LEONARD TREATED HIS HOUSEHOLD STAFF EXTREMELY WELL, and in return they kept him informed about everything that went on in the home. Just the other day, he’d learned, the girls had asked if they could skip school because it was such a pretty day and they wanted to spend it outside. Patrice, the pushover that she was, had relented and allowed them to stay home. He’d been furious when he found out. Laziness was not to be rewarded. He decided that the only way to know what she was up to all the time was to install surveillance cameras, which he’d handled the very next day. Now he could keep an eye on her even while he was at work. He opened the app on his cell phone and he watched her, curious to see what she was doing in his library.
Patrice walked in, looking around, poking at books on the bookcase. What was she looking for? She turned to one wall and ran her hand over the sills and around each window. Next, she crouched and pulled up a corner of the Oriental rug. The mic picked up her audible sigh. She turned around, staring at the Jefferson desk. She went over to it and lifted the top. She dropped to her knees and when she stood again he saw that she was holding the small brown envelope he’d taped in one of the corners. Taking it with her, she left the room.
He couldn’t see her again until she reached their bedroom suite and that camera picked her up. She’d figured out that the envelope held the key to the silver box on his dresser. He laughed as she opened it and pulled out the pictures one by one. He relished the look of shock and disgust on her face as she saw Sissy doing things to him that Patrice no longer did. Served her right for being nosy. Did she really think he was stupid enough to leave incriminating evidence where she could find it? She was looking for his blackmail ledger, the one he’d stupidly told her about when he’d first gotten his promotion. The one that showed what he’d paid to whom for services rendered, with the details he needed if they ever tried to cross him. But that file was out of her reach in a safe in his closet.
One thing was certain, though: she was trying to take him down. She’d shown her hand today, a grave mistake. She was now officially the enemy.