The Housemaid

Millie eventually uses the bucket to relieve herself and drinks one of the three mini bottles of water in the fridge. She tries to balance the books on her stomach but finds them unbearably uncomfortable and painful and throws them off. When Andrew returns, Millie refuses to do the task. Andrew assures Millie that once she runs out of water, she’ll be desperate enough to complete the punishment.

Millie eventually does balance the books on her stomach after she runs out of water; however, Andrew asks her to do it again because she was one minute short. When Millie protests that she doesn’t have any water left to keep going, Andrew asserts that she’ll know to conserve her water the “next time.” She’ll be kept in the room for a couple of days every time she misbehaves; Andrew is sure it’s a better arrangement than going back to jail. He can easily tell the police that Millie has stolen something from the house, which would violate her parole.

Forced to balance the books again, Millie does so for an extra 10 minutes as a precaution. She’s exhausted and in pain when Andrew finally returns, and he apologizes to her, saying, “‘You do have to be taught a lesson when you do something wrong—it’s the only way you’ll learn’” (281). To Millie’s query about how he could see her, Andrew brings up an app on his phone that displays a clear view of the room. Determined not to ever be put in the room again, Millie executes the plan she has been working on for the past six hours, and uses the pepper spray she found hidden in the bucket.

Nina reflects on the information she discovered about Millie through the private investigator she hired. Millie attended a boarding school for teens with disciplinary problems because of issues she had in school. She broke the arm of a boy who called her names when she was in grade school and got expelled. Later, she slashed the tires of a math teacher who threatened her with a failing grade and was sent to the boarding school. While there, she was imprisoned for murder at 17 because she killed a boy (who was attempting to force himself on her friend) by bashing his head in with a paperweight. Additionally, she was fired from her previous waitressing job for punching another coworker in the face. Initially, Nina’s plan was to hire a replacement for herself; however, she ended up hiring Millie to kill Andrew, which is why she gave her a key to the attic room and left the paper spray for her in the bucket.

Millie sprays Andrew in the eyes twice; while he’s temporarily blinded and screaming in pain, Millie pockets his phone, locks him in, and deactivates the lock settings on his phone so that it doesn’t require a password anymore. Millie recalls the feeling of rage she felt when she saw the boy forcing himself on her friend at school—and the satisfaction she felt in smashing his skull in.

Andrew yells at Millie to let him out or he’ll call the police, and Millie points out that she has his phone now and leaves to grab a snack. Evelyn texts Andrew’s phone, asking if he’s going to divorce Nina, and Millie replies as Andrew in the affirmative. Evelyn responds that she never liked Nina; she was too lax about disciplining Cecelia, and the girl had turned into a brat. Millie feels a stab of sympathy for Nina and Cecelia. She goes back up to Andrew, makes him apologize for doing terrible things to her, and instructs him to balance the books on his genitals for three hours if he wants to be let out.

As Millie waits, she thinks about Nina and suspects that she’s the one who left Millie the pepper spray, which means that Andrew did similar things to Nina in the past. Millie wonders if Nina was ever really jealous of her and Andrew.

Millie reflects on how no one ever understood her. She slashed her math teacher’s tires because he was threatening to fail her if she didn’t let him feel her up, but no one believed her. She punched her coworker because he kept groping her. Even her friend, for whom she killed the boy, completely stopped talking to her after the incident.

Millie goes back upstairs after three hours, and despite Andrew’s having followed all the rules, she tells him that she actually said five hours and that he must start again. He offers her money and begs to be let out or just be given some water; Millie responds that next time, he “'should leave the girl [he locks] in the room with more water, so some will be left for [him]’” (292).

Nina picks Cecelia up from camp; she looks the happiest she has ever been, sunburned and dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts. When Nina tells Cecelia that they aren’t going home and that Andrew isn’t coming with them, Cecelia seems relieved. Nina reflects that although Andrew never directly harmed Cecelia, the pressure of having to be perfect around him meant that Cecelia often acted out around other adults.

Enzo calls Nina and insists that they must go back to help Millie—she hasn’t left the house in three days, the light is on in the attic room, and no one is answering the door. Enzo can’t go into the house alone to check on Millie, so Nina agrees to go back, on one condition.

Millie wakes up the next morning and checks the camera app on Andrew’s phone; he’s lying deathly still underneath the covers on the cot. A rewind of the feed shows that Andrew did as she instructed and balanced the books on his groin for five hours. When Millie raps on the door, Andrew weakly asks to be let out. Millie lies that the feed wasn’t clear, so she can’t see whether Andrew completed the task. Furious, Andrew tries to ram the door open, but it doesn’t budge. Millie gives Andrew a new task: She slides a pair of pliers she found in the garage through the gap below the door and asks Andrew to pull out one of his teeth. Andrew is almost at the point that he’s willing to do so, and Millie muses that he has no idea that “this is just the beginning” (302).

Nina arrives at the house and senses that something terrible has happened inside. She is there alone, as her condition to Enzo was that he stay with Cecelia and protect her with his life. Nina runs into Suzanne outside the house, who claims that she’s there to check on Nina after she missed their weekly brunch; she heard a rumor that Andrew left Nina for the maid, which Nina dismisses. Nina claims that she was just away picking up Cecelia from camp.

After Suzanne leaves, Nina rings the doorbell, but nobody answers. She lets herself in, but all the rooms are dark and empty. Nina calls out for Andrew and Millie, but no one responds. Assuming that Millie must be locked in the attic, she heads upstairs and unlocks the room.

Nina is greeted by the sight of Andrew’s decaying body, which makes her retch. Millie appears from behind with the pepper spray, and Nina assures Millie that she won’t hurt her. Millie reveals that Andrew has been locked inside for almost six days. Nina checks to see if Andrew is really dead and moves closer to see dried blood around his mouth and shirt—and several missing teeth.

Millie begins to sob, sure that she’s going back to prison for life. Nina assures her otherwise, deciding to take the blame. She’ll tell the police that Millie wasn’t around; Nina has a chance of escaping incarceration, given her previous history of hospitalization. Unable to do so herself, Nina tricked Millie into killing Andrew, but doesn’t want Millie to spend her whole life paying for it. She tells Millie to get out while she still can and then calls the police.

Nina is sure that she’ll be leaving the house in handcuffs. While she waits for the detective to come back down, she calls Enzo and tells him that the police probably think she killed Andrew. Detective Connors comes down and asks about the bruising on Andrew’s genitals, which Nina has no idea about. The story is that Andrew accidentally got locked in the attic, and Nina didn’t realize he was there, assuming that he was away on work. Detective Connors states that Andrew’s parents claim that Andrew had asked Nina to move out, which she confirms; she mentions too that she gave Millie the week off, since Nina and Cecelia were both away.

Detective Connors asks about whether Andrew is the kind of man who would pull his own teeth out. To Nina’s assertion that the detective didn’t know Andrew, he reveals that his daughter, Kathleen, was once engaged to Andrew. The breakup affected her badly, and she eventually moved away and changed her name; the detective always wondered what Andrew did to her. In addition, he thought Nina’s claims of being locked in the attic years ago were intriguing, but no one in the police department did much to investigate because the Winchesters had significant pull over the department.

The detective states that the attic is a safety hazard, noting that what happened to Andrew was unfortunate. He insinuates that he’ll get his friend at the coroner’s office to concur because he has decided to treat what happened to Andrew as a “cautionary tale.”

Detective Connors keeps his promise: Andrew’s death is ruled an accident, caused by dehydration, and neither Nina nor Millie are investigated further. Nina attends Andrew’s wake, where Enzo declines her offer of moving across the country with her and Cecelia; it’s better for Nina to have a fresh start.

The Winchesters arrive, and Robert, Andrew’s father, offers Nina his sympathy and support. Nina remembers that he was a fairly absent father when Andrew was growing up, leaving Evelyn to do most of the parenting. Evelyn mentions to Nina that she knows about Andrew’s missing teeth, and Nina is terrified that Evelyn knows the truth. However, Evelyn mentions how she always emphasized dental hygiene to Andrew: “‘There’s always a punishment when you break the rules’” (321). Evelyn thought Andrew had learned his lesson when she pulled out one of his baby teeth with pliers but claims it was a shame that he didn’t. She professes that she’s glad Nina stepped up and taught him a lesson, and then she walks away.

Millie interviews for her first job in almost a year since leaving the Winchesters; Lisa Killeffer contacted her through the website where she posted an ad offering housekeeping services. Millie has so far been living off the money Nina deposited in her account after Andrew’s death. Nina and Cecelia moved to California, and Nina sent Millie a picture of a tanned and happy Cecelia some months ago, with a thank-you message.

Lisa reveals that Nina recommended Millie to her, which takes Millie by surprise. She notices a purple bruise on Lisa’s arm in the shape of someone’s fingers. To Lisa’s question as to whether Millie can help her, Millie responds, “Yes, […] I believe I can” (325).