Chapter 4: The Photograph
The woman standing behind me looked familiar, but I couldn't place her.
She was probably in her late fifties, with silver threaded through dark hair that fell just below her shoulders. She wore a charcoal coat despite the warm airport terminal, and she held an old photograph between two trembling fingers.
My father's face stared back at me.
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
“Where did you get that?”” I asked.
She didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes moved from me to Daniel.
Then to Robert.
Whatever she saw on their faces seemed to confirm something.
“You're Rachel Bennett,” she said.
I nodded.
“My name is Evelyn Mercer.””
Daniel took a step toward us.
“No.””
Evelyn didn't look at him.
“You need to hear this.””
Robert's voice was low.
“Evelyn, leave.””
She finally turned toward him.
“You've been telling people that for twenty-two years.””
His face tightened.
“And you still haven't learned to listen.””
Daniel looked at me.
“Rachel, don't.””
I held up my hand.
“Not another word from you.””
He stopped.
I looked at Evelyn.
“Why do you have a picture of my father?””
She studied me for a long moment.
“Because he gave it to me.””
“When?””
“Three days before he disappeared.””
The airport seemed to go silent again.
My father had disappeared when I was sixteen.
That was the story I'd been told my entire life.
He had walked out.
He had another woman.
He had gotten tired of being a husband and a father.
My mother had repeated it so many times that eventually it stopped sounding like a story and started sounding like a fact.
I had spent years hating him for leaving.
Now a stranger was standing in front of me telling me he hadn't.
“Where did you know him from?”” I asked.
Evelyn glanced at Robert.
“Your father was my business partner.””
I frowned.
“My father worked in insurance.””
“He worked in insurance because Robert Bennett wanted him to.””
Robert stepped closer.
“That is enough.””
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You always say that when you're frightened.””
Robert's face went red.
“Watch yourself.””
“I've been watching myself for twenty-two years.””
Claire started crying again.
“Evelyn, please.””
I looked at her.
“You know her?””
Claire nodded.
“How?””
“I was there.””
The words came out so softly I almost missed them.
I stared at her.
“You were there when my father disappeared?””
She covered her mouth.
Robert snapped, “Claire.””
She flinched.
I turned toward him.
“No.””
My voice shook.
“You don't get to shut her up anymore.””
Daniel stepped between us.
“Rachel, my sister is terrified.””
“So am I.””
He looked at me.
I pointed toward Evelyn.
“But she's still talking.””
He had no answer.
Evelyn held out the photograph.
“Take it.””
I took it.
The paper was yellow around the edges.
My father stood beside a younger Evelyn outside a brick office building.
He was smiling.
Actually smiling.
I'd seen very few photographs of him like that.
Most of the pictures my mother kept showed him at home, serious and exhausted, usually holding a coffee mug or standing behind me with one hand on my shoulder.
This was different.
He looked confident.
Alive.
On the back of the photograph, written in blue ink, were six words.
*If they come for me, trust Evelyn.*
My fingers began to tremble.
“Who are ‘they’?””
Evelyn looked at Robert.
“The Bennett family.””
I turned toward him.
He didn't deny it.
That frightened me more than anything else.
I looked back at Evelyn.
“What did my father know?””
She took a slow breath.
“He discovered your husband's family had been moving money through shell companies for years.””
I stared at her.
“Illegal money?””
“Your father called it fraud.””
Daniel looked sick.
Robert spoke sharply.
“He was unstable.””
I turned toward him.
“That's the story you told everyone?””
“He became paranoid.””
“My father?””
“Yes.””
“He disappeared.””
“Yes.””
“You never reported him missing.””
Robert's silence answered for him.
My stomach twisted.
“My mother said he left.””
Evelyn's expression softened.
“She believed that because Robert made sure she did.””
I closed my eyes.
A memory flashed through my mind.
My mother sitting at the kitchen table.
Me at sixteen.
A packed suitcase near the front door.
Her crying.
“He chose to leave us,” she'd whispered.
I had believed her.
I had spent twenty-two years believing her.
When I opened my eyes again, Daniel was watching me.
“You knew,” I whispered.
He shook his head.
“Not then.””
“But you know now.””
His jaw tightened.
“I found out after we got married.””
I stared at him.
“How?””
“My father.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I was told you'd be safer not knowing.””
“By who?””
He looked at Robert.
I laughed in disbelief.
“Of course.””
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Daniel was told the same thing your father was told.””
I turned toward her.
“What happened to him?””
“We don't know for certain.””
“That's not an answer.””
“No. It's the truth.””
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I asked quietly,
“Was he alive?””
“The last person who saw him said yes.””
“When?””
“Twenty-two years ago.””
My chest tightened.
“Where?””
“An office outside Milwaukee.””
Daniel suddenly looked toward the airport doors.
Evelyn noticed.
“So did your father.””
I followed her gaze.
The gray-suited man, Eric Lawson, was standing near the security entrance.
He was on the phone.
His expression was tense.
When our eyes met, he ended the call and walked toward us.
“Evelyn,” he said.
She nodded.
“Eric.””
“You came.””
“I told her she deserved to know.””
Eric looked at me.
“She does.””
I stared at him.
“What are you involved in?””
“Your case.””
“My case?””
He shook his head.
“Your father's.””
I felt my pulse hammer against my neck.
“How long have you been investigating my father?””
“Four months.””
“And Daniel?””
“Three months.””
I looked at Daniel.
“So that's why you've been meeting him.””
Daniel nodded.
“I hired him.””
“Why?””
“To find out what happened.””
“You knew?””
“I suspected.””
“Since when?””
He hesitated.
“Six months.””
I stared at him.
Six months.
Six months ago, Daniel had started coming home late.
Six months ago, he had begun sleeping with his phone under his pillow.
Six months ago, he had started telling me he was exhausted.
While I thought my marriage was falling apart, he had been investigating my father's disappearance.
And then he'd started an affair.
I shook my head.
“You don't get to call this protection.””
“I know.””
“You cheated on me.””
“I know.””
“You lied to me every day.””
“I know.””
“You sold our house.””
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.””
My voice broke.
“Then why are you acting like you're the victim?””
He looked at me.
“Because I wasn't cheating on you for the reason you think.””
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
Megan immediately stepped forward.
“Don't.””
Daniel looked at her.
“I'm sorry.””
She shook her head.
“You told me she was almost gone.””
“I needed you close.””
Megan's eyes widened.
“You used me?””
Daniel said nothing.
I looked at her.
“For what?””
She turned to me.
“I worked for Bennett Family Holdings.””
My blood went cold.
“What?””
She wiped tears from her face.
“I was an accountant.””
Robert swore.
Megan continued.
“I found transfers I couldn't explain. Payments to companies that didn't seem to exist. Money moving through property purchases.””
Eric nodded.
“And she brought us documents.””
I looked at Daniel.
“So you didn't meet her by accident.””
“No.””
“You met her because she had information.””
“Yes.””
“And then you slept with her.””
His silence was devastating.
Megan looked at me.
“He told me he was going to leave you.””
I swallowed.
“Did he love you?””
She stared at Daniel.
“I thought he did.””
Daniel looked down.
“I was using the relationship to keep her close to the investigation.””
Megan slapped him.
The sound cracked across the terminal.
“You used me to spy on your own family?””
“I was trying to get evidence.””
“You could have told me!””
“I couldn't.””
“You could have told your wife!””
Daniel flinched.
I didn't defend him.
He deserved the slap.
Maybe more.
Evelyn touched my arm.
“There is one thing you haven't asked.””
“What?””
“What happened to your father's business records?””
I frowned.
“My mother said everything was lost.””
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.””
She reached inside her coat and pulled out a small metal key.
“My father?”” I asked.
“Your father gave me this.””
I stared at it.
A tiny brass key.
Nothing about it looked important.
“What does it open?””
“A safe-deposit box.””
“Where?””
“Milwaukee.””
Eric stepped closer.
“There's a problem.””
“What?””
“The box was opened once.””
“When?””
“Yesterday.””
I looked at Daniel.
His face had gone completely pale.
“I didn't open it,” he said.
“I didn't say you did.””
“Then who?””
Eric glanced at Robert.
Robert turned away.
I felt cold spread through my arms.
“Who opened my father's box?””
Eric's phone rang.
He answered.
“Yes?””
Silence.
Then his expression changed.
He looked directly at me.
“She's here.””
Another pause.
“All right.””
He ended the call.
“What happened?”” I asked.
Eric swallowed.
“The bank manager found the person who accessed the box.””
“Who?””
He looked at Daniel first.
Then at me.
“It was your mother.””
I couldn't speak.
My mother had been dead for seven years.
Evelyn slowly lowered the photograph.
Eric's voice dropped.
“Rachel, someone is using your mother's identity.””
And before I could ask who, the lights above Gate 42 flickered.
Daniel's phone rang again.
He looked down.
This time, the caller ID wasn't mine.
It was a number I recognized from childhood.
The home phone number from the house where I grew up.
The number that had been disconnected twenty-two years ago.
Daniel answered.
A woman's voice whispered one sentence.
May you like
“Tell Rachel her father is still alive.””
Then the line went dead.
