Chapter 9 - THE MAN IN THE FAMILY PHOTO
Rachel Cross lived in a quiet neighborhood forty minutes outside the city.
When Naomi entered the house, Rachel was sitting at the kitchen table with a police officer.
She was thirty-nine, with Julian’s dark eyes and Richard Cross’s stubborn jaw.
A faint scar disappeared beneath her hairline.
She looked at Julian.
“You weren’t supposed to come here.”
He crossed the room and hugged her.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Rachel pulled back.
“You look terrible.”
“Glass.”
“What?”
“Long story.”
Rachel noticed Naomi.
“You’re the maid.”
Naomi raised an eyebrow.
Rachel smiled faintly.
“I saw the gala video online before it disappeared.”
Julian sighed.
“Of course you did.”
Rachel looked at Naomi.
“You caught Vanessa’s leg.”
“Yes.”
“I like you already.”
Even Marcus laughed.
The humor didn’t last.
Rachel placed the photograph on the table.
It showed her wrecked car being lifted from the ravine.
On the back, written in black marker:
YOU SURVIVED ONCE.
Naomi put on gloves.
“Who knew where you lived?”
“Half the family.”
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Trevor?”
“Probably.”
“Your father?”
Rachel glanced at Julian.
“Obviously.”
Naomi studied her.
“What do you remember from the crash?”
Rachel’s expression hardened.
“More than I used to.”
Julian sat beside her.
“You told me you didn’t remember anything.”
“I told you that because every time I mentioned Vanessa, you defended her.”
The words hit.
Julian looked down.
Rachel continued.
“I remembered Trevor following me.”
“What else?”
“I remembered another car.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“What car?”
“Dark sedan.”
“Did you see the driver?”
“No.”
“Passenger?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Maybe.”
Julian stared at her.
“Maybe?”
“I had flashes after physical therapy. Doctors told me memories after trauma can be unreliable.”
“What did you see?”
Rachel stood and walked toward a cabinet.
She pulled out an old family photograph.
Richard Cross stood in the center beside Julian and Rachel.
Behind them was another man.
Gray hair.
Glasses.
Older.
Naomi pointed.
“Who is that?”
Rachel answered.
“Gordon Pike.”
Julian stiffened.
“Our father’s former attorney.”
“Former?”
“He retired after my crash.”
Naomi looked at Rachel.
“You think he was in the second car?”
“I think I saw his face.”
Marcus asked, “Why would your father’s attorney follow you?”
Rachel gave a bitter laugh.
“That’s what I wanted to ask Dad.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Everyone waited.
Rachel looked at her brother.
“He told me Gordon had been in another state that night.”
Julian nodded slowly.
“That sounds like an answer.”
“It did.”
Rachel slid another sheet of paper across the table.
“Until yesterday.”
It was a hotel receipt.
City center.
Dated the night of Rachel’s crash.
Guest name:
Gordon Pike.
Naomi read it twice.
Julian whispered, “Where did you get this?”
“Someone mailed it to me.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“Who?”
“No return address.”
Marcus picked it up.
“Why didn’t you call us?”
“I didn’t know there was an investigation.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Naomi studied the document.
If Gordon Pike had been in the city, Richard’s alibi for him was false.
That still didn’t prove murder.
But it proved someone had lied.
Naomi turned the receipt over.
Blank.
Then Rachel said, “There’s something else.”
She walked toward the hallway and returned carrying a small wooden box.
“My mother gave this to me before she died.”
Julian looked confused.
“I’ve never seen that.”
“She told me not to open the bottom unless Dad ever became someone I didn’t recognize.”
Rachel pressed a hidden latch.
A false panel popped free.
Inside sat a small USB drive.
Julian stared at it.
“What is that?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Naomi looked at the drive.
Richard Cross’s wife had died eleven years earlier.
Long before Vanessa.
Long before Rachel’s crash.
Whatever was on that drive had been hidden for more than a decade.
Marcus brought out his laptop.
Rachel touched his hand.
“Wait.”
They looked at her.
She swallowed.
“My mother was terrified of my father before she died.”
Julian went completely still.
May you like
And then Marcus plugged in the drive.
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