The Other Family in the Photographs
Chapter 10 - The Other Family in the Photographs
June found the next clue, although she insisted it was an accident. She was browsing old photographs from the party when she recognized the man by the side gate. Travis Keene had attended a neighborhood charity luncheon earlier that year with a woman June knew from a volunteer committee. She called the woman and learned he was currently representing several investment groups.
Marian obtained public records tying Bellweather and Northfield to overlapping managers. The structure was complicated, but not beyond tracing. One name recurred: Sloan's older brother, Darren Bell.
I'd met Darren twice. At the wedding he'd made a long speech about loyalty while drinking too much champagne. At Christmas he'd asked me how much the house was worth. I had thought him merely rude.
When Marian showed me the company filing with Darren's name, I put my hands flat on the table. "Sloan wasn't just helping Harrison find a lender."
"We don't yet know the full arrangement," Marian reminded me. "But it justifies further investigation."
That night I found a family photograph from Harrison's wedding. Daniel was already ill, but he stood proudly beside us, his face thin and bright with effort. Sloan leaned against Harrison in her white dress. Darren stood behind them, smiling at the camera.
I wondered what he would have thought if he'd known I would someday regard that photograph as evidence of the beginning of a scheme.
The following morning, Sloan arrived with a printed apology she'd drafted for me. It stated that I'd been confused and emotional at my birthday, that I'd imagined intentional harm, and that I regretted falsely accusing her of mistreatment. It included language about needing help with financial affairs.
"Sign it," she said. "Then we can move forward."
I read it twice.
"No."
She stared at me. "You burned a handbag."
"I can acknowledge that without making statements I believe are false."
"Harrison is going to hate you."
My voice trembled. "That is his choice to make."
Sloan snatched the page from my hand. "You'll end up alone in this house."
I looked toward the piano. "I was alone after Daniel died. It was painful, but it never made me dishonest."
She left. I waited until the door closed, then called June. "Can you come for supper?"
May you like
"I'll bring bread," she answered.
And somehow those four words kept me from falling apart.
