Chapter 6 — The Photograph Wasn't What It Seemed
Chapter 6 — The Photograph Wasn't What It Seemed
Detective Bennett placed the photograph face down on the counter.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The ventilator continued pushing air into my lungs.
Caleb stared at the evidence sleeve.
My mother stared at Detective Bennett.
Daniel stared at the floor.
Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
"You're telling me someone was outside our house?"
Detective Bennett remained careful.
"I'm telling you this photograph appears to have been taken from outside."
"When?"
"We don't know yet."
Daniel pointed toward the photograph.
"You just said it was from last night."
"I said it appears to show last night's dinner."
"That's not the same thing."
My mother looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
Detective Bennett picked up the photograph again.
"It means we verify evidence before deciding what it means."
"Especially evidence that looks this dramatic."
Daniel slowly nodded.
"So the message could be fake?"
"It could be."
"Or the photograph could have been staged."
"Or the writing could have been added later."
"We don't know."
Caleb stepped closer.
"Can I see it?"
"No."
Detective Bennett slid it back into her folder.
"You're twelve."
"Trust me."
"You don't need that image in your head."
Caleb looked toward me instead.
My eyes were closed again.
The medication kept pulling me between awareness and darkness.
But voices still reached me.
Some clearly.
Some as distant echoes.
Ray.
Photograph.
Bottle.
Money.
Each word drifted through my mind like something floating beneath dark water.
Then another memory surfaced.
A camera flash.
Not outside the dining room.
Inside.
Christmas.
Two years earlier.
The same table.
The same chairs.
The same curtains.
I tried to open my eyes.
Nothing happened.
My body refused to cooperate.
Inside my head, however, the memory sharpened.
Christmas dinner.
Caleb wearing reindeer antlers.
Daniel carving a turkey.
Mom laughing.
Uncle Ray taking pictures.
One picture from near the kitchen window.
Could the photograph have been old?
My heart rate began climbing.
A nurse noticed immediately.
"She's reacting again."
Daniel moved beside me.
"Emma?"
My eyelids fluttered.
"Hey."
"It's okay."
"You're safe."
My finger moved against the blanket.
Daniel looked toward the nurse.
"She's trying to tell us something."
The nurse brought the communication board back.
Detective Bennett stepped closer.
"Emma, if you can hear me, we'll go slowly."
My eyes opened halfway.
The room looked distorted.
But I could see the board.
The nurse began pointing.
It took nearly three minutes.
Then the first word appeared.
CHRISTMAS.
My mother frowned.
"Christmas?"
The nurse continued.
PHOTO.
Daniel looked at Detective Bennett.
"What is she saying?"
Detective Bennett leaned closer to me.
"Emma, are you saying you've seen that photograph before?"
I blinked once.
Yes.
My mother's mouth opened.
"Where?"
The board came back.
OLD.
PHOTO.
My mother suddenly stood.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at her.
"I know that picture."
Daniel stared.
"You do?"
She nodded slowly.
"Ray took it."
"When?"
"Christmas."
"Two years ago."
Detective Bennett immediately pulled the photograph from the folder.
She studied it again.
"You're certain?"
"Look at the table."
Mom pointed through the plastic sleeve.
"That scratch wasn't there last night."
Daniel leaned closer.
She was right.
A long white scratch ran along one corner of the dining table.
Daniel had refinished it the previous summer.
The photograph couldn't have been taken yesterday.
Detective Bennett's expression became unreadable.
"Then someone wanted us to think it was."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"Why?"
"That's what I intend to find out."
She stepped into the hallway and made a call.
For the first time since waking in the ICU, I felt something close to relief.
The photograph was misleading.
Maybe the message was too.
Maybe everything wasn't as simple as Ray deciding to hurt me.
But that thought brought another question.
If the photograph was old...
Who had written the message on it?
And why leave it somewhere investigators would obviously find it?
The ICU doctor entered before anyone could answer.
He checked my latest readings.
"Her numbers are improving."
Mom immediately turned.
"How much?"
"Enough that I'm cautiously optimistic."
Daniel looked toward the ventilator.
"Can you take the tube out?"
"Not yet."
"When?"
"If she continues improving, we can begin reducing the ventilator support later today."
Caleb smiled for the first time.
"So she can breathe by herself?"
"That's what we're going to find out."
My mother walked closer.
She didn't touch me immediately.
Instead, she stopped beside the bed.
"Emma?"
I looked toward her.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
"I know saying sorry doesn't fix anything."
She swallowed.
"But I'm going to keep saying it until you're tired of hearing me."
Daniel glanced away.
Caleb gave the smallest smile.
I couldn't smile back.
The tube made everything uncomfortable.
But I moved my fingers.
Mom slowly placed her hand over mine.
I didn't pull away.
Maybe I couldn't.
Maybe I didn't want to.
I wasn't sure yet.
A few hours later, the respiratory therapist began lowering the ventilator support.
Every change made my body feel heavier.
The machine had been doing most of the work.
Now my lungs had to remember how to breathe again.
"Inhale slowly."
I tried.
My chest expanded.
Pain followed.
"Good."
Another breath.
Then another.
"Excellent."
Daniel stood outside the glass.
Caleb had gone downstairs with a nurse to get breakfast.
Mom remained beside the bed.
"You can do this."
I wanted to believe her.
My oxygen level remained steady.
Ninety-one.
Ninety-two.
Ninety-three.
The respiratory therapist smiled.
"That's what we want."
The doctor entered.
He watched for another minute.
Then nodded.
"Let's proceed."
Several people gathered around me.
The doctor explained what would happen.
I understood maybe half of it.
All I cared about was getting the tube out.
Seconds later, it was over.
I coughed violently.
My throat burned.
A nurse placed oxygen beneath my nose.
"Breathe slowly."
I inhaled.
For the first time since the kitchen...
The breath belonged to me.
It hurt.
But it was mine.
Mom began crying again.
Daniel stepped into the room.
"Welcome back."
My voice was almost nonexistent.
"Water."
The nurse smiled.
"Not yet."
I closed my eyes in frustration.
Daniel laughed softly.
"That's Emma."
The moment almost felt normal.
Almost.
Then Detective Bennett returned.
She wasn't alone.
A uniformed officer followed her.
Daniel immediately noticed their expressions.
"What happened?"
Detective Bennett looked toward me.
"Emma, I'm glad you're awake."
My throat hurt too badly for a real answer.
I whispered,
"Ray?"
The detective hesitated.
That hesitation frightened me.
"Still missing."
Mom's shoulders dropped.
"But we learned something about the photograph."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What?"
"The handwriting on the back doesn't appear to match Ray's."
Mom stared at her.
"Whose is it?"
"We don't know."
The detective pulled out another evidence photograph.
This one showed Ray's apartment kitchen.
The table.
The chair.
The place where the original photograph had supposedly been found.
Except something was wrong.
The kitchen window was broken.
Drawers had been pulled open.
Papers covered the floor.
Daniel studied the image.
"Someone searched his apartment."
"That's what it looks like."
My mother whispered,
"Before the police got there?"
Detective Bennett nodded.
"And there's more."
She turned toward me.
"Emma, we checked Ray's phone records."
My heartbeat accelerated.
"He called you yesterday."
I frowned.
I didn't remember that.
"Three times."
My mother looked at me.
"Did you answer?"
I shook my head.
Detective Bennett continued.
"The final call was at 5:42 p.m."
"About forty minutes before dinner."
I whispered,
"Voicemail?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to hear it?"
Daniel immediately objected.
"Is that necessary?"
I looked at the detective.
Then nodded.
She took out her phone.
The recording began.
Static filled the room.
Then Ray's voice.
But it wasn't the sarcastic, confident voice I knew.
He sounded frightened.
Breathless.
"Emma, listen to me."
A pause.
"If you haven't taken your vitamins today, don't."
My mother grabbed Daniel's arm.
The recording continued.
"I made a mistake."
"Someone's been asking about the money."
Another pause.
Then Ray whispered something that made every person in the room freeze.
"If anything happens to me, don't trust the story they're going to tell you."
A noise sounded in the background.
Ray stopped speaking.
Then his voice returned.
Much quieter.
"They know about the account."
The recording ended.
No one moved.
I stared at Detective Bennett.
My throat burned as I forced out three words.
"What... does... that mean?"
She locked the phone.
"We don't know."
Then the uniformed officer beside her spoke for the first time.
"But twenty minutes ago, we found Ray."
Mom gasped.
"Where?"
The officer looked toward Detective Bennett.
She answered.
"At a motel outside Cedar Rapids."
Daniel exhaled.
"Is he alive?"
Detective Bennett nodded.
"He is."
Relief flashed across Mom's face.
Then disappeared when she saw the detective wasn't smiling.
"Then bring him here."
"We can't."
"Why not?"
Detective Bennett's voice remained calm.
"Because Ray says he's afraid to come back."
Daniel frowned.
"Afraid of who?"
The detective looked directly at me.
"That's the problem."
"He won't tell us."
I swallowed painfully.
Detective Bennett continued.
"But he gave officers one name."
My mother stepped forward.
"Whose?"
The detective hesitated.
Then she said it.
And for the first time since I woke up...
Daniel's face went completely white.
Because the name Ray had given the police wasn't a stranger.
It was someone who had been inside our house almost every week for years.
Someone we trusted.
Someone who knew about my college money.
May you like
And someone who had been asking my mother questions about me for months.
End of Chapter 6
