Chapter 7 - The Photograph)
Nathan wanted to take Olivia somewhere nobody knew.
Michael refused.
"If they can reach the mansion, moving her without a controlled plan could make things worse."
Nathan hated that Michael was right.
Security doubled.
Every employee was rechecked.
Every door was monitored.
The photograph from Olivia's bedroom had been taken recently.
Very recently.
She wore the same star patterned pajamas she had worn two nights earlier.
On the back, someone had written one sentence.
Stop looking where Emily told you.
Nathan stared at the message.
Sarah Bennett placed it inside an evidence sleeve.
"They're scared."
"Good."
"Scared people make mistakes."
Nathan's voice was flat.
"Scared people also hurt children."
Olivia entered the room holding Grace's hand.
Nathan immediately covered the photograph.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, sweetheart."
"Did Vanessa come back?"
"No."
Olivia looked relieved.
Then she glanced toward the covered photograph.
"What is that?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
Olivia frowned.
Nathan recognized the expression.
Emily had made exactly the same face when someone gave her an answer she did not believe.
"You're lying."
Nathan almost smiled.
"You're four."
"I'm still right."
He crouched.
"Yes."
Olivia waited.
Nathan decided she deserved something better than another lie.
"Someone tried to scare me."
"Mr. Vale?"
"Maybe."
"Because Mommy left things?"
Nathan nodded.
Olivia looked toward the window.
"They don't know about the box."
Nathan froze.
"What box?"
"The little red box."
Nathan looked at Grace.
Grace shook her head.
Olivia continued.
"Mommy's friend said Mr. Vale never found it."
Nathan knelt closer.
"When did you hear that?"
"In blue room."
"What exactly did Rebecca say?"
Olivia concentrated.
"She said Emily hid a red box where Nathan never looks."
Nathan stood.
There were very few places in his life he never looked.
One came to mind.
Emily's old art studio.
After her death, Nathan had closed it.
He could not bear to enter.
Vanessa had repeatedly suggested renovating the room.
Nathan always refused.
He ran upstairs.
The studio door was locked.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Emily's unfinished paintings leaned against the walls.
Her brushes remained inside jars.
Nathan felt the old grief rush back.
Michael searched carefully.
"No red box."
Nathan walked toward Emily's easel.
The last painting she had worked on was still there beneath a cloth.
He removed it.
It showed Nathan standing on the beach holding baby Olivia.
He had forgotten Emily painted it.
Nathan nearly stopped searching.
Then he noticed the frame.
One side was thicker.
He turned the canvas.
A small compartment had been built into the wooden support.
Inside was a red metal box.
Nathan carried it downstairs.
Olivia touched it.
"That's it."
The brass key did not fit.
But the box had a four digit combination lock.
Nathan tried Olivia's birthday.
Wrong.
Emily's birthday.
Wrong.
Their wedding date.
Wrong.
Olivia looked at the painted robin on the music box.
"Bird."
Nathan remembered Emily's favorite birdwatching spot.
She called Olivia her little lark.
He entered 1204.
The date they first saw a meadowlark together.
The lock opened.
Inside were three items.
A burner phone.
A handwritten ledger.
And an envelope addressed to Nathan.
The ledger listed dates, payments, shell companies, and initials.
L.V.
A.C.
M.T.
And one set Nathan did not recognize.
V.C.
Vanessa Cole.
The first payment to V.C. was dated two years before Nathan ever met Vanessa.
Nathan stared at it.
Sarah spoke softly.
"She didn't meet you by accident."
Nathan opened the envelope.
Inside was another note from Emily.
Nathan,
If Vanessa Cole ever enters your life, she is not there by coincidence.
Nathan stopped reading.
He looked toward Olivia.
May you like
The entire room seemed to tilt.
Emily had known Vanessa's name before Nathan ever met her.
