Chapter 5 - THE PHOTOGRAPHER WITHOUT A FACE
Marlo found Anna Mercer's website that evening.
The photographs were extraordinary.
Empty streets after rain.
Hands resting on hospital beds.
Children looking through windows.
Elderly couples dancing in kitchens.
Nothing glamorous.
Nothing staged.
Every image seemed to ask the viewer to look longer.
Marlo understood immediately why her mother had loved Celeste.
Then she found the exhibition announcement.
THE UNSEEN — A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION BY ANNA MERCER
Opening night.
Voss Grand.
Six weeks away.
Sponsored by the Voss Foundation.
Marlo stared.
Why would Celeste allow her family's foundation to sponsor her work?
Unless they didn't know who she was.
Marlo emailed Anna.
No response.
She called the gallery.
The assistant said Anna wasn't accepting interviews.
She sent photographs of Ruth's bakery.
Still nothing.
Then, three days later, an envelope arrived.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Ruth standing behind the bakery counter.
Laughing.
Her face bright.
Alive.
On the back were four words.
I REMEMBER HER TOO.
Marlo sat down.
She stared at the photograph until tears blurred the image.
Then she noticed a second message.
Written in tiny letters beneath the date.
COME ALONE. MIDNIGHT. OLD NEON MUSEUM.
Marlo arrived at the museum just before midnight.
The old signs stood like ghosts.
Broken letters.
Faded colors.
Memories of a city that had repeatedly demolished itself to become something new.
A woman waited beneath a rusted sign.
She wore a black coat.
Her face was uncovered.
Marlo stopped.
The patches on her skin were visible beneath the moonlight.
Celeste Voss.
Anna Mercer.
The woman smiled sadly.
“You look like Ruth.”
Marlo's throat tightened.
“You knew my mother.”
Celeste nodded.
“She saved my life.”
Marlo stepped closer.
“Then why didn't you come to her funeral?”
Celeste's face crumpled.
“I was afraid.”
“Of Sterling?”
“Of what he represented.”
Marlo stared.
“Your brother says he wants to find you.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“He wants to control the story.”
“Maybe.”
Celeste looked at her.
“You don't believe him?”
“I don't trust him.”
“Good.”
They sat on a bench beneath an old casino sign.
Celeste told Marlo about growing up in the Voss mansion.
The makeup artists.
The private doctors.
The photographs that were never taken.
The parties she wasn't allowed to attend.
The tutors who were instructed never to mention her appearance.
“I thought something was wrong with me,” Celeste whispered.
Marlo shook her head.
“There wasn't.”
Celeste smiled sadly.
“Ruth was the first person who said that.”
She looked down.
“She made me take off my makeup in the bakery kitchen.”
Marlo stared.
“Why?”
“Because I was crying.”
Celeste laughed softly.
“She handed me a warm roll and said, 'Honey, your skin isn't the problem. The people who taught you to hate it are.'”
Marlo began crying.
That sounded exactly like her mother.
Celeste explained that she'd spent years collecting evidence against the Voss family.
Not just about her own confinement.
About the destruction of Ruth's bakery.
The false fraud accusations.
The manipulated loans.
The coordinated online attacks.
The pressure placed on suppliers.
Marlo stared.
“You have proof?”
Celeste nodded.
“Enough to expose them.”
“Then why wait?”
Celeste looked toward the distant lights.
“Because Sterling isn't the only one involved.”
Marlo frowned.
“Who else?”
Celeste hesitated.
“The board.”
“Voss Empire's board?”
“Yes.”
“They've been hiding what happened to me for years.”
Marlo stared.
“And the exhibition?”
Celeste smiled faintly.
“It's not just an exhibition.”
“What is it?”
“A confession.”
Before leaving, Celeste took Marlo's hand.
“I need your help.”
“With what?”
“Photographs.”
Marlo frowned.
“Of what?”
“Everything your mother lost.”
Marlo looked down.
“The bakery is gone.”
Celeste nodded.
“But the people remember.”
She squeezed Marlo's hand.
“Help me show them.”
Marlo thought about Ruth.
About the empty street.
About the fourteen people at her funeral.
Then she nodded.
“Yes.”
Celeste smiled.
“Good.”
She turned to leave.
Then stopped.
“One more thing.”
Marlo looked up.
“Sterling can't know we're working together.”
“Why?”
May you like
Celeste's expression darkened.
“Because someone inside his company is still trying to erase me.”
