Val leaned in too, moving closer to Melinda, and did not divert her stare. Val was not backing down. “Did Ingrid have a daughter?”

“Not one that I recall.” Melinda picked up her wine glass and drained what was left of the contents. “I don’t socialize with the help, so I wouldn’t have known.”

“Lunch is ready.” Louise’s voice echoed in the room. Val hadn’t even seen her enter.

The four women rose and went into the dining room. Each took a seat and Louise brought plates of salmon, wilted spinach and fingerling potatoes. Val could smell the lemon caper sauce drizzled over the fish. It all looked spectacular and as soon as plates were before all of them, she picked up her fork and took a bite. It was heavenly. She took a few more bites before speaking again. “Weren’t you concerned that Gabrielle wasn’t watching her siblings that day?” she asked. “They were pretty young to be left unattended.”

“No. We were over there because she had no intention of watching them to begin with. She was pissed with her parents for punishing her,” Melinda said. “I think this was our biggest regret. She didn’t keep an eye on them; we also didn’t care about them; and then something tragic happened.” Melinda’s words had no emotion.

“Weren’t you worried at all that someone would have told the Morgans you were there? I know you said that the staff wasn’t there, but the twins would have seen you enter the house. They could have told their parents, if they had lived,” Val said.

Melinda had an icy stare on Val and Val waited for her response. But the answer came in Bethany’s voice. “We snuck in through the servants’ entrance in the back of the house, and went up the servants’ stairs to Gabi’s room. We saw no one. Never did when we went in this way. Never saw anyone on the way out either. The day the twins drowned was the only time that was witnessed,” Bethany said.

“Well, the only time you know someone witnessed it, right?” Val asked. “I mean the only reason Ingrid came forward was because of the death of the twins, but on an ordinary day would someone have cared which door they saw you come out of?”

Bethany glanced at Melinda, but Melinda would not divert her gaze from Val. “I guess you’re right. Well, then we might not have been as crafty as we thought we were back then.”

“I understand a servant’s entrance but servant’s stairs?” Gwen asked.