The Housemaid is Watching

Police swarm the Lowell house. When Suzette returns from work, an officer tells her what happened. She breaks down in tears, but to Millie, they look fake and Suzette does not seem sad about her husband’s death.

Millie looks at a small cut on Enzo’s hand; Enzo argues that hand wounds bleed profusely, but Millie thinks the cut is too small to have bled so much. Regardless, they agree not to tell the police about the blood.

Detective Willard, the head officer on the case, comes to Accardi house to talk to Millie and Enzo. Millie tells the truth about her discovery of Jonathan’s body. Willard reveals that Janice, who heard yelling and called the police, saw Millie enter the house and leave, corroborating Millie’s story. Janice also mentioned that Enzo was frequently at the Lowells’ when Jonathan wasn’t home, but Millie says that Enzo is just their landscaper and denies an affair between Enzo and Suzette, though she gets emotional.

Willard then asks to interview Enzo, who appears filled with dread.

Millie and Enzo tell the kids what happened to Jonathan. Ada bursts into tears, but Nico does not seem emotional, which troubles Millie. After the kids go to bed, Enzo tells Millie that he did not kill Jonathan and he is not cheating with Suzette. Millie promises she believes him, but she’s lying.

The next morning, the police ask Enzo and Millie to come down to the station. Millie panics and calls Ada’s godfather Benito “Benny” Ramirez, an NYPD officer who has helped them out of sticky situations before. Millie explains the situation, including the blood on Enzo, and Benny reassures her that Enzo is a good man and wouldn’t have murdered Jonathan. He advises them to answer the questions, but if it seems like the police want to make them suspects they should get a lawyer. He also tells them not to mention the blood.

Millie wants to keep the kids home from school, but she can’t because she and Enzo have to go to the police station. Nico begs to stay home, but Millie tells him he must go to school. He asks to play with Spencer, who is also at the bus stop with Janice. Janice refuses, as she has banned Nico from her house after his suspension. Nico was lying about going to play with Spencer when she caught him sneaking out. He now says that he snuck out to play in the street by himself. Millie doesn’t believe him, but the school bus arrives before she can question him further.

At the police station, the officers separate Enzo and Millie. Willard questions Millie. He denies that she is a suspect, but knows about her past in prison. Willard asks about Enzo, revealing that Enzo used the $1,000 to illegally purchase a gun and that he checked into a motel with Suzette four days prior. Willard also knows about the bounced check, but Millie denies they’re having financial trouble. Willard reveals that Jonathan had a sizeable life insurance payout that goes directly to Suzette. He implies that Enzo murdered Jonathan on Suzette’s behalf for the money. Millie refuses to speak further without a lawyer.

The police let Millie go, but they question Enzo for an additional three hours. When they finally get to leave, Enzo again tells Millie that he did not cheat on her with Suzette. Millie asks him about the motel and why he smelled like Suzette’s perfume.

Enzo finally confesses: He was at the motel with Martha, who either stole or was given some of Suzette’s old perfume. Martha’s husband is physically abusive, so Enzo purchased the gun for her protection. He met Martha at the hotel to give her the gun and help her plan to leave. Martha knew about Millie’s past helping other women in dangerous situations, but after she was caught stealing, she couldn’t ask Millie for help. Martha was stealing from Millie and Suzette to get enough money to leave, as her husband takes her paychecks. Enzo was talking to Suzette late in the yard that night to convince her Martha wasn’t stealing.

Enzo didn’t tell Millie any of this because he didn’t want to worry her and make her blood pressure worse. Millie argues that his secrets made her blood pressure worse, and he apologizes. Millie believes Enzo but still thinks there’s something he’s hiding.

When Enzo and Millie get home, Benny is in their driveway. He tells them that Willard is building a case against Enzo, believing that Enzo and Suzette were having an affair and that Enzo murdered Jonathan for the life insurance payout. Willard has circumstantial evidence (the motel, the gun, Enzo’s presence in the Lowells’ yard during the murder), and he also has photos from Janice, who was taking pictures of Suzette flirting with Enzo. They need a good lawyer, so Benny found them the best public defender available.

The lawyer is Cecelia Winchester. Many years ago when Cecelia was a girl in The Housemaid, Millie and Enzo took care of her (see Background).

Cecelia tells Enzo that the police are building a strong case against him. Enzo tells Cecelia everything that’s happened. Cecelia thinks that the reason the police are extra suspicious is because of Dario Fontana, Enzo’s sister’s abusive husband. Enzo then admits that he worked for Dario when he was young, but he doesn’t explain what he did for him. Shocked at this admission, Millie nevertheless suggests that Suzette killed Jonathan, even though Suzette has an alibi. There is a back way to enter the Lowells’ backyard, which Suzette could have used to enter the house and kill Jonathan without Janice seeing. Cecelia promises that they’ll win the case.

Once Benny and Cecelia leave, Millie and Enzo have 30 minutes before the kids get home. Millie presses Enzo on what he did for Dario, and he admits he broke people’s fingers as retaliation but never killed anyone. Enzo feels incredible guilt for working for Dario; if he hadn’t, his sister Antonia would not have married Dario. Enzo promises again he’s never killed anyone, but Millie again wonders if he’s been lying all along.

Once Enzo and the kids fall asleep, Millie takes a flashlight and sneaks into the Lowells’ yard to explore the rear entrance Suzette could have taken to murder Jonathan. The yard looks beautiful, as Enzo has done an impeccable job with the landscaping. Alone in the dark in her pajamas, Millie suddenly feels vulnerable to the person who murdered Jonathan. She hears rustling.

Millie finds Suzette in the yard. Suzette asks her what she’s doing there, and Millie lies that she heard a noise. Suzette believes Enzo murdered Jonathan, and claims that Enzo is obsessed with her and jealous of Jonathan. Suzette also says that Enzo felt pressured into marrying Millie because she was pregnant. Millie doesn’t know how Suzette would know that if Enzo did not tell her. Suzette does not seem saddened by Jonathan’s death, and it is clear that there is a way to get into the Lowells’ house without Janice seeing from across the street.

The police arrive at the Accardi house with a search warrant. Willard starts the search downstairs so that Millie and Enzo can wake the kids. They take the kids out to breakfast while the search goes on.

At breakfast, Ada asks why the police are investigating Enzo. Millie tries to explain that Enzo is innocent, but Ada is still worried. Millie cannot make herself believe that “everything will be okay” even as she says it to the kids (267).

Millie drops the kids off at school and avoids going home while the police finish their search. She instead goes to Martha’s address to confirm Enzo’s story. When she knocks on the door, a drunk and belligerent old man answers. Millie lies that she is returning Martha’s coat, but the man says that Martha left. Millie leaves, happy that Enzo was able to help Martha escape her husband. Millie knows Enzo feels guilty for not saving Antonia before Dario killed her, so she understands Enzo’s need to help Martha.

The police make a mess of the Accardi house. As Millie and Enzo clean up after the search, Millie asks if Enzo told Suzette that Millie was pregnant before they got married. Enzo didn’t; Suzette must have done the math about how old Ada is versus how long they’ve been married.

Millie gets a call from Cecelia, who tells her that the police found something that they consider a “slam dunk.” Cecelia has already told Enzo but didn’t think he’d tell Millie about it. Millie wonders what they found and worries they’ll arrest Enzo, but Cecelia hasn’t yet heard anything about an arrest warrant. She promises Millie that they’ll get through this.

Millie tries to make the rest of the day normal for the kids, but at bedtime Nico asks her a concerning question: Does doing a bad thing make someone a bad person? Millie explains that doing a bad thing doesn’t always make someone a bad person, like lying to someone about a bad haircut. Nico seems to want to ask about something more serious, but then Enzo arrives to finish bedtime.

Millie makes pancakes for the family; as they sit down to eat, Cecelia rings the doorbell. The police are on the way to arrest Enzo. The evidence they found during their search of the house is a pocketknife with Enzo’s initials on it. The knife had been cleaned but still had traces of Jonathan’s blood on it. Enzo then confesses that he killed Jonathan.

Enzo says he must confess to the police, which baffles Millie and Cecelia. Millie gets the kids upstairs so they don’t see Enzo arrested. As the police take Enzo away, he tells Millie he loves her. Cecelia promises to do her best to free Enzo; she thinks that they’re missing a piece of the puzzle.

Millie then goes upstairs and finds Ada sobbing in bed. She rubs Ada’s back and tries to comfort her, but Ada tells her that Enzo did not kill Jonathan. Ada did.