh air and—”

“The window?” She’s up on the second floor.

Lois nods. “She used sheets.”