The Cat Recorder
Chapter 05 - The Cat Recorder
The little white cat fit inside Luca’s palm.
It looked harmless. A child’s trinket with pink ears and a scratched face. I had seen Sophie carry it around the house for weeks, pressing its tiny plastic paws while she pretended it was a pet she could take where real animals were not allowed.
I had not known it recorded sound.
Neither had Vanessa.
That was clear from the way her hands went suddenly still.
Luca looked at Sophie. “Your tutor gave you this?”
Sophie nodded. “Miss Alice said I forget things when I’m scared, so it might help me remember.”
Vanessa recovered enough to laugh. “This is grotesque. You’re going to let a child weaponize a toy against me?”
Teresa said, “Only if the toy tells the truth.”
Luca turned the device over. “How does it work?”
Sophie reached for it. He gave it back immediately. That mattered. He did not snatch. He did not command. He waited while his daughter pressed one paw, then another.
At first there was only static.
Then Vanessa’s voice filled the corridor.
“Sign there, Claire. Don’t pretend you understand forms better than I do.”
My own voice followed, smaller than I liked hearing.
“May I read it first?”
“You may keep your job first.”
Silence.
Then the scratch of pen against paper.
The recording clicked off.
No one moved.
Vanessa’s face had gone pale, but her eyes were furious.
“That proves nothing except staff should not be trusted around private conversations.”
Luca pressed another button.
A second recording began.
Vanessa again.
“You will not mention your mother at dinner, Sophie. Men hate being reminded of sad things while they’re eating. If your father looks unhappy, it will be your fault.”
Sophie’s recorded voice, trembling: “But Daddy talks about her sometimes.”
“Not after the wedding.”
A pause.
“After the wedding, this house becomes mine too. Little girls who cannot adjust can adjust elsewhere.”
The cat clicked silent.
Sophie stared at the floor.
Luca’s hand closed around the device so carefully I could tell he wanted to break something else.
The guests in the dining room had stopped pretending not to listen.
Vanessa drew herself up. “You are all being manipulated by a grieving child and a maid trying to keep her job.”
I should have been afraid.
I was.
But fear can turn strange when it has nowhere left to go. Mine became clear.
“You told me Sophie had nightmares because she was spoiled,” I said. “You told me to ignore her if she knocked after ten.”
Vanessa’s eyes snapped to me. “Be silent.”
“No.”
The word surprised both of us.
I continued before courage noticed it was alone.
“You told the kitchen not to send breakfast when she cried before school. You had Elena’s photographs removed from the hallway and said Mr. Moretti ordered it. You changed the locks on the green room.”
Luca looked at me sharply.
“The locks?”
I swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“I have the only key.”
Vanessa’s gaze flickered.
Teresa saw it.
“No,” the old woman said. “You had the only key.”
Luca turned toward Vanessa.
She did not deny it.
Instead she said, “Elena is dead, Luca. Someone had to stop this shrine from poisoning your daughter.”
“My daughter,” Luca said, “is standing in a hallway believing love requires permission because of you.”
Vanessa took a step back.
Not from shame.
Calculation.
She looked toward the guests, toward the phones held low and discreet in jeweled hands. She was realizing the room had become a courtroom she did not control.
Then Dr. Bell’s phone rang.
The sound startled everyone.
He looked down.
His face drained further.
Luca held out one hand.
“Give it to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Then answer it on speaker.”
Dr. Bell shook his head.
Marco, one of Luca’s guards, stepped silently into the corridor.
The doctor answered.
A man’s voice came through, low and impatient.
“Is she signed?”
Dr. Bell closed his eyes.
The voice continued. “The placement order needs to go through before midnight. Vanessa says Moretti is distracted with the engagement party.”
Luca’s eyes sharpened.
“Who is this?” he said.
There was a pause.
Then the call ended.
Dr. Bell’s hand shook so badly the phone nearly fell.
Vanessa was now truly afraid.
Luca looked at Marco.
“Trace the call.”
Marco nodded and left.
Sophie whispered, “Daddy?”
Luca crouched beside her again. “You’re staying here. With me.”
“But what about the school?”
“There is no school.”
“What about Vanessa?”
He looked up.
Vanessa stood motionless at the center of the corridor, red gown bright as a warning beneath the chandelier.
“That,” Luca said, “depends on who called the doctor.”
The next phone to ring was Vanessa’s.
She looked at the screen and did not answer.
Luca held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
For the first time, Vanessa smiled again.
“No.”
Then she turned the phone toward us.
May you like
On the screen was a message.
IF YOU WANT THE CHILD SAFE, STOP ASKING QUESTIONS.
