Clara had recently worked there.
That simple fact was enough for suspicion to begin spreading.
When Daniel asked Clara to come into the living room, she immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Daniel stood near the window while Beatrice sat several feet away.
“Clara,” Daniel began carefully, “something important has disappeared. We’re simply trying to understand what happened.”
Clara looked surprised.
“Of course. Tell me how I can help.”
Beatrice interrupted.
“You worked in that part of the house recently.”
Clara immediately understood what she was implying.
“Yes, just as I regularly do. But I didn’t take anything.”
She suggested searching the rooms again and calmly reconstructing everything that had happened over the previous few days.
She accused no one.
She asked for only one thing:
That nobody reach a conclusion before examining the facts.
Daniel hesitated.
He had known Clara for years, and until that moment, she had never given him any serious reason to question her honesty.
