Chapter 2 - The Photograph Showed Daniel’s Wife
Daniel took the photograph from beneath his mother’s pillow and felt
every muscle in his body lock.
Rachel stood on the left.
Beside her, smiling at the camera with one arm around Rachel’s
shoulders, was Daniel’s wife.
Vanessa.
For several seconds, the bedroom disappeared around him.
He saw only the photograph.
Vanessa wore the cream coat Daniel had bought her in Boston the previous
winter. Rachel wore a dark blue dress instead of the caregiver uniform
Daniel had always seen her in.
They did not look like two women who had recently met through an
employment agency.
They looked close.
Eleanor watched her son carefully.
“You recognize where that was taken?”
Daniel looked again.
Behind the women was a brass plaque.
HARBOR HOUSE.
He knew the name.
It was the private rehabilitation center Vanessa had supposedly visited
every Wednesday to volunteer with a charitable foundation.
“How long have you had this?”
“I found it in Rachel’s bag yesterday.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Eleanor’s expression tightened.
“Because I didn’t know whether you would believe me.”
That hurt.
Daniel sat beside her.
“Mom.”
“You didn’t believe me when I said things were disappearing.”
“I thought you were forgetting where you put them.”
“I know.”
Daniel looked down.
For weeks, Eleanor had complained about misplaced jewelry, changed
pills, doors she remembered locking, and conversations people denied
having.
Daniel had gently suggested stress.
Then age.
Then perhaps a medication review.
He had installed cameras mostly to reassure her.
Now he hated himself for every explanation.
A paramedic entered and told them Eleanor’s vital signs were stable, but
the spoon, cup, and water would be taken for analysis. Eleanor would
also be evaluated at the hospital.
Daniel nodded.
Rachel sat in another room with building security.
She had not been arrested.
Not yet.
There was no confirmed evidence of poisoning.
Only suspicious behavior.
Daniel intended to keep his conclusions tied to facts.
That did not make him less angry.
He returned to the surveillance room.
The access log showed the missing files had been deleted at 2:13 a.m.
three nights earlier.
User: D.HART.
His account.
His password.
The penthouse security system also recorded the device used.
Daniel stared at the identifier.
VANESSA-MACBOOK.
His wife’s laptop.
The elevator chimed.
Daniel turned.
Vanessa entered the penthouse carrying shopping bags.
She smiled when she saw him.
“You’re home early.”
Daniel said nothing.
Her smile faded.
“What happened?”
He held up the photograph.
Vanessa stopped walking.
The bags slowly slipped from her fingers.
One struck the marble floor.
A bottle of perfume rolled beneath the console.
Daniel watched her face.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
“Tell me why Rachel is in this picture.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Daniel—”
“And tell me why your laptop deleted my mother’s surveillance footage.”
Vanessa looked toward the hallway leading to Eleanor’s bedroom.
That same glance.
The one Rachel had made.
Daniel stepped closer.
“What are both of you looking for?”
Vanessa whispered, “Where is your mother?”
“At the hospital.”
Her face changed.
“Is she conscious?”
Daniel felt cold.
“That’s your first question?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
The hospital.
He answered immediately.
The physician said preliminary testing had found something unusual in
Eleanor’s blood.
Not a lethal poison.
A prescription sedative.
One Eleanor had never been prescribed.
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
The doctor continued.
The drug could cause confusion, memory problems, dizziness, and unusual
sleepiness in an elderly patient.
Exactly the symptoms Eleanor had been reporting for weeks.
Daniel ended the call.
Vanessa whispered, “What did they find?”
He did not answer.
Instead, he opened the photograph again.
Something on the back caught his attention.
Writing.
A date from eleven years earlier.
And beneath it:
RACHEL MORGAN + VANESSA REED.
Daniel stared at the surname.
Reed.
Vanessa’s maiden name was Clarke.
At least, that was the name she had given him.
He looked up slowly.
“Who is Vanessa Reed?”
His wife’s face went white.
May you like
And suddenly Daniel understood that the woman beside Rachel in the
photograph might not be the woman he thought he had married.
