Page 42 of Liar Byrd
That’s it.
Where the fuck are the rest of her clothes?
Backing out of the closet and shutting the door, my gaze lingers on the dresser. Already suspecting I know what I’ll find, I cross over to it and pull each drawer open.
I know what it is to come from nothing. To not have two cents to rub together. To go to bed with an empty stomach cramping so hard it takes two full hours to fall asleep.
This girl, whoever she is, came here with nothing but the clothes on her back.
Why does that piss me off so much?
I rake my eyes over the room until something that feels like guilt that I’m invading her space pushes me to leave. I walk out, closing the door behind me.
I never took any interest in the maid before.
Lydia spent more time skulking off to talk to her boyfriend outside. I don’t know what Nash is paying her to do, but cleaning sure as fuck isn’t a priority to her. She told Nash she was leaving and getting married, and he started looking for a replacement, more so that Nance would stop complaining, than because we need someone to pick up after us. The maids never stuck around long enough to catch my attention. This one does.
I go looking for her.
Nash must have given her permission to stay in one of the guestrooms. Why? The maids stay in the basement, which Nash calls the staff quarters. Not this one. This one has been staying in one of the guest rooms.
She’s not in the kitchen.
Nance has her back to me, head down, busy pounding dough. I leave her to it. I could ask her about the new maid, but she’d want to know why I was looking for her and probably warn me to leave her alone. If the new maid is doing a good job, Nance won’t want me to say or do anything to chase her away.
Every room is empty. She’s not in any of the downstairs rooms at all.
Did she run?
I could get on my bike and look for her if she had, but she could be anywhere. She’s not a Massey local. I’d have seen her around long before now, so would Vonn and Nash. And if she were a local, she wouldn’t have applied to work in the house.
No local wants to work here.
Then I see her.
She’s tucked herself near one of the hedges at the back of the house in nothing less than an attempt to hide.
“Hey,” I call out. “I was looking for you.”
Her eyes fly to me and jerk away again. She doesn’t respond.
“I’m Makhi,” I say, smiling at her, trying to get her to open up.
“Jessica.” She crosses her arms over her chest and stares down at the ground. Her eyes dart to me, away again, and she retreats. “I’d like to go now.”
“Not yet.”
“Makhi…” Vonn’s voice is a dark rumble from behind me.
I should have realized he would come looking for me, just as he would know I had gone after Jessica. “I just want to talk to her.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you. Back off.”
I let out a frustrated sigh and put my hands in my pockets, stepping back in case she thinks I’m crowding her. “Fine.”
“It’s okay,” Vonn reassures her with a gentle smile.
Jessica flinches away from Vonn, inching closer to me when I’ve given her more of a reason to scare her than he has.
