They started upstairs. As usual, nothing was disturbed except for a damp towel in the hamper, which Emma scooped up and put in the laundry bag for pickup. The laundry and dry cleaning was picked up and delivered twice a week, expertly timed for the moment the Kerrigan cleaners were finished cleaning.

 Bethany had left her diary open on the table next to her bed, the bed she meticulously fixed in the morning even though it was cleaning day, clean sheet day. There was only one sentence written on the page and Emma couldn’t stop herself. After all those years of not noticing things, now she was a damn runaway train!

 I just wish there was someone to talk to.

 It clutched at Emma’s heart and before she could reason with herself, she picked up the pen and wrote a note. Talk to me. She wrote her cell number. Then her cheeks flamed so red she thought she might pass out. This house, this family was going to kill her and she was going to end up getting fired over it. She quickly passed the vacuum, leaving perfect tracks. I am totally fired, she thought.

 She wasn’t even done with the vacuum when Makenna was at the house and with her, Nick. They took one look at the decorations and called Emma down.

 “Good call,” Makenna said. “How’d you know?”

 Makenna didn’t know about her past? Riley hadn’t told her closest coworkers their complicated history, Emma’s spectacular and horrifying past? She was stunned. “I...ah...this isn’t my first fancy house. Believe me, you don’t want to break anything at Christmastime around here.”

 “Doesn’t it just give you that warm, fuzzy holiday feeling?” Makenna said. “Stay away from all the ornamentation. I’ll take care of this.”

 Emma wondered if there was any way to sneak upstairs to Bethany’s room and remove her note from the diary. But of course it was written in pen. The only option was to tear out that page, and she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

 Makenna and Nick seemed to be outside conferring, talking on their phones for a long time. They sat in the company car for a while, talking. And then without saying another word, they were gone. Before leaving the house, Emma called Makenna. “What’s the verdict on this house and the ornaments?”

 “Riley will be discussing it with Mrs. Christensen. Clean around them the best you can. Riley agrees we’ll need a release of liability on the care and cleaning of apparently priceless knickknacks. Leave everything.”

 “Who are these people?” Emma asked.

 Makenna sighed. “Olaf Christensen owns an import-export business and his wife is the CFO. They’re very successful, very driven, both perfectionists.”

 “Import-export,” Emma said. “Well, that explains some of these precious decorations. They’re in the buying-and-selling business. We already dusted around,” Emma said. Then to her partners she said, “We’re on the road again, girls.”

 The next house was messy and dirty, which put them a bit behind schedule, but this was the way things went during the holidays, what with all the partying and clutter. The last house of the day was the Andrewses and they were a bit late. Mrs. Andrews had had her arm in a sling last week but this week no one answered the door.

 “Going to fight the damn cat hair,” Shawna said. “I hate cat hair.”

 There was a sudden but definite commotion inside, the sound of a man shouting and a woman’s voice. Emma rang the doorbell again and a third time.

 “This ain’t no good, trust me,” Shawna said. “Time to go make another call to Makenna.”

 “Wait,” Emma said. She leaned her ear up to the door. She couldn’t hear what he was saying but he was barking, yelling, and she was wheedling, maybe whimpering. “I’m worried about her,” Emma said. “I can’t leave her in there with him.”

 “We call Nick now,” Dellie said.

 “Open it,” Emma commanded.

 “Now, that’s something we don’t wanna do,” Dellie said.

 Emma leaned her ear against the door again and suddenly it popped open and she fell inside, right onto a skinny, smelly, worked-up man. He growled and pushed her off him with surprising strength and stood up. He muttered something then walked briskly to the car that sat in the drive.

 Dellie and Shawna lifted Emma to her feet.

 “See what I’m talking about?” Dellie said. “We don’t need any part of that!”

 Emma was still frowning after the man. He was balding, short and ugly. His ears were big, he had a beak for a nose and she was sure she saw a sizeable wart on it. He cast a mean look over his shoulder; the three of them stood on the front walk with their supplies—dusters on extenders, a big plastic carrier with all their chemicals, vacuum, bag of rags, knee pads and gloves.

 He spit on the ground, got in his Mercedes and drove away.

 “We’re not cleaning this one today,” Shawna said. “She’ll pay her bill, don’t worry about that.”

 But Emma walked into the house. She found Mrs. Andrews on the floor in a crumpled heap, crying. She still had her sling, all askew, and she held her arm as if it hurt. There was a fresh slap mark on her cheek and her neck was very red, like he’d been choking her.

 Dellie and Shawna followed Emma slowly. Cautiously. Working together, they lifted Mrs. Andrews to the couch. “Someone get Mrs. Andrews some ice. I’ll just be a minute,” Emma said.

 “What are you going to do?” Shawna asked.

 “Today I’m working on getting fired, it seems,” she said. She walked to the front door and standing just outside she called the police.

    Chapter Fifteen

 Riley’s heart was heavy. Every time she thought about her conversation with Maddie she felt both confusion and regret. Confusion because she couldn’t exactly remember her explanations about herself and Jock the way Maddie remembered and wondered if she’d fed her daughter a series of excuses. And regret because now that she looked back on it, she had probably glossed over things so it wouldn’t sound like what it was. After about sixteen years even she didn’t remember it as accurately as she should because she’d been trying to blot out some truths—that she’d fallen for her best friend’s boyfriend, that she’d loved him, slept with him, expected him to stand by her from that moment, but instead she lost them both.