Chapter 4: The Photograph That Should Never Have Existed
Marcus stared at the photograph until the numbers beneath it blurred.
October 18, 2018.
Lily's birthday.
His father stood beside a hospital bed, wearing the charcoal suit he had been buried in two years later. His silver hair was neatly combed, and his familiar gold watch gleamed beneath the fluorescent lights.
In his arms lay a newborn baby wrapped in a pink blanket.
Lily.
Marcus knew the blanket. He had kept it in a cedar chest in Lily's bedroom, folded beside the tiny shoes she had worn home from the hospital. He remembered the night she was born, the nurse placing her against his chest, and Danielle whispering that their daughter had his stubborn chin.
But the woman in the hospital bed wasn't Danielle.
It was Victoria Reed.
And standing behind Richard, one hand resting on the hospital rail, was a nine-year-old girl with short black hair.
Vanessa.
Marcus dropped the phone onto the table.
"No," he whispered.
"That can't be right.""
Evelyn leaned forward.
"What is it?""
He turned the screen toward her.
The older woman's face changed as she examined the photograph. Her fingers rose to her lips. Then she reached for the table, as though her legs could no longer support her.
"Where did you get this?""
"Someone just sent it to me.""
"Who?""
"I don't know.""
Evelyn enlarged the image with trembling fingers.
"That's St. Catherine's Hospital," she said.
"I recognize the room.""
Marcus shook his head.
"My daughter was born at Piedmont Atlanta.""
"Then why is Richard Hayes standing beside Victoria?""
Neither of them had an answer.
Across the room, Lily sat on the sofa, clutching a stuffed rabbit Marcus had retrieved from the SUV. She had been unusually quiet since the phone call.
"Daddy?""
He turned immediately.
"Yes, sweetheart?""
"Was that Mommy?""
Marcus crossed the room and knelt in front of her.
"I think so.""
Lily looked at the phone.
"Is she alive?""
The question tore through him.
He wanted to promise her everything would be fine. He wanted to tell her that her mother would walk through the front door any minute, that they would go home, and that the nightmare would end.
But he had already made too many promises without knowing the truth.
"I don't know yet," he admitted.
"But I'm going to find her.""
Lily nodded, though her eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
"Vanessa said Mommy died when I was born.""
Marcus felt a familiar wave of guilt.
"What else did Vanessa tell you?""
Lily picked at a loose thread on her rabbit.
"She said Mommy was sick. She said Daddy Richard took care of everything because you were too upset to do it yourself.""
Marcus went completely still.
His father had told him that Danielle's final days were peaceful. He had handled the funeral arrangements, helped with Lily's paperwork, and insisted that Marcus take several weeks away from work.
Richard had claimed it was what Danielle wanted.
He had even delivered the small envelope containing Lily's hospital bracelet, explaining that the nurses had found it in Danielle's belongings.
Marcus had never questioned him.
Now, for the first time, he wondered whether his father had been protecting him—or arranging the pieces of a life Marcus hadn't realized was built on lies.
Evelyn stood abruptly.
"We need to find the original hospital records.""
"How?""
"I know someone who worked at St. Catherine's. A nurse named Patricia. She was there the night Victoria disappeared from my life the second time.""
Marcus grabbed his keys.
"Then we're going.""
Evelyn shook her head.
"Not yet. We need to be careful. If Richard was involved, we don't know who else was.""
Marcus looked at his phone again.
The unknown number had vanished from the recent call list. The photograph remained, but the message thread was empty.
Someone had sent the evidence and then erased the trail.
He dialed the number manually from the call log.
A recorded message informed him that the number was unavailable.
"Whoever sent this wants us to find something," he said.
Evelyn nodded.
"Or wants us to find the wrong thing.""
Before Marcus could answer, his phone rang.
This time, the caller ID displayed a familiar name.
*Vanessa Reed.*
He answered on speaker.
"Where are you?"" she demanded.
Marcus glanced at Evelyn.
"Somewhere you aren't.""
"Marcus, listen to me. I know what you found.""
"Then explain the photograph.""
Silence.
"Vanessa?""
"I can explain.""
"How convenient.""
"Your father asked me to keep certain things private.""
Marcus gripped the phone.
"My father is dead.""
"He was alive when Lily was born.""
"And you were there?""
Another pause.
"Yes.""
Marcus stared at the screen.
"You were nine years old.""
"I know how old I was!""
Her voice cracked, then hardened.
"Richard took care of me after the fire. He gave me a home when everyone else thought I was dead. He told me Victoria had died, and he told me never to contact Evelyn.""
Evelyn stepped closer to the phone.
"Why did you obey him?""
"Because he said he'd send me back to the people who hurt me!""
"Who hurt you, Vanessa?""
"I don't remember!""
The answer came too quickly.
Marcus closed his eyes.
"Stop lying. You told me your father died when you were nine. You told me you grew up in foster care. You told me you had no family.""
"I was trying to survive!""
"By making my daughter afraid of you?""
Vanessa said nothing.
Then, in a quieter voice, she asked, "Did you find the birth certificate?""
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
The question was confirmation enough.
"What does Richard Hayes have to do with you?"" he asked.
Vanessa's breathing grew ragged.
"Everything.""
"Explain.""
"I can't do it over the phone.""
"Then tell me where you are.""
"Come to the house where I grew up. The old Reed house in Savannah. There's a room upstairs that Richard never let anyone enter. He kept everything there.""
Evelyn's face went pale.
"That house burned down," she whispered.
Vanessa heard her.
"Not all of it.""
A sharp noise sounded in the background.
Then Vanessa lowered her voice.
"Marcus, there's something you need to understand. The man who raised you wasn't the only person who knew about the babies.""
Marcus's heart lurched.
"The babies?""
Vanessa began crying.
"Please. Just come to Savannah.""
The line went dead.
For several seconds, Marcus couldn't move.
Then Lily stood from the sofa.
"Is Mommy in Savannah?""
Marcus looked at her.
"I think we might find out.""
She approached him and held out her stuffed rabbit.
"Can we take Mr. Buttons with us?""
He managed a small smile.
"Of course.""
Evelyn picked up her handbag.
"We leave now.""
The drive to Savannah took nearly four hours.
Rain swept across the interstate, blurring the taillights ahead of them. Lily eventually fell asleep against Marcus's shoulder, her rabbit tucked beneath her chin.
Evelyn remained awake in the passenger seat, watching the road.
At one point, she spoke without turning around.
"Richard used to visit our house.""
Marcus glanced at her.
"When?""
"Before the fire. He was a young lawyer then. He worked for a company your grandfather owned.""
"My grandfather never mentioned the Reeds.""
"Because your grandfather wanted the connection forgotten.""
Marcus tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"What connection?""
Evelyn hesitated.
"Richard was involved with someone in my family. Someone who died before the twins were born.""
"Who?""
"Your father's first love.""
Marcus frowned.
"My father was married to my mother for thirty-two years.""
"That doesn't mean he never had another life.""
The rain hammered the windshield.
Evelyn looked back at Lily.
"Richard was a complicated man. He could be generous, but he believed money gave him the right to decide what happened to everyone around him.""
Marcus thought of his childhood.
His father choosing his friends. His father's disapproval when he dated Danielle. His insistence that Marcus join the family business rather than pursue architecture.
Richard had always framed control as love.
Marcus had simply accepted it.
"What happened the night of the fire?"" he asked.
Evelyn shook her head.
"I know what the official report says. I know someone changed the girls' identification bracelets. I know Richard helped Vanessa disappear. But I don't know why.""
She looked at him.
"Perhaps your father wasn't trying to hide a death. Perhaps he was trying to hide a birth.""
Marcus felt a chill run down his spine.
He looked at Lily sleeping against him.
And for the first time, he wondered whether the greatest secret wasn't who had died in the fire.
It was who had survived.
The old Reed house stood on a narrow street beneath towering live oaks.
Most of the windows had been boarded up. Ivy crawled over the brick walls, and a rusted iron gate hung crookedly between two stone pillars.
Yet the structure remained standing.
Marcus parked beside the gate.
Evelyn stared at the house with an expression he couldn't read.
"I haven't been here since the funeral," she said.
"Whose funeral?""
She looked at him.
"Your father's first love.""
Before Marcus could ask another question, headlights swept across the driveway behind them.
A black sedan stopped at the curb.
The rear door opened.
Vanessa stepped out, wearing jeans, a dark coat, and no wig.
Her short natural hair was slicked back from her face.
She looked younger without the elaborate makeup. More like the frightened girl in the childhood photograph.
But the fear in her eyes was real.
"Did you bring Lily?"" she asked.
Marcus stepped in front of his daughter.
"She's staying with me.""
Vanessa nodded, swallowing hard.
"Good.""
Evelyn moved toward her.
"Tell us the truth.""
Vanessa glanced at the boarded windows.
"I will. But once you see what's inside, you may wish you hadn't come.""
She unlocked the gate.
Then she turned toward Marcus.
"Before we go in, there's something you need to know about your father.""
"What?""
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"Richard didn't save me because he felt sorry for a little girl who had lost her family.""
She pushed open the front door.
"He saved me because I was the only person who could prove that Victoria was never supposed to survive the fire.""
From somewhere upstairs came the sound of a door slamming.
Vanessa froze.
Marcus looked toward the dark staircase.
"Who's here?""
Vanessa's lips trembled.
Then a man's voice drifted down from the second floor.
"You're late, Vanessa.""
Marcus recognized it instantly.
May you like
It was the same voice from the recording.
Richard Hayes.
