Chapter 6 — The Pantry Discovery — Then A Second Envelope of Missing Cash Appears Behind the Shelves
Clara held the small flash drive between her thumb and forefinger.
The white paper label looked fresh.
The ink was not smudged.
“Where did you get this?” Clara asked.
Her voice stayed remarkably steady.
Martha took a half-step backward toward the pantry door.
“I have no idea what that is,” Martha said.
Her hands stayed buried deep inside the grey sweater pockets.
“You’ve never seen a USB drive before?” Clara asked.
“Not that one,” Martha replied quickly.
“People leave things on counters all the time in a house this size.”
Clara did not look away from the nanny.
She turned toward the tall pantry built into the corner of the kitchen.
The door stood slightly ajar.
“Sophie, Emma,” Clara said softly to her daughters.
“Go wait in the living room with your aunt for a moment.”
“We want to stay,” Emma whispered.
“Please,” Clara said, her tone gentle but firm.
“Go sit on the couch. I will be right there.”
The two girls turned and hurried out of the kitchen.
Their footsteps faded down the hallway.
Clara walked across the tile floor toward the pantry.
Martha lunged forward an inch before catching herself.
“There’s nothing in there,” Martha said.
Her voice had lost its smooth cadence.
“You don’t need to look through the food.”
Clara ignored her entirely.
She pulled the white pantry door all the way open.
Shelves lined with cereal boxes, pasta jars, and snack containers stretched into the dim interior.
Clara reached out and shifted a tall box of cereal on the second shelf.
Something white slid off the back edge and dropped onto the lower wire rack.
Clara reached past the flour canisters and picked it up.
It was a standard white envelope.
The flap was tucked in, but it was not sealed.
Clara pulled the flap open and slid out the contents.
A thick stack of paper currency fell out into her hand.
She flipped through the bills.
Every serial number matched the list of petty cash missing from her office desk drawer.
Clara pulled the remaining paper out from inside the envelope.
It was a lined shopping list folded in half.
Written across the top in jagged, hurried handwriting was a list of grocery items.
Below the items was a note detailing dates and cash withdrawal amounts.
Clara stared at the handwriting on the paper.
The slant of the letters and the distinct way the capital letters were formed belonged to one specific person in the house.
Clara looked up from the list and slowly turned her head toward the pantry doorway.