Chapter 4: The Photograph in Her Drawer
Alicia walked through the front door carrying a black suitcase, and the first thing she did was look at Evan.
Not at me.
Not at the briefcase on the kitchen counter.
At her son.
“Why are you home?”” she asked him.
Evan stood so quickly that his chair scraped across the tile.
“I live here, Mom.””
“Don't get smart with me.””
She set the suitcase beside the stairs and removed her sunglasses. Her makeup was perfect, but the skin beneath her eyes looked bruised with exhaustion.
I noticed something else.
Her wedding ring was missing.
“Where have you been?”” I asked.
She turned toward me.
“Running errands.””
“With a suitcase?””
“I'm going away for a few days.””
“Where?””
“That's none of your business anymore, David.””
She said it with such cold certainty that I almost laughed. Twenty-four hours earlier, she had called our marriage a family worth protecting. Now she was standing in our house, preparing to leave while a university threatened my son's future and an investigator examined her financial transactions.
I stepped between her and the staircase.
“Before you go anywhere, we need to talk about Catherine Bell.””
The suitcase handle slipped from her fingers.
It was a tiny movement, but I saw it.
Evan saw it too.
Alicia slowly straightened.
“Who told you that name?””
“Does it matter?””
“Yes, David. It matters very much.””
“Then tell me who she is.””
She glanced at Evan.
“Go upstairs.””
“No,” Evan said.
Her mouth fell open.
“What did you say?””
“I said no. You've spent the last twenty-four hours telling me to leave rooms whenever you don't want me to hear something. I'm done.””
Alicia stared at him as if he had slapped her.
“After everything I've done for you?””
Evan's jaw tightened.
“You mean the tuition money you took from Noah?””
“I paid your university bill because you needed help.””
“I never asked you to steal anything.””
“I did what a mother does!””
“You told me it came from Dad's estate!””
Her face reddened.
I watched her fingers curl around the strap of her handbag.
Then she turned on me.
“You've poisoned him against me.””
“No,” I replied.
“I'm letting him ask questions you refuse to answer.””
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Alicia grabbed her suitcase.
“I'm leaving. You can both sit here and congratulate yourselves on destroying my life.””
She moved toward the door.
I didn't stop her.
Instead, I said, “Robert Ellis has copies of the transfer records. My attorney has the rejected beneficiary-change request. And the trust administrator knows about the account you opened.””
Alicia stopped.
Her shoulders rose and fell once.
“You have no idea what you're interfering with.””
“Then explain it.””
She turned around slowly.
“You think this is about a handbag? You think I'm some greedy woman who wanted something expensive?””
“Right now, I think you stole from a child.””
Her eyes flashed.
“Your son has no idea what you've sacrificed for him. You have spent your entire life treating him like the only person who matters.””
“He lost his mother.””
“And I lost my husband!””
The words came out so violently that Evan flinched.
Alicia covered her mouth.
For one second, I saw something beneath her anger that I hadn't seen before.
Grief.
But it disappeared almost immediately.
“You don't understand,” she whispered.
“Then help me understand.””
She looked toward the staircase again.
Then, without another word, she released the suitcase handle and walked upstairs.
I followed her.
“Where are you going?””
“To get something.””
She entered our bedroom and crossed to the dresser. I watched her pull open the bottom drawer, push aside folded scarves, and remove a small wooden jewelry box.
She opened it.
Inside lay a photograph.
Alicia stared at it for several seconds before turning it toward me.
It showed her standing beside a younger woman with dark hair and bright green eyes. They were both laughing. Between them stood a little girl, perhaps four years old, wearing a yellow dress.
I recognized the little girl's face.
Not because I had ever met her.
Because I had seen those eyes before.
They were Evan's eyes.
“Who are they?”” I asked.
Alicia closed the jewelry box.
“Catherine is the woman on the left.””
“And the child?””
She didn't answer.
I took a step closer.
“Is that Evan?””
“No.””
“Then who is she?””
Alicia gripped the photograph so tightly that its edges bent.
“Her name was Lily.””
“Was?””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Lily died.””
I studied the little girl again.
“How?””
Alicia shook her head.
“Please don't make me talk about this.””
“You told Evan to say Catherine was dead. You opened an account connected to her name. You moved money from Noah's trust into that account. I think you've made it necessary for us to talk about it.””
She lowered herself onto the edge of the bed.
“Catherine was my best friend,” she said.
“We grew up together. We were practically sisters.””
“What happened to her?””
Alicia rubbed her thumb across the photograph.
“She had a daughter. Lily was born with a heart condition. Catherine's husband left when the medical bills started piling up.
She was drowning, David. She couldn't keep up with the payments.””
“So you helped her?””
“I tried.””
Her voice cracked.
“I gave her money whenever I could. But I had Evan, and his father wasn't exactly generous. When Lily needed surgery, Catherine begged me to help her find another way.””
“And did you?””
Alicia looked at me.
“Lily died before the surgery could happen.””
The room seemed to grow smaller.
For the first time, I understood why Alicia had reacted so violently to the name.
But I still didn't understand the money.
“What does Catherine have to do with Noah's trust?””
Alicia looked down at the photograph.
“After Lily died, Catherine disappeared. I didn't hear from her for years. Then, six months ago, she contacted me.””
“What did she want?””
“She said she had found a way to make things right.””
“Right how?””
Alicia hesitated.
“She said there was money that belonged to Lily. Money that had been set aside for her before she died.””
I stared at her.
“And you believed her?””
“I wanted to believe her.””
“So you opened an account.””
“I thought I was helping her recover what she'd lost.””
“With money from Noah's trust?””
Alicia sprang to her feet.
“I was going to replace it!””
“With what? Money that might not exist?””
She looked away.
I held out my hand.
“Give me the photograph.””
“No.””
“Alicia.””
She clutched it against her chest.
“Catherine made me promise that if she ever contacted me again, I would protect her daughter.””
“But you just said Lily died.””
“I know what I said.””
Her voice was suddenly different. Frightened. Almost desperate.
She stepped closer and lowered her voice.
“David, you need to listen to me. The woman who contacted me six months ago wasn't the same person I remembered. She knew things about my life that nobody should have known.
She knew about Evan's tuition. She knew about your son's education fund.””
I felt a chill move through me.
“Are you saying she told you to take the money?””
Alicia closed her eyes.
“She said it was the only way to settle an old debt.””
“And you believed that?””
“I was afraid.””
“Of Catherine?””
She didn't answer.
I reached for my phone.
“I'm calling Robert.””
“No!””
Alicia seized my wrist.
Her fingernails dug into my skin.
“Don't tell him about the photograph.””
“Why?””
She released me as if she had burned herself.
Then she looked toward the bedroom door.
“Because if he finds out who that little girl really was, he'll start asking questions about Evan.””
I stared at her.
“What does Evan have to do with Lily?””
Alicia's lips trembled.
Before she could answer, Evan appeared in the doorway.
He had heard enough to understand that his name was at the center of something he had never known existed.
“Mom,” he whispered.
“Who is Lily?””
Alicia turned toward him.
And for the first time, she looked at her own son as though she was afraid of what he might discover.
“Evan,” she said, “there's something your father never told you.””
Evan went pale.
“My father is dead.””
Alicia shook her head.
“No. That's what I've been trying to tell you.””
Then she handed him the photograph.
And when Evan turned it over, he found a name written on the back.
A name that belonged to a man neither of us had expected to see again.
*Thomas Mitchell.*
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His biological father.
The man Alicia had always claimed abandoned him before he was born.
