Chapter 2 - THE PHOTOGRAPHS
The stranger’s name was Daniel Reeves.
He would not come inside.
“I’m not here to start a fight,” he said. “I’m here because my sister made me promise.”
Rain slid from the shoulders of his jacket.
I opened the envelope with fingers that suddenly felt numb.
The first photograph showed Andrew outside a restaurant in Geneva, New York.
His arm was around a woman with dark red hair.
He was kissing her forehead.
The second showed them entering our lake cottage.
The date stamp was from six months earlier.
The third photograph made my stomach turn.
Andrew was standing beside Lorraine.
The red-haired woman stood between them.
All three were smiling.
Lorraine took one step backward.
I looked at her.
“You knew her.”
“No.”
I held up the photograph.
“You’re standing next to her.”
“That was one time.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“My sister’s name was Natalie.”
I looked back at him.
“What happened to her?”
“Car accident.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She left a safety-deposit key and a note with my name on it. The note said if anything happened to her, I was supposed to find you.”
Lorraine snapped, “This is disgusting. Leave.”
Daniel did not even look at her.
“She said Andrew promised her the cottage.”
My throat tightened.
“He can’t promise her that cottage.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s mine.”
Lorraine barked a short laugh.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I pulled one document from the green folder.
“My grandfather left me a trust. I bought the cottage before Andrew and I refinanced this house. The title has never had his name on it.”
Daniel’s eyebrows rose.
Lorraine went pale.
I turned to her.
“How much did he tell you?”
“Nothing.”
“Wrong answer.”
My phone rang.
Andrew.
I stared at his name.
Lorraine lunged for the phone.
“Give me that.”
I stepped away.
“Why?”
“He will explain.”
“Then he can explain to me.”
I answered on speaker.
“Happy birthday,” Andrew said, too brightly.
I looked at Lorraine.
She closed her eyes.
“Where are you?”
“At the cottage.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched.
“Alone?”
A pause.
“Of course.”
I lifted the third photograph.
“Who was Natalie Reeves?”
The silence lasted so long that I heard the refrigerator motor shut off behind me.
Andrew finally said, “Claire, listen to me.”
Lorraine whispered, “Don’t.”
I turned toward her.
“Don’t what?”
Andrew’s voice hardened.
“Who is there with you?”
“Her brother.”
Another silence.
Then Andrew said something I had never heard from him before.
“Claire, lock the front door.”
My skin prickled.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel Reeves is dangerous.”
Daniel looked genuinely stunned.
Andrew continued.
“Do not trust anything he gives you.”
Daniel reached into his jacket slowly.
Lorraine screamed.
I flinched.
But he only pulled out a small flash drive.
“My sister predicted he’d say that.”
He placed it in my palm.
Andrew’s voice came through the speaker.
“Claire, do not open that drive.”
I looked at the green folder.
Then the photographs.
Then Lorraine.
“Why not?”
Andrew breathed once.
“Because if you do, you’re going to misunderstand everything.”
I disconnected the call.
Daniel gave me a tired smile.
“That’s exactly what Natalie said he would tell you.”
Then he pointed to the bottom photograph.
“Look at the window.”
I did.
Behind Andrew, Natalie, and Lorraine, reflected faintly in the cottage glass, was another man.
Someone I knew.
May you like
Someone from Andrew’s company.
And someone who had signed one of the papers in my green folder.
