“Not flat out in direct words, man. But she was always getting in my personal space, squeezing my hand when she thanked me, inviting me inside for a glass of lemonade. I know that sounds like she was just being polite. But half the time she was in a bikini. And she never did it when her old man worked from home, only on days when he was at the office. How convenient is that?”
“What about last Thursday?” Jessie asked.
“Right. So the husband’s off at work. The kids are at school. And she does her regular routine, this time deciding she’s gonna do some outdoor yoga right as I’m trimming the hedges. I do my standard thing—covered face, sunglasses, headphones—pretending not to notice her bending into a pretzel ten feet from me. Then I go around to the side of the house to cut back the ivy along the walls. I’m on the ladder near a second-floor window that looks into one of the kids’ rooms. I take off my hat and sunglasses for a second to wipe the sweat out of my eyes. And guess what I see?”
He paused, apparently waiting for them to actually guess. Just then, a hot gust of wind blew lazily across the park. To Jessie, it felt like someone was using a hair dryer on her back. She grimaced silently. Though it offered no relief, it was strong enough to send Mariah’s artwork flying off the table. Carlos snatched it in mid-air and delicately placed it back down in front of his daughter.
“Why don’t you go ahead and tell us, Carlos?” Ryan prodded.
“Okay. She’s in the room, pulling off her sports bra, right in front of the window, staring at me like I’m a lollipop she wants to lick. And remember, this is her kid’s room she’s changing in, not her own. She could have picked any room in the house. But she goes to that one, stands right in front of the window, and waits until I’m looking that direction to pull her top off.”
“What did you do?” Jessie asked.
Carlos half chuckled as he recalled the moment.
“I almost jumped off the ladder right then even though I was a dozen feet up. I scrambled down, left the rest of the ivy to do what it wanted. I got my stuff and moved it around front. I was almost done at that point anyway, so I just cleaned up. I was getting ready to leave when she came out. She was dressed normal then, shirt and pants. She asked if I wanted the check. I said yes. She said she forgot it inside and could I follow her to get it. I told her I was in a rush to get to my next job and I’d pick it up next time. That was a lie. She was my last job of the day. But I had to get out of there. I gave her a forced smile and said goodbye. But I could see from her face that she wasn’t happy. She looked embarrassed and pissed. So I wasn’t surprised when I got the call later that night. They fired me, no questions asked, no chance to defend myself, just done.”
Jessie thought back to the expression she’d seen on Margaret Jules’s face earlier and realized she’d misidentified it at the time. It wasn’t fear or apprehension. It was guilt.
“Why didn’t you report what happened?” she asked. “Just to get ahead of it?”
“Are you kidding, lady?” he demanded incredulously. “I’m supposed to go into the office and call out a customer for flashing me? You think they’d believe me? Even if they did, you think they’d care? They probably would have fired me for complaining, just because I was more trouble than I was worth. My only hope was that she’d be too ashamed to say anything. I should have known better.”
Ryan and Jessie exchanged a look. Neither was anxious to broach the main reason they were there. But since Ryan had done most of the heavy lifting so far, Jessie decided it was her turn.
“So did you go back at all afterward, maybe to pick up a final check from the company?”
“Yeah. I went back but not for a check. They stiffed me on that, said I violated some morals clause and I was lucky they didn’t report me to the police. But I had to wash and return my uniform and turn in