He watched her pale, watched her fingers dig into the arms of the chair. Smelled the lie before she spoke it.

“They’re criminals, liars. They’re working with that heartless bitch.” She flung a hand out at Nina. “Turning my own flesh and blood against me, and for money.”

“I’d cut off my hand before I’d hurt or let anyone hurt my Caitlyn. I’ll take a lie detector test,” Nina said to Red. “I’ll do anything you want.”

“She talked to him on the phone—not Nina,” Cate insisted. “He asked if she’d used the nanny’s phone, and said good. He called her ‘lover.’ And his phone, when it rang, it was ‘The Mexican Hat Dance.’ I know because we learned it in dance class.”

Nina’s hand flew to her mouth, but didn’t quite smother the gasp.

“See, she’s guilty.”

“I did nothing.” Nina took out her phone as she rose, put in the code, handed it to Red. And leaning down, whispered, “I have something to say, but I don’t want to say it in front of Caitlyn.”

He nodded, shifted to smile at Lily. “Ma’am—and I want to say I’ve sure enjoyed your movies over the years—I wonder, since we all have this fine coffee, if you’d take Cate back, maybe get her a drink.”

“You want to say something you don’t want me to hear. It happened to me. I should hear.”

She had a stubborn line between her eyebrows when they came together. He had to respect that. “That may be so, honey, but I need you to give me just a couple minutes first. I’d really appreciate it.”

“Come on, sweets. Let’s get us a Coke.”

“I don’t allow my child to drink carbonated sugar!”

“Well, bless your heart.” With that eyebrow arch for Charlotte, Lily took Cate’s hand. “Guess who’s not in charge today?”

Red waited a minute, then nodded to Nina. “What do you want to say?”

“I don’t want to say it. I wish I didn’t have to, and I’m so sorry, Mr. Aidan. I’m so sorry, but Ms. Dupont . . .” Embarrassed color flooded Nina’s cheeks. “She’s been having sex with Mr. Sparks.”

“Liar!” Surging up, a flurry of white silk, Charlotte slapped at Aidan when he tried to stop her. She leaped at Nina. She managed to get a swipe of nails down Nina’s cheek before Michaela restrained her.

Even then, she struggled, kicked back.

“You’re going to end up in cuffs,” Red warned her in the same tone he might’ve used to comment it looked like rain. “Assault, and assaulting an officer. You better sit back down before you end up cooling your temper in jail.”

“My lawyers will sue you both out of your jobs. And bury you,” she told Nina.

Slow, calm, Red got to his feet. “Sit down. Or I’ll charge you here and now, have you taken in, booked. Nina, do you want medical attention?”

“It’s all right. I’m not lying.”

“Why don’t you tell me why you think Ms. Dupont’s having an affair with this Mr. Sparks?”

“I don’t think, I know, because I walked in on them. I’m so sorry, Mr. Aidan. She said she’d fire me and see I’d never get another job if I said anything.”

“Aidan, you can’t believe that.” Now Charlotte reached for his hand, her face filled with love and sorrow. “You can’t possibly believe I’d be unfaithful.”

He pulled his hand free. “Do you honestly think I’d give a goddamn at this point about you having sex with your personal trainer? Do you think I give any kind of damn about you now?”

“Oh, oh, Aidan!”

“You can turn off the fucking tears, Charlotte. That scene’s played out.”

“Nina, why would it matter right now about Ms. Dupont and Mr. Sparks?”

“His ringtone. I’ve heard the ringtone on his phone. It’s that one Cate said. The hat dance one.”

“As if Grant’s the only one in the world who—”

“Shut up,” Aidan snapped.

“He called her ‘lover,’ ” Nina added. “He called her that right in front of me. Cate and I were visiting her grandparents, and she really wanted this story she’d written for school, to show them. They don’t live far, so I said I’d run back and get it. She was so proud of it. I thought they—Ms. Dupont and Mr. Sparks—were in the gym, downstairs. I never thought about it, but just ran right upstairs. The bedroom doors—the master’s—were wide open. I heard them first. I heard them, then I saw. They were in bed together.”

She let out a breath. “I guess I made some sound—I was so shocked. When she heard me, she got up, and came right out. Naked. She told me if I said anything, I was done, and she’d tell the police I tried to steal her jewelry. I didn’t want to lose my job, I didn’t want to leave Caitlyn. I didn’t want to go to jail. I didn’t say anything.”

“Not a word,” Aidan said quietly when Charlotte started to deny. “Not a single word. Is there more, Nina?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Aidan. I’m sorry. After that she didn’t bother to hide it so much, not from me. And he called her ‘lover.’ Like, ‘Lover, she’ll keep her mouth shut. Come on back to bed.’ Or when she had me bring a bottle of wine down to the gym, he called her that. He always called her that.”

“Let me ask you, Nina, do you always keep your phone with you?”

Clasping her hands together, Nina nodded at Red. “Yes, sir. Almost always. Except when I need to charge it, but I try to do that at night.”

“And yesterday, after you realized Caitlyn was missing?”

“I had it with me when I looked for her. Later, after Ms. Dupont blamed me for it, Miss Lily and Miss Rosemary said I should move downstairs for the night, to the room off the kitchen so Ms. Dupont didn’t get more upset. I did, and I left my phone in there, on the charger when we were all waiting for the kidnapper to call back.”

“Ms. Dupont waited with everyone, too?”

“No, sir, she was upstairs. Lying down. I think she took a sleeping pill, and was sleeping when he called back.”

“Okay, Nina. Ma’am,” he said to Rosemary, “is there any way to get to that bedroom, the one down here, from upstairs without going by where you all were waiting?”

“Several ways.”

“What we’re going to do is take your phone in, Nina. With your permission, since it’s a cell phone, we can use the computer to bring up the actual calls.”

He saw the slightest flicker in Michaela’s eyes at the bluff, but Red always figured when you bluffed—or lied outright—you should do it with casual confidence.

“First thing is, if the call Cate’s told us about came in when you were in the room with witnesses, we’d know right off it wasn’t you who made it. Next, even if they didn’t use names, we’d run the voices on the phone through voice recognition. Since this is a kidnapping, we’d get the FBI to help with that. Their equipment’s amazing.”

Playing along, playing well, Michaela nodded. “It’ll be a simple matter to match the voices, since we have the two men already.”