Page 99 of The Housemaid
I pull the object I grabbed from the garage out of my pocket. I found it in Andrew’s tool kit. It’s a pair of pliers. I slide it under the gap below the door.
On the other side of the door, he reaches down and picks up the pliers. He turns them back and forth. He frowns. “I don’t understand. What do you want me to do?”
“Well,” I say, “it was just so hard to tell exactly how long you had those books on top of you. This will be easier. A one-time deal.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s simple. If you want to get out of the room, all you have to do is pull out one of your teeth.”
I watch Andrew’s face on the screen. His lips pull into a grimace and he throws the pliers on the floor. “You’re joking. There’s no way. I’m not doing that.”
“I think,” I say, “that another few hours without water and you might feel differently.”
He takes another few steps back again. He’s summoning all his strength. He runs at the door and rams against it as hard as he can. Once again, it shakes but doesn’t budge. I watch as he draws back a fist and slams it against the wooden door.
Andrew howls with pain. Honestly, he would’ve been better off just pulling out a tooth. At the bar where I used to work, a guy got drunk and punched the wall, and he broke a bone in his hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if Andrew has done the same.
“Let me out!” he screams at me. “Let me out of this fucking roomright now.”
“I’ll let you out. You know what you have to do.”
He’s cradling his right hand with his left. He falls to his knees, almost doubled over. I watch on the phone screen as he picks up the pliers with his left hand. I hold my breath as he brings them to his mouth.
Is he going to do it? I can’t stand this. I close my eyes, unable to watch.
He howls with agony. It’s the same sound Duncan made when I brought that paperweight down on his skull. My eyes fly open and Andrew is still on the screen. He’s still on his knees. I watch as he bows his head and bawls like a little baby.
He’s close to breaking point. He can’t stand it. He’s willing to rip his own teeth out of his mouth just to get out of this room.
He has no idea this is just the beginning.
FIFTY-EIGHT
NINA
Something has gone wrong.
I feel it the second I pull up in front of Andrew’s house. Something terrible has happened inside that house. I sense it with every fiber of my being.
I agreed to return here on one condition. Enzo was to stay with Cece andprotect her with his life. There was nobody else in the world I would trust with my daughter. I know a lot of women in this town, and every single one of them was taken in by my husband’s charm. I wouldn’t trust any of them not to hand her over to him.
But that means I am here alone.
The last time I was here was a week ago, but it feels like an eternity. I park outside the gates, on the street behind Millie’s car. I crouch down behind her vehicle and notice the red mark Enzo made on her tire. It’s still there. Is it in the same place it was yesterday and the day before? I have no idea.
“Nina? Is that you?”
It’s Suzanne. I straighten up, backing away from Millie’s car. She is standing on the sidewalk, tilting her head quizzically at me. The last time I saw her, she looked downright skeletal, but it seems like she’s lost even more weight.
“Is everything okay, Nina?” Suzanne asks.
I plaster a smile on my lips. “Yes. Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“We were supposed to have lunch the other day and you never showed. So I popped over to check on you.”
Right. My weekly lunches with Suzanne. If there’s one thing I won’t miss about this life, it’s that. “Sorry. I guess I forgot.”
Suzanne purses her lips. I’ll never forget the way she nodded sympathetically at me while I confessed everything Andy had done to me, then turned around and ratted me out. She chose to believe him over me. You don’t forget that sort of betrayal.
