The Housemaid Is Watching
by Freida McFadden
Contents
Chapter 42
Overview
After finding Jonathan Lowell freshly murdered, Millie flees next door to call for help and discovers Enzo in the kitchen washing blood down the sink, his shirt spattered red. Enzo insists he cut himself, but the timing and the amount of blood make Millie doubt him.
Police sirens close in despite Millie not calling 911, escalating the urgency. Millie orders Enzo to change his shirt, and he rushes upstairs, suggesting a scramble to hide evidence.
Summary
Millie, standing over Jonathan Lowell’s body with his throat slit, panics at the fresh blood still seeping, realizing the murder happened moments ago and the killer could still be in the house. A door slams—likely the back door—making Millie fear the attacker is either fleeing or returning to eliminate a witness.
Millie reaches for her phone to call 911 but finds only her keys; her phone is in her purse back at her own house. Refusing to touch Jonathan to search for a phone, Millie runs out the front door and sprints home, terrified the killer could slip next door where her children are.
Inside her house, Millie hears running water and Enzo swearing in Italian. In the kitchen, Enzo is bent over the sink washing his hands, and Millie sees dark red liquid spiraling down the drain.
Enzo claims he slipped and cut his hand with clippers, but Millie sees no cut—only a lot of blood, including blood on his white T-shirt. Before Millie can process it, sirens approach even though Millie never called the police.
Millie blurts out that Jonathan Lowell is dead and stabbed. Enzo appears shocked, then insists the blood is his, but Millie, alarmed by what the police will see, orders Enzo to change his shirt. Enzo freezes, then runs upstairs to get rid of the bloody shirt—and anything else.
Who Appears
- MillieFinds Jonathan’s body, flees home, suspects Enzo, and tries to manage incoming police.
- EnzoCaught washing blood from his hands and shirt; claims an injury and rushes upstairs to change.
- Jonathan LowellMurder victim found with a slit throat; his fresh blood indicates the killer was just there.
- PoliceApproaching sirens suggest they’re responding before Millie can report the murder.