Page 41 of One Last Goodbye

That relief allows me to focus my full ire on Strauss. “What an evil woman.”

Sophie scoffs. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“What don’t I know?” I press.

She looks at me shrewdly for a moment. I worry that I’ve pushed too far and say, “I’m sorry. It’s not any of my business. I don’t mean to pry.”

“No, that’s all right,” she says. “Actually, I think you should know. Even though I’ve been here since the children were born, I’m still just the cook. You’re the governess. You have more say over them than I do.”

I remember how Catherine took them away from me without concern for my feelings on the subject yesterday and privately think that Sophie might have more faith in me than she should. I don’t say that out loud, of course.

“You need to protect them,” she says, almost fiercely. “You might be the only one who can.” She taps her fingers on the table, then says, “Come on. I need to show you something.”

She stands abruptly and stalks out of the room. I rush to follow. Sophie is the same height as me, but I have to jog to keep up with her as she heads to the servants’ quarters. She glances around nervously to make sure no one is following us, and I feel my heart quivering with excitement. Whatever she’s about to show me, I feel it will be the crucial evidence I need to solve this case.

We reach her room, and she says, “Wait here.”

She opens the door, and I stand in the hallway, trying to collect myself. What could she have found? Does she have proof that Strauss is responsible for Frederick Jensen’s murder?

She comes outside after a few minutes and thrusts a folder into my hands. “Hid it so well I nearly couldn’t find it,” she says. She meets my eyes and says sternly, “You can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

“Not a soul,” I promise.

I feel a slight touch of guilt at that, because if what I hear is the proof I need to bring Frederick’s killer to justice, then Iwilltell Sean and Dubois, but I don’t want to quibble over that right now. Surely, Sophie wants justice for Frederick.

She takes a deep breath and glances around once more to make sure no one’s listening. Then she says, “What I’ve just handed you are Mr. Jensen’s private therapy notes. I took them from Doctor Strauss’s briefcase after one of their home sessions.”

My eyes widen. She misunderstands the reason for my shock and says, “I had to! She was threatening to blackmail him!”

“You heard this?”

She nods and says, “I did. I was about to knock on the door to tell him that dinner was ready when I overheard him begging her not to do it.”

“Do what?”

“Well, I didn’t know at first. He just said, ‘Please don’t do this,’ and Strauss replied, ‘You have the power to stop me. You know what you need to do.’ Then Mr. Jensen says, ‘If you release this information, you’ll ruin me.’”

“Oh, goodness!”

“Yes. And she—the evil witch—she says, ‘As I said, you know what you need to do.’ Then she walks out of the room. I just manage to flee before she catches me. She stays for dinner, and while she’s smiling and making nice to Catherine and the kidslike the witch she is, I sneak into her briefcase and steal that file.” She grins. “You should have seen the look on her face when it went missing.” Her smile fades. “Of course, she took it out on Frederick. She thought he was the one who took the notes. So she poisoned the family against him. Not just Olivia, but Ethan and Catherine.” Sophie shakes her head, then grips my wrist fiercely. “Keep them safe from her. Whatever you have to do, protect those children!”

“I will,” I promise. “If it’s the last thing I do.” I put my arm on Sophie’s shoulder. “You’re a good woman, Sophie. Thank you for sharing this with me.”

She brightens and clasps my hand. “You’re a good woman too, Mary. I’m glad to know you.”

It’s been a very long time since I’ve had a true friend. Sean is an associate, and I could see us becoming friends eventually, but we have a long way to travel before we arrive there. But I feel a kinship with Sophie that I haven’t felt with anyone since Annie disappeared. Perhaps fate will see fit to allow us to maintain our relationship after the dust clears from this mystery.

I take the folder to my room while Sophie rushes to the kitchen to clear our uneaten breakfast and make some for Catherine and the children. As I walk, my excitement grows.

Count your days, Eleanor Strauss. Justice has come for you.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I suppose that many will judge me when they hear that I read the notes that Sophie gives me. My only defense is that I don’t read them for scandal’s sake or to entertain myself with the struggles of another person. I read them so that I can understand what exactly might have precipitated the events of the night of Frederick’s murder.

In any case, the notes are almost disappointingly mundane. Frederick shares his self-disgust at his infidelity and his fear that the children will lose respect for them if they find out. He expresses his concern that he and Olivia are already drifting apart, and his hope that he can repair their relationship in the future if only he’s given the chance.

It gives me no information that I don't already possess, but I can easily see how Strauss might have used the information in these notes to threaten Frederick. The question I have is why would she have killed him? Could it be that he was planning to fire her once and for all? Perhaps he was ready to come clean to his family, and the confessions here no longer had any power over him. It could even be that he was ready to leave his family and didn't care anymore what they thought about him.

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