After Alen had left for Saturn, Ava was out of a job for the time being. “I’m not letting you work in the gardens,” Nicolas had told her. “Not by yourself, anyway. I’ll hire a new groundskeeper, so don’t worry.” With Alen’s departure, a certain sense of peace seemed to have taken hold of the Carter Manor. At first, Ava couldn’t quite put her finger on why that was – in fact, she really missed her Croatian friend – but after some time, she realized it was because Clea was notably absent. The shrill-voiced, voluptuous woman hadn’t been around in days. “Do you guys know what happened to Clea?” Ava asked one afternoon while she was helping Danny and Margaret with the laundry. “She hasn’t visited.” Mrs. Pipps shook her head. “I have no idea. Can’t say I miss her, though. She’s always bossing me around when she’s here.” “She’ll be round again,”
