The Wife Who Knew Too Much(57)

“How long have you worked at Windswept, Gloria?”

“A long time.”

“Did Mrs. Levitt hire you?”

She stopped dusting for a moment, averting her eyes, as if deciding whether to reply.

“No. He did. He brought me here.”

She gestured at the Warhol of Edward Levitt hanging over the fireplace. A candy-hued silk-screen of a photograph, it was realistic in a way that the ghoulish Lucian Freud of Nina was not. It showed Edward in minute detail, with a pockmarked face and bright blue eyes, wearing a smoking jacket and holding a cigar, a cruel smile playing about his lips. He was probably in his forties when it was done, and he looked commanding and dangerous, like someone who ruled his corner of the world. Like a pirate.

“Everything I’ve read makes him out to be a tyrant. What was he like to work for?” I asked.

She continued dusting. I thought she wasn’t going to answer, but eventually she started talking, in a soft, faraway voice.

“That’s true. He did what he wanted. He didn’t like to hear the word ‘no.’”

“You mean, in business?”

“Everything. But business, sure. Like, years ago, Mr. Levitt came to my town to open a mine. There were protests, but the police arrested everyone. My brother went to jail. He got beat really badly, and he died.”

“My God, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. Your brother died in the protest, yet you still came to work for the Levitts?”

“A lot of people agreed with the police, because the mine brought jobs. My other brothers went to work there. And when Mr. Levitt came back to the U.S., my family sent me with him. It was a chance to send money home. The Levitts paid me good money. I sent my nieces and nephews to school. I bought my mother a house. Maybe I wanted to leave sometimes, but I had reasons to stay.”

“I feel like that myself sometimes, too.”

“You? You can leave whenever you want to.”

“You’re right. I don’t mean to equate our situations. I’m sure what you went through was very difficult. How old were you when you came here?”

“Seventeen. The first Mrs. Levitt was here then. She was a nice lady. Good to me. I was sad when she left.”

“You mean, when Edward divorced her for Nina?”

“Yes.”

“How long did you work for Nina?”

“Long time. Thirty years. Until she died.”

“That must’ve been hard, too.”

“People say Mrs. Levitt was difficult. Not to me, she wasn’t. We got along. We understood each other. It might sound funny, but we went through a lot of the same things.”

I didn’t really understand what she meant by that.

“The papers said you were the one who found her body.”

“Oh, I don’t talk about that,” she said, turning her back abruptly. She took up the feather duster again, moving to the other side of the room.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve realized it would be a sensitive topic.”

“The police told me, don’t talk about it, in case I have to testify.”

“Testify? Isn’t the case closed?” I asked, alarmed.

She shrugged. “That, I don’t know. They don’t tell me much. Just not to talk about it.”

“Got it.”

“So, you say you want to leave. Why don’t you, then?”

“Leave Windswept? I didn’t really mean that. It’s just that I feel alone here sometimes. I imagine you felt the same way when you first came. I was a waitress before, and I’m really not prepared for this life. Connor and I got married fast. I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into.”

“Because of the baby?”

“What?”

She patted her stomach. “You got married because of the baby.”

“Did Juliet tell you that?” I said, astonished.

She’d promised not to, but then she’d gone and blabbed to Gloria?

“Oh, no. No, she didn’t say anything.”

“Then how did you know?”

“I can see it, in your face, your body.”

Was that true, or was Gloria covering for Juliet’s indiscretion? The pregnancy didn’t show much yet, especially to someone who hadn’t known me before. That raised the troubling prospect that two members of the staff were gossiping about my pregnancy behind my back, and lying about it. Plus, if Juliet had told Gloria, what were the chances she’d also tell Kovacs? Worse, that she already had, during their tête-à-tête on the beach just now?

“Please don’t tell anybody, okay, Gloria? Not until I’m farther along.”

“I won’t. I don’t talk to anyone outside this house,” Gloria said.

“Don’t tell anyone in this house, either.”

“But you just said Juliet already knows.”

“I didn’t tell her. She found out because—well, it doesn’t matter. The point is, I swore her to secrecy.”

Gloria raised her eyebrows skeptically.

“Why are you giving me that look? Did she keep my secret, or not?”

Gloria held her hands up, shaking her head. “She didn’t tell me. I don’t who else she talks to.”

“Well, can I trust her, or not?”