"Sweetheart, it's a bit chilly tonight—let's skip your bath, okay? Mommy will tuck you in right now."
Melissa took Lily's hand and led her toward the bedroom.
Just then, something tumbled from Lily's coat pocket—a flower-shaped hair clip.
Melissa frowned, bending to pick it up.
"Where did this come from? I've never seen it before. Does it belong to one of your classmates?"
Lily shrugged, unconcerned. "I bought it today when I went to get steamed buns with that jinx. I thought it was pretty."
"It cost two dollars."
Melissa froze.
For a long moment, she didn't move. Then, slowly, her gaze lifted to meet her husband's.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he shot her a sharp look—not in front of the child—and she swallowed the words.
Perhaps worn out from the day's outing, Lily fell asleep quickly. Melissa eased the bedroom door shut with painstaking care, then returned to the living room.
"What do we do now?" Her voice was a strained whisper. "If your sister finds out we not only blamed that wretched girl for something she didn't do but beat her—this won't end well for us."
Her husband exhaled a thick ring of smoke. The haze in his eyes slowly sharpened into something calculating.
"I'll figure it out. First, we deal with the body in that room."
Melissa nodded. They had just turned toward the storage room when his phone rang.
"Hey, I'll be at your place in about half an hour." Claudia Sparks's voice came through the speaker. "Is Blanche asleep yet?"
The color drained from his face. His hands began to tremble.
When he didn't respond, Claudia's tone shifted to concern. "Hello? Can you hear me?"
He forced himself to steady. When he spoke, his voice was almost normal—almost.
"Why are you coming now? It's so late." He cleared his throat. "Blanche is already asleep. Why don't you find a hotel for tonight and come by tomorrow instead?"
"It's the weekend—you'll have plenty of time to spend with her then."
On the other end, Claudia sounded relieved. "Oh, she's asleep? That's fine, I'll just come over and sleep next to her. It's too late to bother checking into a hotel anyway."
"I've been on the train all afternoon. I'm exhausted."
Melissa's eyes went wide. She gestured frantically at her husband.
He coughed. "Actually—we're not home. Since the kids don't have school tomorrow, we decided to take them out for a little trip today."
"There's no one at the house right now. Just come tomorrow."
"Don't worry, we'll be back first thing in the morning."
Claudia started to protest, but he cut her off, his voice tight with barely concealed urgency.
"Look, I don't want to wake the kids. Let's just leave it at that, okay?"
He hung up before she could respond.
A long breath escaped him.
Melissa's face twisted with resentment. She glared toward the storage room. "Your sister has the worst timing. Why did she have to come back today of all days?"
Her expression crumbled into panic. "What are we going to do? We're going to prison. Our daughter is so young—what's going to happen to her?"
Tears spilled down her cheeks. "I must have been cursed in a past life to marry you. You're going to be the death of me!"
"You're a grown man—how could you not control yourself? How could you hit her hard enough to kill her?"
Her husband's jaw clenched so tight the muscles twitched. His eyes were dark, bloodshot.
"We never should have agreed to keep that jinx here. Not for a measly three thousand a month."
Melissa's voice turned bitter. "Wasn't it your idea? You wanted a free maid."
