Chapter 6 - The Child in the Photograph
Samuel Price disappeared that afternoon.
His phone went directly to voicemail. The warehouse was empty when police arrived, and there was no evidence of a struggle.
Emily gave the officers his name but did not surrender the red ledger.
She no longer trusted that information would remain private.
Maya allowed Emily and Lily to stay in her apartment after the eviction deadline passed. It was a crowded arrangement. Maya already shared the two-bedroom unit with her younger brother, but she refused to let Emily enter a shelter with an infant.
Emily spent each evening sorting Samuel’s documents.
Most of the transfers ended at banks in Delaware, Nevada or the Cayman Islands. Others went to luxury property companies and private aircraft services.
One transfer was different.
Each January, precisely $20,000 from Emily’s trust was sent to a storage facility in Chicago.
Emily visited the facility pretending to be Vanessa’s assistant.
The clerk refused to open the unit but confirmed it had been paid for through the next five years.
The registered renter was Lydia Carter.
Emily’s mother.
She photographed the unit number and left before the clerk could call Vanessa.
Meanwhile, Warren continued examining the gala photographs.
His suspicion became certainty when he contacted the New York event photographer.
The photographer found the original image and sent it without the foundation’s altered caption.
The woman was not Emily.
She was a model hired through an event agency.
Warren called Richard immediately.
“Come to my house tonight.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Seven o’clock.”
Warren ended the call.
At six forty-five, Richard arrived with Vanessa.
They found Warren in the library with the false photograph displayed on a large screen.
Vanessa stopped walking.
Richard recovered first.
“The foundation’s media department must have mislabeled it.”
“Seven different photographs over five years?”
“We receive thousands of images.”
Warren changed the screen.
Returned delivery receipts appeared.
“I asked the law firm for Emily’s file.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“You had no reason to do that.”
“She is my granddaughter. I don’t need a reason.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Warren, Emily has been manipulating everyone since Lydia died.”
“Where does she live?”
“London.”
“Address?”
Vanessa looked at Richard.
Warren noticed.
He placed a telephone on the desk.
“Call her.”
“She changes numbers constantly,” Richard said.
“Then call her lawyer.”
“She doesn’t have one.”
“Her accountant.”
“She manages her own finances.”
“Her employer.”
Richard’s patience broke.
“What exactly are you accusing us of?”
Warren rose.
“I am asking where my granddaughter is.”
“She doesn’t want you to know.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Vanessa took Richard’s arm.
“We should leave.”
Warren moved between them and the door.
“No one leaves until I see proof that Emily received the money.”
Richard laughed once.
“You have bank statements.”
“I want a video call.”
“That is impossible tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because she is unstable.”
The word hung in the library.
Warren stepped closer to his son.
“That is the same word you used for Lydia.”
Richard’s expression changed for less than a second.
It was enough.
Warren reached for the telephone.
“I am calling Mara.”
Vanessa moved quickly.
She picked up a framed photograph from the side table and held it toward him.
“Before you destroy this family, look at what Emily sent us last month.”
The photograph showed a woman standing on a beach beside a little girl.
The woman’s face was turned toward the ocean.
Warren studied it.
The child appeared to be four years old.
Richard had told him Emily had no children.
At that moment, Warren’s phone received a news alert from a local community website.
An article described a young mother facing eviction after losing her job during maternity leave.
The photograph showed Emily.
She was standing outside a worn apartment building, holding an infant wrapped in a cream blanket.
Warren looked from the news image to Richard.
“What is the baby’s name?”
Richard said nothing.
May you like
Warren’s voice dropped.
“What is my great-granddaughter’s name?”
