Chapter 5: The Man in the Photograph
I didn't sleep that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the photograph of my mother standing beside a man I had never met. My father had written that the man was the last person to see her alive, yet I had never heard the name Richard Hale spoken in our house.
Not once in eleven years.
At 6:17 the next morning, I called Daniel.
He answered after the second ring.
"Emily?""
"Who is Richard Hale?""
There was a pause.
"Where did you find that name?""
"In the photograph Dad left me.""
Daniel exhaled slowly.
"Bring the photograph to my office. Don't send it electronically.""
"Why?""
"Because I want to examine the original, and because I suspect your father kept more than one record concerning this man.""
I dressed quickly and drove downtown.
Daniel was waiting when I arrived. He had spread several folders across his desk, and a cup of untouched coffee sat beside the telephone.
I handed him the photograph.
He studied it for a long moment.
"Richard Hale was a financial consultant," he said.
"He worked with your father on several private investment projects before your mother died.""
"Was he a friend?""
"Your father considered him a trusted adviser.""
"Did Mom know him?""
"Apparently.""
"Apparently isn't an answer.""
"No," Daniel admitted.
"It isn't.""
He opened a folder and removed a printed email dated eleven years earlier.
The subject line read: Meeting Confirmation.
The message was brief. Richard Hale had arranged to meet my mother at a restaurant in Hartford on October twelfth, two days before the accident.
According to the email, they were discussing an unspecified matter involving a family investment.
I read the message twice.
"Why would my mother meet Dad's financial consultant without Dad?""
"I don't know.""
"Did Dad ever explain?""
"He told me Richard had contacted him after your mother's death, claiming she had asked him to review certain financial documents. Your father didn't pursue it at the time.""
"Why not?""
Daniel looked troubled.
"Because your father was grieving. He was also trying to protect you from details he believed would only cause more pain.""
I laughed bitterly.
"That seems to be everyone's excuse.""
Daniel didn't argue.
Instead, he removed another document from the folder.
"This is a memorandum your father prepared four months ago. He asked me to keep it confidential unless the account investigation led us to Richard Hale.""
I leaned forward.
"What does it say?""
Daniel read the first paragraph silently.
Then he turned the paper toward me.
The memorandum described a series of financial transactions made through several private accounts. Some dated back to the year before my mother's death. Others had occurred within the last four years.
The same reference number appeared repeatedly.
VC-4417.
"Vanessa's reference number," I whispered.
"Possibly," Daniel said.
"Your father believed it was connected to a company she controlled before their marriage.""
"She had a company?""
"An investment consulting firm. It was dissolved several years ago.""
"Why?""
"The records are incomplete. We would need to obtain the corporate filings.""
I looked at the photograph again.
My mother had been smiling.
She didn't look frightened. She didn't look like someone who suspected she was about to become involved in a scandal that would haunt her family for more than a decade.
"Was Vanessa working with Richard?""
"We have evidence that their professional activities overlapped. We don't yet know the extent of their relationship.""
I stood and walked toward the window.
Below us, commuters hurried along the sidewalk, carrying coffee and talking into their phones. Ordinary people with ordinary problems.
I envied them.
"Daniel, I need to know what happened to my mother.""
"I understand.""
"No, I don't think you do. For eleven years, I've believed she died because she lost control of her car on a wet road. I've spent every anniversary wondering whether she was scared, whether she had time to call for help, whether she knew she wasn't going to make it home.""
My throat tightened.
"And now you're telling me she might have been investigating something before she died.""
Daniel rose from his chair.
"Emily, I can't tell you what happened to your mother. But I can help you uncover what your father discovered.""
I turned toward him.
"Then start with Richard Hale.""
Daniel made several calls while I sat across from his desk. By ten o'clock, he had located a former business address for Richard's consulting firm and a current residential address through public records.
He also discovered that Richard had been involved in a civil dispute with one of my father's companies several years earlier.
The dispute had been settled privately.
No details were included in the public filing.
"Do you know where he is now?"" I asked.
Daniel wrote an address on a notepad.
"He appears to live outside Hartford. I recommend that we contact him through formal channels rather than showing up unannounced.""
"I can't wait for another formal letter.""
"Emily—"
"He knew my mother. He met her two days before she died. Dad left me his photograph and specifically told me to find him.""
Daniel studied me.
"Then we go together.""
An hour later, we were driving along a narrow road lined with bare trees and old stone walls. Richard Hale's address led to a large house set behind a black iron gate.
A silver SUV stood in the driveway.
Daniel rang the bell.
A woman in her sixties answered. She wore a cream sweater and held a pair of reading glasses in one hand.
"Can I help you?""
"My name is Daniel Brooks," he said.
"I'm an attorney representing the estate of Thomas Bennett. We're hoping to speak with Richard Hale.""
Her expression changed at the name.
"Richard isn't available.""
"I'm Emily Bennett," I said.
"Thomas was my father. I need to ask Richard about my mother.""
The woman looked at me for a long moment.
Then she glanced over her shoulder.
"Richard," she called, her voice trembling slightly.
"You need to come here.""
Footsteps sounded in the hallway.
A man appeared behind her.
He was in his late sixties, with thinning gray hair and a deep scar running along his jaw. When he saw the photograph in my hand, he stopped so abruptly that the woman nearly collided with him.
His face went white.
"Where did you get that?""
"My father left it to me.""
Richard stared at the picture.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then he looked at Daniel.
"Did Thomas finally tell her?""
"Tell me what?"" I demanded.
Richard rubbed his forehead.
"I told your father he should have spoken to you years ago.""
My heart hammered against my ribs.
"What happened to my mother?""
He looked at me, and I saw something in his eyes that I had never seen in anyone before.
Fear.
"Your mother came to me because she discovered money disappearing from an account connected to your father's business," he said.
"She believed someone was using her name to authorize transactions.""
I gripped the photograph.
"What did she do?""
"She wanted to know who was responsible. She asked me to help her trace the transfers.""
"Did you?""
Richard swallowed.
"I found a series of payments leading to a company that didn't officially exist. The company had been dissolved on paper, but the account was still active.""
"Who controlled it?""
He looked away.
"Vanessa Carter.""
The name seemed to drain the air from the hallway.
Daniel took a step forward.
"Are you certain?""
"I saw the incorporation documents. I saw the bank instructions. I warned Thomas, but he thought the matter could be handled privately.""
I could barely speak.
"Did Vanessa know my mother was investigating her?""
Richard nodded.
"She found out about the meeting. Two days later, your mother died.""
I felt my knees weaken.
"Are you saying Vanessa killed her?""
"No," he said quickly.
"I'm saying I never believed the accident was as simple as the police report suggested. I don't have proof that anyone caused it.""
"Then why didn't you tell the police?""
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
"Because I received a phone call the night your mother died. Someone told me that if I spoke about the accounts, my family would lose everything. I was a coward, Emily. I was afraid.""
I stared at him.
"Eleven years. You stayed silent for eleven years.""
"Yes.""
"And you let my father believe he had lost his wife in an ordinary accident.""
Richard lowered his head.
"Yes.""
I wanted to scream at him.
Instead, I asked the only question that mattered.
"Did my mother know she was in danger?""
He closed his eyes.
"I don't know.""
Then he went into his study and returned with a battered cardboard box.
Inside were copies of bank statements, company records, and several handwritten notes.
He placed one note on the table.
"I kept these because I thought one day someone would come looking for the truth.""
The handwriting was my mother's.
I recognized it immediately.
Richard, if anything happens to me, please make sure Emily receives the blue folder. Thomas must not give it to Vanessa.
My hands began to shake.
"What blue folder?""
Richard looked at me.
"I never found it.""
"Where was it?""
"Your mother said it contained the original financial records. She believed those documents would prove who had been moving the money.""
I looked at Daniel.
"Where could Dad have kept it?""
Before he could answer, Richard's wife appeared in the doorway holding a mobile phone.
"Richard," she whispered.
"There's someone outside.""
We all turned toward the window.
A black car was parked across the road.
Its engine was running.
The driver's window lowered.
I saw a woman's face behind the glass.
Vanessa.
She had followed us.
May you like
And when she noticed me looking, she lifted her phone and took a photograph.
Then she drove away.
