Archie
I kept thinking about her in the library that afternoon, the way she'd caught herself against the shelf, startled and exhausted, apologizing before she'd even fully opened her eyes. Something about it stayed with me the rest of the day, sitting uncomfortably at the back of my mind through two conference calls and a dinner meeting I barely paid attention to.
I told myself it was simple concern for an employee. Thea had worked for my family for years. It made sense that I'd notice if something was wrong with her, the same way I'd notice if any long standing piece of the house suddenly wasn't functioning the way it should.
That wasn't quite honest, and I knew it even as I told myself the story.
By dinner, I watched her more closely than I meant to. She moved slower than usual, care
