Footprints

Blaine arrived at the Tucker mansion, hurried ahead to the unit Ariel had stayed in, and walked to the bedroom. 

His new bedroom.

As he closed the door behind him, he froze and felt a weird chill, travel up his bones. 

Both Ariel and Kan claimed she lost the baby in this house. 

Was it in this room then? 

Is this why he had always felt a strong pull to this place, and why he moved in here of all the other places he could have gone to after separating from Ophelia?

He stared around the room, thinking of where he would look first. But what was he even hoping to find? 

It had been almost two years. 

And the Tucker household staff took their jobs seriously. They must have cleaned off every evidence of the event that night.

But why had no one reported anything? Or had they done so and not just to him? 

He went into the closet and began to work through it regardless.

He carefully scanned every shelf and drawer, but found nothing even though he was unsure what exactly it was he was looking for. 

He walked back into the bedroom, and checked all the bedside drawers. 

They were squeaky clean except for a few of his own personal belongings he had left there since he moved in.

It was in the bathroom he finally found evidence that perhaps Ariel had not intended to disappear that night. 

In one of the drawers high above, which a shorter person would not think to use, he found her bag.

The bag contained toiletries, makeup, bathrobes and a few other things a woman would usually carry along for a sleepover. 

This was probably the only thing she brought here if she thought she would just be spending the night after that DNA test, and then the family meeting.

She must have had no idea like the rest of them that his grandfather would ask her to move in, so she had not brought a suitcase. 

He turned the bag upside down there on the bathroom floor, and as the contents tumbled out, he recognized some clothes as Ruby’s. They were bigger than what petite-bodied Ariel would wear, and everyone who knew Ruby knew she favored maroon-colored clothes.

He sat back on his heels. 

Had he been foolish the whole time? 

Had he believed what his pride only wanted him to believe after realizing the young woman he slept with was his ex-girlfriend’s affair child?

Was he so ashamed of what he had done that he immediately jumped at the idea that he had been tricked?

He stood up and went back to the bedroom, taking everything in. 

This was a beautiful room, with a different decor from the other parts of the house. 

This was the unit his grandfather had shared with his grandmother till Sullivan murdered her.

And the old man had given it to Ariel? 

His eyes fell on the center rug, and he frowned, realizing this did not quite fit with the aesthetic of the room or even any other part of the unit. 

Everything here was tastefully vintage, and apart from the bed, nothing had really changed from the time his grandmother lived here.

He walked towards the rug and knelt down. 

He froze, staring at it for a long time. And then he yanked it back.

He saw nothing. 

At first, 

but as he stared at it, he saw the wood here was darker than the other parts of the wooden floor. 

He scrubbed his hand on it, but of course he saw nothing. This room has been vacuumed and polished for almost two years now.

He stared at the spot. Water can not stain wood this way, and no other drink could spread this far. 

This was blood, and in dizzying quantities.

Just then he heard a knock on the door and said, “Come in.”

The housekeeper stepped in, “Would you like..” She started to say when her eyes fell on the pulled-back rug, and she froze. 

Blaine’s jaw fell.

This woman knew what had happened, this woman and her careful observant eyes, this woman who had made sure he knew that Ophelia had physically assaulted that maid. She knew.

“Please close the door and come in,” he said.

She hesitated, but her face immediately became expressionless, like she had gained resolve. 

She walked in and closed the door behind her.

“This is blood.” He pointed to the spot, not bothering to frame his sentence as a question.

She nodded.

“Whose.” 

The woman went quiet as her eyes traveled behind him to the windows. 

“Why did I not know this?”

The woman bowed deeply, “A lot happened that night.” Blaine frowned, watching her. 

Of course, a lot happened that night. That was the night his grandfather was murdered by that maid.

He looked back up at her, suspicious, “You have to have told someone about this? Who did you tell?”

She paused, a second too long, and in that time, her eyes traveled back to the window, “Your mother.” She said finally.

“My mother?” Blaine gasped. “You mean you told Heidi Tucker?” He clarified, wanting to make certain she was not mistaking his mother with one of the other Tucker women in this large household.

The housekeeper frowned at him, and then she bowed again. “Yes. I told your mother.”

He watched the woman, the one domestic staff member he had known forever. She probably had all the secrets of this house right there in her palm. 

“Please sit.” He ushered her to the chaise on the other side of the room, while he took a position leaning against the wall.

He watched her settle into the seat before he said, “Tell me what happened that night.”

“I sent Leila up to see if the new mistress needed anything,” the housekeeper said, and he frowned. 

All these bloody honorifics, why could they never just be direct and call names, so there was no mistake. 

“You mean Ariel?”

The woman frowned.

“The woman grandfather wanted me to marry. The pregnant woman?” Surely she knew all that.

The woman nodded enthusiastically.

“Then what happened?” He asked, now that they were clear on who they were speaking of.

The woman’s eyes darted towards the window again. This time he could not help it as his eyes strayed towards the window too.