Page 34 of Liar Byrd
She isn't from the area. No local would accept a job in this house. She came here by bus, chose not to work at the diner, and they would have hired her just for the busy morning shifts.
But maybe they’re not short-staffed anymore. It’s been months since I was last in town, and that experience is not one I would ever want to repeat.
Jessica heard about the job and walked up here to apply for it. If she knew about it, the advert that Nance said she would put up would be in the grocery store, and if it were in the grocery store, Douglas would have warned her why it was a bad idea.
Yet she came here anyway.
“Just toiletries and things like that,” I say, still thinking about what might have chased her to Massey. “I don’t think she would want us to know that she came here with nothing.”
Nance turns to face me. The hostility from earlier, when she was about to slam the door in Jessica’s face, returns. “She could bring trouble here.”
Nance is the closest thing I’ve had to a mother for a long time, and no one defends this house and the people in it as fiercely as she does.
I smile faintly. “She’s no threat to me or us.”
A line forms between her brows. “You don’t know that. She could be here to cause trouble.Hecould have sent her.”
“She’s no trouble," I say, draining my glass of water. “Could you take her a bowl of something to eat, along with the uniform and a few things to wash? I told her you’d expect to see her in the kitchen at eight tomorrow morning to start work.”
“You could give her money to go away.”
“She’s not a threat I need to buy off, Nance. Drop it.” My tone is calm. I rarely tell Nance what to do. She’s been a housekeeper long enough to manage the house without my interference.
“And if she’s trouble?”
“She won’t stay,” I say as I walk away. “No one ever stays for long.”
Chapter 13
Byrdie
“You’ll be in charge of cleaning the upstairs. Occasionally the entryway.”
I hurry to keep up with Nance’s long strides as she blows through the house on the fastest tour I’ve ever been on in my life. “How many floors?”
“Three.” She peers over her shoulder, catches me gulping, and a hint of amusement softens her stern expression when she sees my terror that I’ll spend the next twenty-four hours cleaning and never finish.
She continues, “Lydia, the other maid, does the cleaning as well. You won’t be doing it all alone. At least, not until Lydia leaves at the end of the month. The first and third floors are guest bedrooms, while the personal rooms are on the second floor. Guest rooms are rarely used now, so they only require light dusting and windows opening daily. You are not to go on the roof. That’s an instant dismissal if you’re found up there.”
I glance up at the staircase, curious about Nance’s sharp warning.
It doesn’t look particularly ominous.
Then I remember an English class and a book about the man who kept his crazy wife locked in an attic while he married someone else.
Stop freaking yourself out.
I straighten the front of my new uniform—a light gray maid’s dress with short sleeves, a knee-length skirt, and a white collar. It’s loose on me, but with the half-length white apron tightly belted, it doesn’t look too baggy. I braided my hair, but the ends keep falling out. I’ll have to ask Nance if she has a spare hair tie or hunt for an elastic.
Last night, Nance left the uniform outside my room, along with a pair of white tennis shoes and a grocery bag filled with toiletries like shampoo, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.
I wonder what Nash—Mr. Gabriel—had told her and what her reaction was to being asked to send up things I should already have.
She knocked on my door as I was inhaling the delicious stew she’d also brought me. By the time I’d crossed my room and opened the door, there was no sign of her. I brought the tray down this morning, and Nance nodded, pleased when she saw I had washed everything, dried it, and put everything away so no dishes cluttered the gray marble counters.
I don’t know if the last maid was a slob or if Nance’s standards aren’t as high as I thought they would be for such a small thing to satisfy her. I’m used to working in the compound from sun-up to sun-down.
Nance didn’t seem to notice the bags under my eyes from my terrible night's sleep. She said she would start the tour upstairs and work her way down so that I could meet everyone for breakfast at nine.
