Chapter 6 - THE PHOTO FROM DINNER
Rachel sent the photographs within minutes.
There were twenty-three of them.
Wine glasses.
The dining table.
Richard carving roast beef.
Denise laughing beside the fireplace.
Judith standing near the kitchen island.
In six separate photographs, both of Judith’s forearms were visible.
No scratches.
No redness.
Nothing.
The timestamps placed the final photograph less than twelve minutes before I went downstairs.
Detective Ortiz stared at the images.
“That helps.”
“Helps?”
“It means the marks were likely created later.”
I looked toward the ceiling.
Judith had shoved me down a staircase.
Then she had apparently injured herself to become the victim.
The level of planning frightened me more than her temper ever had.
Rachel called.
Her voice shook.
“Nora, I should have spoken last night.”
“You’re speaking now.”
“I saw her follow you.”
My heart stopped.
“Did you see the shove?”
A long silence followed.
“I saw part of it.”
“What does that mean?”
“I was getting up to carry plates into the kitchen.”
“The basement doorway was directly in front of me.”
“I saw Judith behind you.”
“Then her arm moved.”
Rachel inhaled sharply.
“And then you disappeared.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Her voice cracked.
“Because Graham looked at all of us and said, ‘Nobody make this worse.’”
I closed my eyes.
“He said that?”
“Before he even came downstairs to help you.”
That hurt more than I expected.
Before Graham checked whether I could breathe, he had already begun controlling the story.
Rachel continued.
“Uncle Martin saw more than I did.”
“Has he spoken to police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Judith helped pay for his business years ago.”
There it was again.
Money.
Loyalty.
Fear.
A family built on debts nobody was allowed to forget.
Detective Ortiz arranged to interview Rachel in person.
Before hanging up, Rachel whispered something.
“There’s another thing you need to know.”
“What?”
“Judith called Graham before dinner.”
“She was angry because she thought you were going to make him move away.”
My chest tightened.
Graham and I had discussed relocating to Denver for his job.
We had not told Judith yet.
“How did she know?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Graham told her.”
I stared at the empty ring finger on my hand.
The move had been my hope.
A chance to finally create distance.
A chance to stop spending every holiday negotiating with Judith.
Graham had promised me we would tell her together.
May you like
Instead, he warned her before dinner.
And now I had to wonder whether Sunday’s confrontation had been spontaneous at all.
