They Thought I Was Out Cold, So I Let All Four Keep Going novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Everyone Quits

The three of them came up the lane at dusk, on foot, in a row.

The cook, the housekeeper and the lift mechanic stood in the kitchen doorway with their caps in their hands.

I had known the housekeeper since I was nine.

She would not look at me.

"Fräulein," she said. "We came to say it properly. We're not coming back."

"Why?"

She took an envelope out of her apron and held it with two fingers.

"Herr Seidl's driver brought this to my door last night. It's five hundred euro. He said it was for the trouble of leaving."

I took it.

Inside was a card on thick paper, and the printed name at the top was Seidl's.

Underneath, in ink, someone had written: With thanks for your good sense.

"I kept the money," she said, and her face went red. "I'm ashamed. My daughter's rent is due."

"Did he say why?"

"That the insurers will refuse any claim while a house like this has the staff living in it," she said. "That the village won't rent to anyone who stays. That you keep, well. That you keep company."

I turned the card over.

Felix, at the counter, said very softly, "That's his handwriting. That's his own card."

"Yes," I said.

The lift mechanic cleared his throat.

"His man told me the same about the cable. If I touch it, the policy's void, and I pay. I have a boy at school, Fräulein."

"Of course you do."

I folded the card into my back pocket.

"Keep the money," I told the housekeeper. "Take this month's wages as well. Felix will write the cheque tonight."

"I can't."

"You can, and you will. When you want to come back, the kitchen door is open. Nobody asks you why."

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