Chapter 80
How could she possibly have forgotten something as crucial as the security cameras? á´›his chapter is á´œpdated by.net
If she hadn’t taken care of it in advance, she wouldn’t dare to pull out that phone with such confidence.
While these thoughts flashed through Anastasia’s mind, her face gave nothing away. She said, utterly unruffled, “Exactly. Don’t you have cameras? We can just check the footage—that’ll prove I’m innocent.”
She unlocked her phone and opened the security camera app, but she wasn’t the least bit surprised to find that during that exact window, Rosewood Manor had suffered a power outage. There was no footage at all.
“A power cut? Right at that moment?” Anastasia almost laughed in disbelief. Did they really think she was that gullible?
Alice, however, feigned innocence. “What, are you going to accuse me of cutting the power on purpose now?”
Anastasia’s stare was icy. “Whether it’s an accusation or not isn’t up to you.”
She glanced at the outage log. Noon, ten minutes—right when both she and Harrison were out of the house.
“Who was working near the circuit breaker at that time?” she asked, summoning all the household staff.
The maids exchanged uneasy glances. After a moment’s hesitation, two of them finally stepped forward. Anastasia recognized them immediately-they were the same ones who’d been gossiping with Alice as she’d walked in, clearly on friendly terms with her.
“You didn’t see anything?” Anastasia asked directly.
It was too convenient-a sudden power cut, no reports of faulty wiring. Someone had to have deliberately flipped the main switch. Whether it was Alice or someone else, there was no way they could have done it without being noticed.
The two maids glanced furtively at Mary, the housekeeper, before both replied, “We didn’t see anything.”
Anastasia might be Mrs. Lancaster, but to the staff, Mary’s authority as housekeeper outweighed hers.
So what if she was the lady of the house? Rosewood Manor had seen plenty of “Mrs. Lancasters” come and go-where were they now? Even if Anastasia was a little different, even if Mr. Lancaster spoiled her for the moment, that could change overnight. Only a fool would cross Mary for her sake.
The two maids pursed their lips, a flicker of disdain crossing their faces.
Anastasia caught the look and smiled coldly to herself. No matter what they thought, she was still Harrison’s wife, the mistress of the Lancaster estate. They were just staff—where did they get the nerve to look down on her?
Her gaze sharpened, but she let it go, for now. “I’ll give you another chance—are you sure you didn’t see anything?”
A nervous ripple passed between the maids, but one of them answered with annoyance, “Madam, we didn’t see anything. What are you getting at? Are you trying to force us to frame Alice?”
Anastasia’s eyes narrowed, her entire demeanor turning glacial as she opened her mouth to speak-but before she could, someone else spoke up.
“Madam, they’re lying! It was Alice who shut off the power-I saw her do it!”
The accusation sent a shockwave through the room. Alice and her cohorts paled in an instant.
The speaker was Fiona, the quietest maid in the house, and it was obvious she’d had to summon every ounce of courage just to say it. Now, with everyone staring at her, she was visibly trembling.
Anastasia had always had a good impression of Fiona. Her expression softened a little as she offered quiet reassurance. “Don’t be afraid. Tell me exactly what you saw.”
Fiona met her eyes, found a spark of encouragement there, and drew a shaky breath. “It was Alice. She was the one who turned off the main switch. I saw her, and so did those two.”
She pointed straight at the other maids.