Chapter 3 - THE GIRL IN THE OLD PHOTOGRAPHEvelyn had spent almost three decades trying to forget the woman in the photograph.
Her name was Rebecca Hale.
She had been twenty-three.
Beautiful.
Brilliant.
And pregnant.
With Arthur Calloway's child.
Evelyn remembered the day she found out.
She had been thirty-eight.
Grant was still a baby.
Arthur had promised it was over.
He had promised Rebecca would disappear.
And she had.
At least, that's what Evelyn believed.
“Where is the photograph?” Bell asked.
“My house.”
“Can you get it?”
Evelyn nodded.
Two hours later, she returned with a faded envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a young woman holding a newborn baby.
The back contained three words.
Vanessa. September 1995.
Vanessa stared at it.
Her face changed.
“No.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“I think you're Rebecca's daughter.”
Vanessa stood so quickly her chair fell backward.
“No.”
Bell caught the photograph.
“Are you saying Vanessa is Arthur's daughter?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Vanessa stared at Evelyn.
“You knew?”
“I knew Arthur had another child.”
“You knew there was a daughter?”
“I knew there was a baby.”
“And you did nothing?”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“I was told the baby had died.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Bell looked between them.
“Who told you?”
“My husband.”
“Do you have proof?”
“No.”
Vanessa backed away.
“This is impossible.”
Then the front door opened.
Grant entered.
His face was calm again.
Too calm.
He looked at Vanessa.
Then the photograph.
His expression changed.
Only for a second.
Bell saw it.
“You recognize her.”
Grant said nothing.
“Mr. Calloway?”
Grant looked at his mother.
“Where did you get that?”
Evelyn whispered, “So it's real.”
Grant's jaw tightened.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad made sure nobody talked about her.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Who is she?”
Grant looked at her.
“My aunt.”
Vanessa froze.
“Your aunt?”
“Yes.”
“Then why have I never heard of her?”
“Because she disappeared.”
“Where?”
Grant didn't answer.
Bell stepped forward.
“Where is Rebecca Hale?”
Grant looked at him.
“She died.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Bell studied him.
“You're lying.”
Grant's eyes hardened.
“You don't know me.”
“No,” Bell replied. “But I know people who answer simple questions with complicated stories.”
Grant walked toward the stairs.
Bell stopped him.
“Don't leave.”
Grant turned.
“I live here.”
“Not tonight.”
A long silence followed.
Then Vanessa said something that made everyone stop.
“I know where Rebecca is buried.”
Everyone turned.
Vanessa's hands were shaking.
“I found it six months ago.”
Evelyn stared.
“How?”
“Grant's father had an old storage locker.”
“What was inside?”
“A diary.”
Bell's attention sharpened.
“What diary?”
“Rebecca's.”
Vanessa pulled out her phone.
“I photographed every page.”
She opened the images.
The first entries were ordinary.
A young woman writing about pregnancy.
About fear.
About Arthur promising to leave his wife.
Then the final pages became darker.
Rebecca had discovered something.
Something about Calloway money.
Something about a company called Northbridge.
One sentence appeared again and again.
Arthur says the money isn't his.
Another:
If anything happens to me, Vanessa must never be raised by him.
Vanessa's hands trembled.
“Raised by who?”
Evelyn whispered.
“Someone else.”
The final entry was dated October 17, 1995.
Arthur told me tonight that the only way to protect the child is to make everyone believe she died.
Below it was another sentence.
He says Evelyn will never forgive me.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Bell looked up.
“So Vanessa was hidden.”
“Yes,” Vanessa whispered.
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
Then Grant did.
“Because Dad wasn't trying to hide a child.”
May you like
Everyone looked at him.
“He was hiding an inheritance.”
Related Stories
