Chapter 3 - THE PHOTOGRAPH IN THE BLACK ENVELOPE
The funeral was held the following morning.
My old friend Rebecca Ellis had died after a sudden illness.
We'd met during college.
She had been one of the few people who knew how unhappy my marriage had become.
When I left Chicago, she helped me find an apartment in Vermont.
She never asked me to explain more than I wanted.
Now she was gone.
I stood beside her grave with Oliver's small hand in mine.
He wore a navy sweater and carried a drawing he'd made for Rebecca's daughter.
Alexander remained at a distance.
He didn't approach until the service ended.
Then he placed a single white rose beside the grave.
I watched him.
“Did you know Rebecca?”
He nodded.
“She contacted me last month.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Alexander looked toward Oliver.
“Not here.”
I almost laughed.
That phrase again.
But something in his expression stopped me.
Later, Rebecca's husband handed me a black envelope.
“She wanted you to have this.”
My name was written across the front.
Inside was a photograph.
Alexander.
Sophia Reynolds.
Graham Voss.
The three of them stood outside a private medical clinic.
The date printed in the corner was five years earlier.
Two days before our anniversary.
My breath caught.
Behind the photograph was a handwritten note.
Claire, I wish I'd understood sooner. Sophia wasn't the only person lying to you. Be careful who tells you what happened that night.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
The anniversary dinner.
The photograph outside the restaurant.
Sophia's hand resting on Alexander's chest.
His expression.
The humiliation.
The reason I'd left.
I looked up.
May you like
Alexander stood near the cemetery gates.
And for the first time, I wondered whether the night that destroyed our marriage had been arranged by someone else.
