to devise an alternative.
A grocery gift card placed anonymously in her locker felt patronizing.
Cash in an envelope would frighten her.
Calling payroll and advancing part of her salary without permission would be worse.
Eventually he called the household manager.
“Mrs. Dalton?”
“Yes, Mr. Whitmore?”
“Could you make sure the annual grocery allowance for household staff is distributed this week instead of December?”
There was a pause.
“The holiday allowance?”
“No. A new one.”
Another pause.
“For everyone?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Adrian nearly said five hundred dollars.
Then he imagined the staff wondering why a sudden five-hundred-dollar allowance had appeared on a random Tuesday in April.
“Two hundred.”
“I’ll arrange it.”
That would help.
But something still bothered him.
Not the money.
The name.
The missing files.
Arthur’s reaction.
And Marissa’s words.
*You really don’t know.*
Forty minutes later, Adrian found himself driving toward Quincy.
He knew this was
