Chapter 3 - THE PHOTOGRAPHI found the photograph in Elaine’s house.
Not by breaking in.
Despite what Grant later accused me of.
Elaine invited me over because she wanted to “fix the family.”
I went only because Maddie’s belongings were still there.
While collecting them, I saw an old framed charity photograph half-hidden behind books.
Young Elaine.
Maybe twenty-six.
Standing beside Adrian Vale.
They were close.
Not doctor-and-patient close.
Familiar.
His hand rested on her lower back.
I picked up the frame.
Elaine appeared behind me.
Her face changed.
“Put that down.”
I turned.
“You knew him.”
“He was a family friend.”
“How well?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Maddie may be his biological child.”
Elaine went completely still.
Too still.
I stared at her.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew something.”
She grabbed the frame.
“Get out.”
That told me more than a confession would have.
I took a photograph of the photograph with my phone before leaving.
Then I called Grant.
“I found something.”
He said:
“I don’t want to talk about my mother.”
“This is about Vale.”
Silence.
I sent the image.
Grant called back thirty seconds later.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your mother’s study.”
He whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because…”
He stopped.
“Because what?”
Then he said:
“I’ve seen him before.”
My skin prickled.
“Where?”
“In Dad’s old photographs.”
Not clinic photographs.
Family photographs.
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Adrian Vale had been part of the Mercer family’s life decades ago.
And then disappeared.
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