Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Photograph
By the time Grant reached the penthouse, Vanessa was home.
The apartment was silent.
Too silent.
He found Rachel in the nursery with Lily.
"Where is she?"
"In the dressing room."
"Lily?"
Rachel pointed.
His daughter sat on the rug clutching her flower basket.
Grant knelt.
"Sweetheart."
Lily looked at him.
"Did you find something in Vanessa's room?"
Her arms tightened around the basket.
"Lady."
Grant held out his hand.
"Can Daddy see?"
Lily shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
Lily looked toward the hallway.
"Vanessa mad."
Grant's jaw tightened.
He did not force her.
Instead, he kissed her forehead.
"You keep it safe."
Rachel stared at him.
"You're letting her keep it?"
"For now."
Grant stood.
"If Vanessa asks, you know nothing."
Rachel understood immediately.
Grant entered the dressing room.
Vanessa was pulling drawers open.
Jewelry boxes covered the vanity.
"What are you looking for?"
Vanessa spun around.
"Nothing."
"You look like you're looking for something."
"I misplaced an earring."
Grant leaned against the doorway.
"Which one?"
Vanessa stared at him.
"A diamond drop."
"I'll help."
"No."
Too quick.
Too sharp.
She forced a smile.
"It's expensive. I remember exactly where I last had it."
Grant watched her.
"Was it beside Elizabeth Whitmore's pendant?"
The color disappeared from Vanessa's face.
Grant had his answer before she spoke.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Who is Elizabeth Whitmore?"
Vanessa turned away.
"Should I know?"
Grant stepped closer.
"Someone sent me an email telling me to ask why you were searching for her."
Vanessa's hands stopped moving.
Then she laughed softly.
"Your family has enemies."
"That's true."
"And I'm marrying into your family. Maybe someone wants to scare you."
"Maybe."
She relaxed slightly.
Grant continued.
"Or maybe someone knows something about you."
Vanessa turned.
"What exactly are you accusing me of?"
"Nothing."
"You came in here mentioning a dead woman I've never met."
Grant watched every movement.
"Who said she was dead?"
Vanessa froze.
Just for an instant.
But he saw it.
Grant smiled without warmth.
"I didn't."
Vanessa's eyes narrowed.
"Everyone knows about your aunt."
"No. Almost nobody outside the family knows enough to recognize her name."
"I read about her."
"When?"
"I don't remember."
Grant stepped closer.
"Try."
Vanessa's anger surfaced.
"I am planning a wedding for two hundred people while raising your daughter more than her own nanny does. I don't have time for interrogation games."
"You're not raising Lily."
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
"You know what I mean."
Grant thought of Lily saying Vanessa mad.
He kept his voice calm.
"I'm going to my father's house tonight."
"Why?"
"Family business."
"About Elizabeth?"
"Why do you care?"
Vanessa said nothing.
Grant left.
He did not go directly to Charles.
Instead, he returned to Lily.
The nursery lights were low.
Rachel had stepped into the bathroom to prepare the bath.
Lily sat in Grant's lap.
He whispered, "Can Daddy see the lady now?"
Lily studied him.
Then she reached inside her basket.
The pendant appeared.
Grant's breath caught.
It was exactly as Charles had described.
Oval.
Silver.
Small enough to disappear in a child's palm.
Grant opened it.
Inside was not Elizabeth.
The woman in the photograph was younger than Elizabeth had been when she disappeared.
Long blond hair.
Gray blue eyes.
The image appeared to have been cut from a larger photograph.
Grant turned the pendant.
E W H.
His hands began to shake.
Rachel returned and stopped.
"Oh my God."
Grant photographed the pendant with his phone.
Then Lily quickly took it back.
"Mine."
Grant almost smiled.
"For tonight."
She dropped it into the flower basket.
Grant sent the photograph to his father.
Thirty seconds later, Charles called.
"Where did you get that?"
"Vanessa's dressing room."
Charles said nothing.
"Who is the woman?"
"I don't know."
"You told me the pendant contained a picture of Elizabeth's daughter."
"It did."
Grant looked at the photograph.
"So that woman is Elizabeth's daughter?"
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because the photograph Elizabeth kept was of an ultrasound."
Grant went still.
"This photograph was put inside later."
"Yes."
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
Grant looked toward the hallway.
Vanessa was speaking on the phone in the bedroom.
He could not hear the words.
"Dad, I'm coming over."
"Bring the pendant."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Grant looked at Lily.
"My daughter has decided it's hers."
Charles almost laughed, but the sound died quickly.
"Grant."
"What?"
"Do not confront Vanessa again until we understand this."
Grant looked toward the closed bedroom door.
"Too late."
An hour later, he arrived at Charles's townhouse.
His father had already opened a locked cabinet in the study.
On the desk sat a file Grant had never seen.
Elizabeth.
Charles poured whiskey but did not drink it.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"You may hate me afterward."
"I'll survive."
Charles sat.
"Your grandfather controlled everyone in this family. Elizabeth discovered he was moving money from the Whitmore Foundation into private accounts. Thomas Hale helped her trace it."
"How much?"
"Almost sixty million."
Grant stared.
"Eighteen years ago?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"They planned to expose him."
"And then she disappeared."
Charles nodded.
"Did Grandfather kill her?"
"I don't know."
"Do you believe he did?"
Charles looked away.
"I believed he might have."
Grant felt sick.
"Why didn't you go to police?"
"I did. Privately. There wasn't enough evidence."
"What about Thomas?"
"He vanished because he thought he was next."
"Where is he now?"
Charles opened the file.
"I found him six years ago."
Grant stared at his father.
"You said you didn't know where he was."
"I lied."
"Where?"
"Maine."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
Grant stood.
"Then why have you hidden him?"
"I didn't hide him. He asked me to leave him alone."
"Why?"
Charles pulled a photograph from the file.
Thomas Hale stood beside a woman approximately thirty four years old.
The same woman pictured inside the pendant.
Grant picked it up.
"Who is she?"
Charles answered.
"Her name is Claire Hale."
Grant turned the photo over.
A date was written on the back.
Five years earlier.
"Is she Elizabeth's daughter?"
Charles looked at him.
"No."
Grant lowered the photograph.
"Then who is she?"
Charles took a long breath.
"Thomas says Claire is Elizabeth."
Grant stared at him.
"That's impossible."
"That was my reaction."
"Elizabeth would be fifty."
"I know."
"That woman is in her thirties."
"I know."
Grant looked again.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Something about the expression reminded him painfully of childhood.
"What does that mean?"
Charles shook his head.
"I never found out."
Grant's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice spoke.
"If Lily found the pendant, Vanessa already knows."
Grant's blood went cold.
"Who is this?"
"Thomas Hale."
Grant stood.
"Where are you?"
"Closer than you think."
"Why are you calling now?"
"Because Vanessa is not who she says she is."
Grant gripped the phone.
"Then who is she?"
Thomas paused.
"Ask her what happened to her older sister."
The call ended.
Grant looked at his father.
Charles had gone pale.
May you like
"Vanessa doesn't have a sister," Grant said.
Charles whispered, "According to Marianne Cole's original records, she did."
