Chapter 5 - THE NURSE WHO LEFT
Amelia’s nurse was named Rebecca Shaw.
She had worked at Blackwood House during Amelia’s final pregnancy and the first three months after Ethan’s birth.
Household records said she resigned voluntarily.
Payroll showed she received a large separation payment and moved to Arizona.
Rebecca’s professional license remained active, but no current address appeared publicly.
Maria located her through a nursing registry.
Rebecca refused to speak.
Then she learned Ethan had been hospitalized with a pulled arm and sedative exposure.
She called back.
“Is Serena Montigue still in the house?”
“No.”
“Is Victor listening now?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca agreed to a recorded interview with police.
She said Serena began visiting Amelia during pregnancy as a family friend and foundation adviser.
After Ethan was born, Serena repeatedly offered to hold him, feed him, or supervise him while Amelia slept.
Rebecca became suspicious when bottles prepared by Serena caused unusual drowsiness.
She reported it to Amelia.
Amelia confronted Serena privately.
Serena stopped visiting for two months.
“Why did you leave?” Detective Cole asked.
“I was accused of stealing jewelry.”
The missing item was the same sapphire bracelet found beneath my mattress.
Rebecca said it was discovered inside her luggage the night before she left.
She denied stealing it.
Victor had believed the household security report.
He allowed Amelia to pay the separation agreement rather than call police.
The allegation against Rebecca and the allegation against me followed the same design.
Stolen jewelry.
Questionable medicine.
Overattachment to the child.
Removal from the house.
“Did Amelia believe you?” I asked.
“Eventually.”
“What happened?”
“She began keeping private notes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. She told me she was preparing a new trust because she no longer trusted the people around Victor.”
Rebecca’s statement opened the succession question further.
Victor’s attorneys found Amelia’s will and trust documents.
Most were ordinary.
One schedule was missing.
The estate file referenced an “Emergency Child Protection Amendment” executed four months before Amelia’s death.
No copy existed in Victor’s home office.
The original law firm had dissolved.
Westbridge Fiduciary Services held sealed records but required a court order.
Serena’s attorneys objected before the court issued one.
They claimed the amendment concerned confidential provisions benefiting her.
Victor stared at the objection.
“Why would my wife’s child trust benefit Serena?”
No one answered.
At the hospital, Ethan improved physically.
His fracture remained stabilized. The elbow alignment held. He began using his fingers without pain.
He had nightmares when women in heels entered the room.
A nurse changed assignments after he screamed at the sound of her shoes.
Victor spent every night beside him.
Child services observed.
His presence mattered.
So did the fact that he had not noticed earlier fear.
Nora remained missing.
Her bank card was used at a bus station, but security video showed a man withdrawing cash.
Police identified him as Nathan Cross, Serena’s security driver.
He claimed Nora gave him the card to purchase a ticket.
No ticket existed.
Nathan’s car entered a private storage facility the night Nora disappeared.
Police obtained a warrant.
They found Nora alive inside an office unit, frightened but unharmed.
She said Nathan took her there after Serena learned she planned to speak.
He brought food and told her she could leave once she signed a statement blaming me for Ethan’s injuries.
Nora refused.
Nathan was arrested for unlawful confinement.
Serena denied ordering it.
Nora’s testimony established she had signed the bath report under pressure.
She also revealed what Dr. Wells asked during his last visit.
“How many documented injuries,” he had said, “would it take before the court removed Ethan from Victor’s household?”
May you like
Serena answered:
“Three, if the third happens in front of the right witness.”
