Chapter 2: The Woman in the Photograph
Marcus read the second message three times.
Then he locked his phone and slipped it into his pocket.
“Lily,” he said gently, “go upstairs and wait in your room for me.””
The little girl shook her head.
“Please don't make me leave you, Daddy.””
The words struck him harder than Vanessa's excuses ever could.
Marcus crouched in front of her.
“I'm not sending you away because you're in trouble. You haven't done anything wrong. I just need to talk to Vanessa.””
Lily glanced at her stepmother.
Vanessa extended a hand, attempting to recover her usual gentle expression.
“Sweetheart, why don't you come with me? We can have some juice and—”
“No!”” Lily recoiled.
Vanessa's hand dropped.
Marcus stood immediately.
“Don't approach her.””
“I was only trying to help.””
“Then give her space.””
He walked Lily to the staircase himself, keeping one hand around hers. At the first step, she tugged at his sleeve.
“Daddy?””
“Yes, baby?””
“Mommy told me never to give this necklace to anyone who says they need it more than me.””
Marcus swallowed.
“Did she?””
Lily nodded.
“She said some people smile when they want something, but that doesn't mean they're being nice.””
Marcus glanced back at Vanessa.
His wife stood beneath the bright windows, her face pale, her shoulders rigid.
Danielle had been dead for almost three years.
Yet her words were suddenly echoing through the house more loudly than anything Vanessa could say.
Marcus kissed Lily's forehead.
“Keep the necklace with you. I'll come check on you in a few minutes.””
This time, Lily climbed the stairs.
He waited until her bedroom door closed before returning to the living room.
Vanessa was pacing beside the coffee table. She stopped when she saw him and immediately began speaking.
“I know how this looks, but you have to understand that I'm under a tremendous amount of pressure.””
Marcus picked up his abandoned laptop bag and placed it beside the sofa.
“Who sent that message?””
“I don't know.””
“Then why did you look terrified when it arrived?””
“I wasn't terrified.””
Marcus took out his phone and showed her the screen.
“Read it.””
Vanessa looked away.
“Marcus, please.””
“Read the message.””
Her eyes flicked toward the phone.
“You're making a mistake by getting involved.””
“Getting involved?”” He let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Someone is threatening you over my daughter's necklace, and you expect me to stay out of it?””
“It's not about Lily.””
“Then why were you trying to rip the necklace from her hands?””
Vanessa pressed both palms against the edge of the coffee table.
“Because I need it!””
“Why?””
She looked up at him.
“Because it could fix everything.””
Marcus stared at her.
“What is everything?””
Vanessa's mouth trembled, but she said nothing.
He stepped closer.
“Is someone blackmailing you?””
“No.””
“Are you in debt?””
“No.””
“Then tell me why a stranger thinks my daughter should surrender her mother's jewelry to save you.””
Vanessa suddenly grabbed her handbag from the armchair.
“I need to make a phone call.””
Marcus moved between her and the front door.
“You're not leaving this conversation.””
“You can't control me!””
“I'm not trying to control you. I'm asking you to tell me the truth.””
“You wouldn't understand!””
“Try me.””
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Vanessa looked past him toward the staircase.
“Danielle knew.””
Marcus went completely still.
“What did you say?””
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“Your first wife. She knew something about me before she died.””
Marcus felt the room tilt.
“What did Danielle know?””
“I can't tell you.””
“Can't or won't?””
Vanessa looked at the floor.
Marcus pulled his phone out again and opened the family photograph album he kept saved on the device. He found a picture taken two summers earlier, before Danielle's death, at Lily's fifth birthday party.
Danielle stood in the middle, smiling in a yellow sundress. Marcus stood beside her. Vanessa was in the background, holding a paper plate and looking directly toward the camera.
Marcus had taken the picture himself.
He remembered that afternoon. Vanessa had been Danielle's coworker at a charitable foundation. After Danielle died, Vanessa had helped with the funeral arrangements, brought meals to the house, and spent hours comforting Lily.
Six months later, she and Marcus had started dating.
At the time, her kindness had felt like a lifeline.
Now he studied the photograph with a different question in mind.
“Why would Danielle know something about you?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“I never meant for any of this to happen.””
Marcus lowered the phone.
“Did you know Danielle was sick before she died?””
Vanessa's expression changed.
Just for a second.
But Marcus saw it.
“Answer me.””
“She told me she wasn't feeling well.””
“When?””
“Before she died.””
“How long before?””
Vanessa began to cry in earnest.
“I don't remember.””
“You don't remember?””
“It was a difficult time for everyone!””
Marcus stepped away from her, struggling to keep his voice level.
“Danielle died suddenly. You were at the hospital that night. You held my daughter while I was trying to understand what the doctors were saying. You told me you had no idea anything was wrong.””
“I was trying to protect you.””
“From what?””
Vanessa covered her face.
Marcus's phone buzzed again.
This time, the notification contained a photograph.
He opened it.
It showed Danielle standing outside a bank, wearing the same blue coat she had worn during the final week of her life. Beside her stood Vanessa.
Marcus enlarged the image.
The photograph had been taken before Danielle died.
On the back of the image, visible through a handwritten note included in the message, were seven words:
*ASK YOUR WIFE WHAT SHE TOOK FROM DANIELLE.*
Marcus slowly turned the screen toward Vanessa.
Her knees nearly buckled.
“Where did you get that?”” she whispered.
“Someone just sent it to me.””
Vanessa reached for the phone.
Marcus pulled it away.
“Don't touch it.””
“You don't understand what that picture means!””
“Then explain it.””
She stared at Danielle's face on the screen.
Then she looked at Marcus with a desperation he had never seen before.
“If you want to know what happened to your first wife, you need to look inside the necklace.””
Marcus's breath caught.
From upstairs came the faint sound of Lily opening her bedroom door.
He looked toward the staircase, then back at Vanessa.
“What's inside the necklace?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know exactly.””
“Then how do you know there's something inside it?””
Her eyes filled with fresh tears.
“Because Danielle told me where she hid it.””
Marcus tightened his grip on the phone.
“Where?””
Vanessa looked toward the ceiling, toward the room where Lily was waiting with the necklace.
May you like
And then she whispered the words that made his blood run cold.
“She said if anything ever happened to her, the necklace would prove who was responsible.””
