Chapter 12 - The Photograph
Natalie didn't sleep.
At sunrise, she drove to the cemetery.
Her mother's grave was there.
The stone was old.
The name was correct.
But something bothered her.
The date.
Natalie compared it with the hospital records.
They didn't match.
One day.
Only one day.
But enough.
She called Richard.
“You told me my mother died.”
“I told you what the records said.”
“You knew they were false.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard sighed.
“Because your grandmother asked me to keep you away from the truth until you were old enough.”
“I am old enough.”
“I agree.”
“Then tell me.”
Richard hesitated.
“Your mother discovered that Cynthia was trying to force your grandmother into signing over the estate.”
“And Dad?”
“He was trapped.”
“By Cynthia?”
“No.”
Richard's voice became quieter.
“By someone else.”
Natalie remembered the unknown caller.
The missing name.
The forged signature.
The photographs.
“What happened to my mother?”
Richard said,
“She disappeared before the accident.”
Natalie stopped breathing.
“Then whose body was in the car?”
Richard didn't answer.
Instead, he told her to return to the mansion.
“Your grandmother left one final message.”
“Where?”
“In the place you were never allowed to enter as a child.”
Natalie knew immediately.
The locked attic.
She drove home.
The attic door had always been sealed.
Now the lock was broken.
Inside, she found a small chair.
A tape recorder.
And a photograph of herself at age seven.
On the back, her grandmother had written:
When Natalie asks about her mother, play this.
Natalie pressed the button.
Her grandmother's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, my little girl, then the truth has finally caught up with you.”
Natalie began crying.
Her grandmother continued.
“Your mother did not die.”
Then the recording stopped.
Natalie stared at the machine.
There was another button.
She pressed it.
May you like
A second recording began.
And this time, the voice was not her grandmother's.
