Music drifted up from the party below, its measured, elegant notes muffled by the walls before they reached the upper floors.
In the narrow stairwell, two middle-aged housekeepers were trying to hand the same dinner tray back to each other.
“I can’t take that up. The guests are still here, and Miss Vivian might need something. You do it.”
The Whitmores were celebrating Vivian’s birthday, and the house was full. Both women had worked there for years. An occasion like this was their chance to make themselves useful to the right person, and perhaps earn a more generous bonus at the end of the year.