My husband pushed me down the stairs, and as I lay shattered at the bottom, my mother-in-law called my father and said, “Come get your worthless daughter and take her back.” Dad gave her only one warning: “If she has so much as a scratch, your family will answer for it.” They laughed at him because they had absolutely no idea who my father truly was.

She had located Agnes.

The housekeeper had agreed to an interview, and what she remembered might change the investigation.

I held the fox against my good side.

For the first time since the fall, the next day felt like it might contain something other than dread.

PART 8

Agnes had worked at the Callahan house for almost six years.

She was quiet, meticulous, and so skilled at becoming invisible during Celeste’s gatherings that I sometimes wondered whether the family had forgotten she was a person.

Detective Ortiz met her privately.