The Mystery Guest

“Molly, look at this one,” Juan says as he shows us another photo. “See? My mother, she wrote you a card in English.” She’s holding it, pointing proudly. He zooms in on the open card: To my daughter-in-law, it says. I miss you and love you. Visit us soon.

“But I’m not her daughter-in-law,” I say.

“Not yet,” Juan replies, but before I can ask what he means, he starts to chirp again like a little bird, going on about how much he missed me and how nice it was to see his family but how great it is to be home.

Suddenly, he goes quiet. “I am rude,” he says. “I haven’t even asked you both how you are. I’m so sorry. You know how I talk and talk and talk when I’m excited.”

“Oh yes, we know,” my gran-dad replies with a chuckle.

“So? How are you?” Juan asks. “Everything good?”

I pour him a cup of tea, hoping that I won’t have to answer that.

“All’s well that ends well,” says my grandfather. “But it’s been…” He pauses, searching for the right word.

“A tumultuous time,” I say.

“Tumultuous?” Juan asks.

“Meaning: stormy, volatile, intense,” I explain. “Let’s just say that we had to contend with some very unusual vermin.”

“What?” he asks. “In our apartment?”

“No,” says my gran-dad, “in the hotel.”

“Did you get rid of them? Did you lay traps?” Juan asks.

“We most certainly did,” I say with a smile.

“In fact,” says my grandfather, “Molly is the one who caught the rat.”

Juan turns to me, beaming from ear to ear. “That’s my Molly. Fear never stops her. In fact, nothing stops her.”

“You’re so right,” my gran-dad replies. “Do you know, she’s been like that ever since she was a child.”

“Really?” Juan replies. “Tell me more.”

As the two of them converse, my gran-dad sets the stage for the seismic revelations, about both the murder that happened in the hotel while Juan was away and the fact that he is not just Mr. Preston, the doorman, but in fact is my relation. My flesh and blood.

I sit across from them, listening, waiting, and sipping tea from Gran’s favorite cup.

She’s not here with us, my gran. She’s not sitting on the sofa between my beloved and her own, nor is she humming her little tune in the kitchen. But I know she’s here nonetheless because she always has been. She is the key to everything. The outline of my entire life gives her presence every single day.

I know she’s watching. I can hear her in my head even now:

Wonders never cease, Molly.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Good things come to those who wait.

To Paul, my father

Acknowledgments

It takes a village to publish a book. It really does.

When I wrote The Maid, I wrote it in secrecy because I was scared of failure. What if it didn’t meet the bar? What if people hated what I put out there?

Let’s just say I couldn’t keep The Mystery Guest quite as secret as The Maid. The good news? As I wrote it, I had the best support team a writer could ever ask for. They championed and guided me in the background as I toiled away on that most difficult of ventures—the dreaded Book Two.

Madeleine Milburn, you don’t realize how extraordinary you are. It’s an act of superhuman generosity to give so much to so many writers. Huge thanks, too, to the amazing team at Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency—Rachel Yeoh, Liane-Louise Smith, Valentina Paulmichl, Giles Milburn, Saskia Arthur, Amanda Carungi, Georgina Simmonds, Georgia McVeigh, and Hannah Ladds.

What’s the perfect editorial shape? A triangle. My three ingenious editors form a triad so powerful that it points me in the right direction every time. Thank you, Nicole Winstanley at Penguin Random House Canada, Hilary Teeman at Ballantine US, and Charlotte Brabbin at HarperFiction UK. And thanks, too, to the amazing teams in all of your houses, with special thanks to Dan French, Bonnie Maitland, Beth Cockeram, Meredith Pal, and Kristin Cochrane in Canada; Michelle Jasmine, Caroline Weishuhn, Taylor Noel, Megan Whalen, Jennifer Garza, Quinne Rogers, Kara Welsh, Kim “Blue Type” Hovey, Jennifer Hershey, Hope Hathcock, Diane McKiernan, Elena Giavaldi, Pamela Alders, Cindy Berman, and Sandra Sjursen in the US; Kimberley Young, Lynne Drew, Sarah Shea, Maddy Marshall, Emilie Chambeyron, Alice Gomer, and Bethan Moore in the UK.

My silver-screen cheerleaders include Chris Goldberg, brilliant writer and producer at Winterlight Pictures; the indefatigably positive Josh McLaughlin at Wink Pictures; and the savvy and charming Josie Freedman at ICM.