Ethan looked back and forth between the two crying women in his home.
The hot iron was still smoking slightly on the ruined dark hardwood floor.
Ethan: Clara, you have worked here for years without any problems before.
Victoria: She was jealous of my new position as mistress of the house!
Clara: She was going to ruin the silk blanket his mother gave him!
Victoria: Why would I ever touch that old dusty piece of cloth?
Ethan: Victoria, calm down and let me hear the whole truth now.
Victoria wiped her face and stood up with an angry look in her eyes.
Victoria: You are taking the word of a poor servant over your wife?
Clara: Look at the burn mark on the floor right near the crib!
Clara: She dropped it when I tried to pull the power cord away!
Ethan walked slowly toward the crib and looked down at the burned wood.
He saw the delicate silk blanket tucked safely inside the wooden baby crib.
He remembered how much his late wife had cherished that handmade silk blanket.
Ethan: This blanket is the most precious thing in this whole mansion.
Victoria: She tried to destroy it to get me in big trouble!
Clara: I love baby Leo like he was my own little brother, sir!
Clara: I would never do anything to bring harm to this sweet family!
Ethan rubbed his chin as he looked closely at his sobbing young wife.
He noticed that Victoria's dress was completely neat and totally unwrinkled.
If she had been attacked, her silk gown would be torn or messy.
He also noticed a small plastic bottle hiding behind Victoria's silk belt.
It was a bottle of dark oil used to make permanent stain marks.
Ethan: What is that bottle you are hiding behind your back, Victoria?
Victoria gasped sharply and tried to tuck the bottle deep into her pocket.
Victoria: It is just my personal expensive hand lotion, my dear husband.
Ethan: Let me see that bottle right now without another word spoken.
Ethan stepped forward and grabbed the small clear bottle from her hand.
He read the chemical label out loud in the quiet sunny nursery room.
Ethan: This is heavy industrial solvent used to strip fine fabric finish!
Victoria went pale as snow as her dark scheme began to fail.