I remembered Carla clearly.
She had been warm, confident, and wonderful with Sophie. On her second day, she made homemade play dough with her. On the fourth, she left halfway through her shift and blocked both our numbers.
“Don’t deliver it,” I said.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
Ben copied the documents, resealed the envelope, and drove to Carla’s house.
He left it on the doorstep as instructed, then parked across the street.
Carla opened the door less than five minutes later. She picked up the envelope, looked in both directions, and hurried inside.
Ben waited another hour before knocking.
She did not answer.
He slipped a note beneath her door.
“I know about the agency. I am not here to hurt you. Please call me.”
Nothing happened that night.
The following afternoon, an unknown number called Ben.
“You shouldn’t have opened the envelope,” a woman said.
“Carla?”
“Who are you?”
Ben glanced toward me. We had put the call on speaker.
“My name is Ben. My wife and I hired you to watch our daughter.”
The line went silent.
Then Carla whispered, “Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“You need to stop using that agency,” she said.
“Why?”
“I signed something.”
“I saw it.”
