Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Bailey couldn't speak.
Her mother was standing beside Lucas Bennett in the photograph.
Not sick.
Not tired.
Not wearing the faded sweater Bailey remembered from the final years of her life.
She was young.
Confident.
Smiling.
And wearing a bracelet Bailey had buried with her.
The same thin silver bracelet Bailey had held in her hands the night her mother died.
“You're lying.”
Lucas didn't react.
“I wish I were.”
Bailey put the photograph down.
“My mother never worked for Meridian.”
“She did.”
“She cleaned houses.”
“Later.”
“She took care of me.”
“Because she had to.”
Bailey's voice cracked.
“What happened to her?”
Lucas looked away.
“That's the question I've been asking myself for fifteen years.”
Bailey stared at him.
“Fifteen?”
Lucas nodded.
“She disappeared from my life without explanation.”
Bailey shook her head.
“My mother didn't disappear.”
“She vanished from Meridian.”
“She was home.”
“Exactly.”
The answer made no sense.
Lucas reached for a folder.
“I shouldn't be telling you this while I'm still in the hospital.”
“Then why are you?”
“Because somebody tried to kill me last night.”
Bailey went still.
“You had a heart attack.”
“I did.”
He looked directly at her.
“But the doctors found traces of a drug in my system.”
Bailey's stomach dropped.
“So someone poisoned you?”
“They haven't proved that yet.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because whoever put that envelope in your cart may have wanted you blamed.”
Bailey remembered the photograph.
The black envelope.
Her cleaning cart.
“Why me?”
Lucas's expression hardened.
“Because whoever is doing this knows about your mother.”
A knock sounded.
Howard stepped inside.
He looked relieved to see Bailey.
“Mr. Bennett, security found something.”
Lucas nodded.
Howard placed a small evidence bag on the table.
Inside was a silver bracelet.
Bailey stared.
Her breath caught.
“That belonged to my mother.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
“I was afraid of that.”
Bailey turned toward him.
“What does it mean?”
Lucas looked at Howard.
“Lock the door.”
Howard did.
Then Lucas spoke quietly.
“Your mother didn't leave Meridian because she wanted to.”
Bailey felt cold.
“What happened?”
“She discovered that someone inside the company was stealing money.”
“Who?”
Lucas shook his head.
“We never found out.”
Bailey looked at the bracelet.
“Then why does someone have it?”
“That is what scares me.”
The next morning, Bailey was suspended from work.
The accusation was unofficial.
But the message was clear.
Until the investigation ended, she was not allowed on the executive floors.
Mr. Reed looked embarrassed.
“I believe you.”
“Then why suspend me?”
“Because corporate security believes the person who attacked Lucas may have had access through your cleaning route.”
Bailey stared at him.
“I've worked here three years.”
“I know.”
“Never a complaint.”
“I know.”
“Then why am I being treated like a suspect?”
Mr. Reed sighed.
“Because you're the easiest person to blame.”
That sentence stayed with Bailey all day.
By evening, she was sitting alone in her apartment, staring at the silver bracelet.
She remembered her mother wearing it during the last Christmas they spent together.
Bailey had been twenty-three.
Her mother had smiled and told her, “Keep your life simple.”
Bailey had laughed.
“You're the one with secrets.”
Her mother had gone quiet.
At the time, Bailey thought nothing of it.
Now she remembered something else.
Her mother had touched the bracelet.
And said:
“If anyone ever gives you this back, don't trust the person who gives it to you.”
Bailey's skin prickled.
She looked at the evidence bag.
Lucas had given it to her.
But he hadn't actually given it to her.
It had been found.
Which meant someone else had put it there.
That night, Lucas was discharged under heavy security.
Bailey was waiting outside the hospital when he emerged.
He stopped when he saw her.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I need answers.”
“So do I.”
He looked at her.
Then at the bracelet in her hand.
“You still have it.”
“Yes.”
Lucas's jaw tightened.
“Come with me.”
They entered a black SUV.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Finally Bailey asked:
“Did you love my mother?”
Lucas stared through the window.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than Bailey expected.
“How?”
“She was the only person in my life who spoke to me like I was a human being instead of a company.”
Bailey looked down.
“Then why wasn't she in your life?”
Lucas didn't answer immediately.
“She left me one night.”
“Why?”
“She said she had found something.”
“What?”
“She wouldn't tell me.”
“And you let her go?”
His voice dropped.
“I thought she'd come back.”
Bailey looked at him.
“She didn't.”
“No.”
The SUV stopped at a red light.
Lucas reached into his coat and removed an old envelope.
He handed it to Bailey.
“My mother kept this for years,” he said.
Bailey opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother again.
But this time she wasn't with Lucas.
She was standing beside a little girl.
The girl was about six years old.
Bailey stared.
“That isn't me.”
“No.”
“Who is she?”
Lucas looked at the photograph.
“I don't know.”
Bailey turned it over.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
If Bailey ever comes looking, tell her the girl survived.
Bailey's heart stopped.
She looked at Lucas.
“Who wrote this?”
“My mother.”
“And what girl?”
May you like
Lucas's face changed.
“I think she may be the reason your mother disappeared.”
