Chapter 4: The Woman in the Photograph
I stared at the photograph until the edges blurred.
The woman standing beside Laura had shoulder-length dark hair, a thin gold necklace, and a smile that looked strangely familiar. She was holding a manila folder against her chest. Even through the grainy image, I could read my name printed on the label.
EMMA CARTER — FINANCIAL RECORDS.
My mother had been dead for seven years.
The photograph was dated three months before she died.
“Who is she?”” I asked.
Tyler rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“Her name is Rebecca. At least, that's what Mom called her.””
Dad leaned across the table.
“Rebecca is your mother's name.””
“I know.””
“Then why did you say you think this woman knew your mother?””
“Because Mom told me this woman was a family friend. She said they used to work together.””
Laura snatched the photograph from the table.
“That's enough.””
Dad caught her wrist before she could tear it.
“Give it back.””
“Michael, you don't understand what you're looking at.””
“Then explain it.””
She released the photograph, and Dad placed it beside the bank statements.
I studied the woman's face again. Something about her smile tugged at a memory buried so deep I couldn't reach it.
“Dad,” I whispered, “is that really Mom?””
He examined the picture.
“No. Your mother had lighter hair, and she wore her wedding ring on the other hand in photographs from that period.””
“Then why does she have my name on that folder?””
He didn't answer.
Tyler unlocked his phone and enlarged the image.
“I took this at Mom's apartment. It was in a box under her bed. I wasn't supposed to see it.””
Laura's face reddened.
“You were going through my things?””
“I was looking for my birth certificate!””
“You had no right to touch that box.””
Tyler stood up so abruptly that his chair struck the cabinets.
“You told me the documents were about Emma's trust. You told me Dad was hiding money from us. You said I deserved some of it because I'd been treated like a second-class citizen in this house.””
Dad's expression darkened.
“Did you believe that?””
Tyler looked down.
“I didn't know what to believe.””
“You believed it enough to gamble with money you didn't have.””
“I know I messed up!””
“You didn't just mess up, Tyler. Your mother took money from a child to cover your debts, and you accepted it without asking where it came from.””
Tyler's jaw tightened, but he didn't argue.
I reached for the photograph.
“Laura, please. Who is this woman?””
For one brief moment, I thought she might tell me.
Instead, she looked directly at me and said, “Some things your father should have explained to you years ago.””
Dad stood.
“Don't you dare put this on Emma.””
Laura grabbed her purse.
“I'm not staying here while you both treat me like a criminal.””
Dad moved aside, but his voice stopped her at the doorway.
“If you leave, don't take a single document connected to these transactions. My attorney will be contacting you.””
She turned, her eyes flashing.
“You'd choose your daughter over your wife?””
Dad looked at me.
“I should never have been forced to make that choice.””
Laura left without another word.
The front door slammed hard enough to rattle the framed pictures in the hallway.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
Then Tyler pulled another photograph from his phone.
“This one was taken on the same day,” he said.
The second image showed Laura standing outside a small office building beside the woman. Between them was a man wearing a dark suit, holding an envelope.
Dad stared at the man's face.
I watched his expression change.
“Dad?””
He reached for the phone.
“Where did you say you found these?””
“In the box under Mom's bed.””
Dad zoomed in on the man's face.
His lips parted.
“No.””
“What is it?”” I asked.
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked to his office and returned with an old photograph from a drawer.
It showed my mother standing beside a man in a dark suit at a charity fundraiser. The man had one hand on her shoulder. She was smiling, but her eyes looked tired.
Dad placed the two images side by side.
The men were identical.
“His name is Daniel Reeves,” Dad said.
“He handled some of your mother's financial paperwork before she died.””
I frowned.
“Why would he be meeting Laura?””
“I don't know.””
“Did Mom trust him?””
Dad stared at the old photograph.
“I thought she did.””
Tyler swallowed.
“There's something else in that box.””
Dad turned toward him.
“What?””
“A letter. Mom told me never to show it to anyone.””
“Why didn't you tell me that earlier?””
“Because she said if you ever saw it, you'd take everything away from us.””
Dad's face went pale.
“Where is it?””
Tyler looked toward the stairs.
“Upstairs. In her bedroom.””
We followed him to the room Laura used as an office. Tyler opened a locked drawer with a key he had hidden inside his wallet.
Inside lay a thick envelope, several bank statements, and a folded letter with my name handwritten across the front.
Dad picked up the letter.
He recognized the handwriting immediately.
It belonged to my mother.
His fingers trembled as he unfolded the page.
The first sentence read:
If anything happens to me, make sure Emma receives what I left for her.
Dad stopped breathing for a moment.
Then he turned the page.
There was a second sentence beneath it, written in darker ink.
And whatever you do, don't let Michael discover who has been moving the money.
Dad slowly lowered the letter.
I stared at him.
“Who was moving the money, Dad?””
He looked at the documents in the drawer.
Then he whispered a name that made Tyler take a step backward.
“Daniel Reeves.””
But beneath my mother's signature was a date.
A date written three weeks after her funeral.
May you like
And someone had added a final line in different handwriting.
The account has been transferred. The girl must never know.
