The Housesitter. Close Quarters, #2

"Every house keeps an inventory. The occupants just don't know they're on it."Blair Underhill's promising academic career ended the day her committee discovered she forged historical documents. Disgraced, broke, and desperate to hide, she accepts a long-term house-sitting job at a secluded Victorian estate on the Maine coast. The owner, Professor Arthur Landon, has curated his home with museum-like precision: every drawer is labeled, every book is alphabetized, and every surface is flawless.
But the house's immaculate order hides a chilling negative space. Arthur told Blair he had no family, yet a young woman soon arrives with a key, claiming to be his estranged daughter. He said the house was safe, but Blair finds three new deadbolts on the front door and a recently replaced lock on the cellar. And most disturbing of all, she discovers traces of Arthur's late wife, Margot, whose supposed accidental death on the cellar stairs two years ago left the town whispering.
Using her unique skills as a document authenticator, Blair uncovers a terrifying secret behind a newly built cinderblock wall: Margot Landon left behind a fourteen-year archive documenting her husband's escalating psychological abuse. But finding the journals isn't a stroke of luck-it's a meticulously designed trap. Arthur specifically recruited Blair because any evidence authenticated by a known forger will immediately be thrown out of court.
Trapped in a home designed to make its occupants doubt their own sanity, Blair must decipher Margot's final, hidden clues to expose Arthur's flawless alibi. But as she unravels the intricate web of gaslighting and manipulation, Blair realizes she isn't just an observer in Arthur's sick exhibit-she is the final, crucial piece of his puzzle.