Chapter 3: The Woman Who Came Looking for My Mother
My mother had been dead for two years.
I'd memorized the date of her funeral, the color of the flowers on her casket, and the way my father held my hand so tightly that day I could barely feel my fingers.
I had learned how to say her name without crying in front of people.
I had not learned how to stop missing her.
So when Monique said someone had come looking for my mother three weeks earlier, I forgot about the photograph, the custody file, and the guests watching us.
All I could think was that someone knew something about the woman I'd spent two years wishing I could ask one more question.
“Who came looking for her?”” I asked.
Monique's expression changed.
She had expected my father to react.
She had not expected me to speak.
“Layla,” Adrian said softly, “stay beside me.””
But I stepped forward.
“Who was it?””
Monique looked down at me.
For a brief moment, I saw something that resembled guilt.
Then it disappeared.
“A woman,” she said.
“What woman?””
“Someone your mother knew.””
“What's her name?””
“I don't remember.””
“You don't remember the name of someone who came to our house asking for my dead mother?””
Monique's cheeks flushed.
“Watch your tone.””
Adrian stepped forward.
“She's asking a reasonable question.””
Monique gave him a sharp look.
“You think everything I do is wrong now.””
“No,” he replied.
“I think you're avoiding a simple answer.””
She turned away and walked toward the nearest garden table. Her heels clicked against the stone path. She picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and set it down with enough force to make the ice rattle.
“The woman said she had information about your first wife,” she told Adrian.
“She wanted to speak privately.””
“What information?””
“She wouldn't tell me.””
“Then why didn't you tell me someone had come?””
Monique's eyes narrowed.
“Because I knew you'd react exactly like this.””
“Like what?””
“Like a man who believes his late wife was incapable of keeping secrets.””
My father's face hardened.
“Don't use her death to distract me.””
“I am not distracting you!””
She struck the table with her palm.
A fork jumped against a plate.
Several guests turned away, pretending not to watch.
Monique noticed them and immediately lowered her voice.
“Adrian, please. We need to discuss this inside.””
“No. You brought it into the garden when you made Layla part of a custody dispute. We're discussing it here.””
I looked at Marcus.
He stood beside his equipment, holding his smartphone at his side. The camera hung untouched from his neck.
“Marcus,” I asked, “did you see the woman?””
He looked surprised.
“I wasn't here when she came to the house.””
“Then how do you know about the lawyer?””
He glanced at my father before answering.
“Monique sent me the instructions two days ago. She asked for a specific arrangement with the photographs.””
“What arrangement?”” Adrian asked.
Marcus took a breath.
“She wanted two final versions. One with everyone in the family, and one without Layla.””
My stomach twisted.
“Why?””
Marcus shook his head.
“She didn't tell me.””
Monique crossed the distance between them.
“Because I wanted options for the album! That's all.””
“Then why did you mention a custody file?”” Adrian asked.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Marcus continued carefully.
“The message said the version without Layla needed to be delivered separately. She also asked me not to include it in the regular online gallery.””
My father looked at him.
“Did she say where it was going?””
“No, sir.””
Monique pointed toward the driveway.
“That's enough. You're finished here, Marcus. I'll pay the remaining balance, and you can leave.””
Marcus didn't move.
“Mrs. Reed, I still need to know whether you want the photographs delivered.””
“You heard me.””
Adrian shook his head.
“Marcus, stay. I'll make sure you're paid for your work.””
Monique stared at him.
“You cannot dismiss me from my own event.””
“I'm not dismissing you. I'm asking him to finish the job he was hired to do.””
“Then I suggest you learn to trust your wife.””
Adrian looked at her for a long moment.
“Trust isn't something you demand after you've been caught hiding things.””
Her face went rigid.
I had never seen my father speak to her that way.
At home, Monique always had the final word. She decided what time dinner was served, which relatives we visited, and whether I was allowed to invite friends over.
She kept a calendar on the refrigerator and corrected Dad whenever he forgot something.
She even kept my mother's old photographs in a box at the back of the hall closet.
When I'd asked why we couldn't put one of them on the living-room shelf, she'd said it would be healthier for everyone to move forward.
I had believed her.
Now I wondered how many other things she'd decided I wasn't allowed to remember.
“Dad,” I whispered.
He turned immediately.
“I'm here, sweetheart.””
“Did Mom know that woman?””
His expression softened.
“I don't know.””
“Did she have secrets?””
He took a second before answering.
“Your mother was a person, Layla. She had a whole life before you were born, and there were things even I didn't know about her.””
Monique gave a humorless laugh.
“Finally, some honesty.””
Adrian ignored her.
“But that doesn't mean someone gets to use her memory to frighten you.””
I looked at the paper in his pocket.
“Am I going to have to leave home?””
His face changed.
“No.””
“But Monique said—”
“I heard what she said. And I'm not going to make promises about things I haven't investigated, but I will not let anyone frighten you into believing you don't belong with me.””
He squeezed my hand.
“You hear me?””
I nodded.
For the first time that afternoon, I felt as if I could breathe.
Then Marcus's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen and frowned.
“That's strange.””
Adrian turned.
“What is it?””
“Another message.””
“From Monique?””
Marcus checked.
“No. An unknown number.””
Monique went completely still.
Marcus noticed.
“Do you recognize it?””
“No,” she answered too quickly.
Adrian held out his hand.
“Let me see.””
Marcus showed him the screen.
The message was short.
Did you take the photograph without the girl? The lawyer needs confirmation today.
My father read it twice.
Then he looked at Monique.
“Who is this?””
She stared at the phone.
“I have no idea.””
Marcus scrolled down.
“There are three earlier messages from the same number.””
Adrian's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Read them.””
Marcus hesitated, then opened the thread.
The first message had arrived four days earlier.
Make sure the child is completely absent from the final image.
The second had come the following morning.
The photograph must look natural. No visible signs that anyone was removed.
The third was the message they had just received.
Nobody moved.
Even the boys had stopped talking.
My father took a slow breath.
“Monique, why would anyone need a photograph that looks natural if it was simply for a family album?””
She shook her head.
“I don't know.””
“Why would a lawyer need confirmation today?””
“I don't know!””
“Why did you tell Marcus not to send the photograph through the normal gallery?””
“Because I wanted privacy!””
“From whom?””
Monique looked at him.
Then, very slowly, she turned toward me.
I felt my hand go cold inside my father's.
“You need to stop asking questions in front of her,” she said.
Adrian stepped between us.
“No. You need to stop acting as if she's the problem.””
Monique's eyes filled with angry tears, but she didn't cry.
“You think you're protecting her,” she whispered.
“You have no idea what your first wife left behind.””
My father went completely still.
“What did you just say?””
She swallowed.
“I shouldn't have said that.””
“Too late. What did she leave behind?””
Monique backed away from him.
For a second, I thought she might finally tell us everything.
Instead, she reached into her handbag and pulled out her own phone.
“I'm calling my attorney.””
“Go ahead,” Adrian said.
“And tell them I want a copy of every document connected to this custody file.””
Monique pressed a contact on the screen.
The call rang once.
Twice.
Then someone answered.
She turned her back to us, but her voice carried across the quiet garden.
“It's me. We have a problem.””
She listened.
Her shoulders stiffened.
“No, the photograph wasn't sent.””
Another pause.
Then she whispered four words that made my father reach for her phone.
“Her daughter heard everything.””
Monique spun around.
Adrian stared at her.
“Who are you talking to?””
She ended the call.
Too late.
My father had already heard the voice coming through the speaker before she hung up.
A man's voice.
A voice that had called Monique by her first name.
And one my father recognized.
He looked at her as if the ground had opened beneath him.
“That's impossible,” he said.
Monique clutched her phone against her chest.
“Adrian, listen to me.””
He took one step toward her.
“Why is my wife's brother involved in this?””
My mother's brother had not attended a family gathering in years.
As far as I knew, he lived in another state and had stopped speaking to my father long before my mother died.
I barely remembered his face.
But my father remembered his voice.
And judging by the look on his face, the man on the phone wasn't a stranger to this family.
He was the last person Adrian had ever expected to hear from.
My father looked down at Marcus's phone, then at the custody document in his pocket.
Finally, he turned to Monique.
“Tell me exactly what you and my wife's brother have been planning.””
Monique's fingers trembled around her phone.
And before she could answer, Marcus's screen lit up again.
A new message appeared from the unknown number.
If Adrian has seen the messages, do not let him open the envelope.
My father looked at the words.
Then he slowly turned toward the house.
Because somewhere inside, in the place where we'd kept my mother's belongings since the day she died, there was an envelope he had never seen before.
May you like
And suddenly, everyone in the garden seemed to know exactly where it was.
Everyone except him.
