Chapter 4: The Man in My Mother's Photograph
“David Williams.””
Michael's voice was barely audible.
Denise screamed as if the name itself had struck her.
“Don't say that name!””
I stared at the photograph in my trembling hands. The young man standing beside my mother had dark, thoughtful eyes and a crooked smile. He wore a denim jacket, and one arm rested protectively around Renee's shoulders. My mother looked happier in that photograph than I had ever seen her in any picture.
“Who is David Williams?”” I demanded.
Michael lowered himself into a chair.
“He was my younger brother.””
The room fell silent.
I looked at the photograph again.
“My mother was involved with your brother?””
Michael shook his head slowly.
“They were in love.””
Denise began pacing between the staircase and the living room, dragging her fingers through her hair.
“This is insane. We should never have opened that door.””
Jordan turned toward her.
“Mom, sit down and stop trying to control everyone. Aaliyah deserves the truth.””
Denise pointed at him.
“You don't know what you're asking for!””
“Then explain it!””
She looked at Michael, expecting him to defend her.
He didn't.
Instead, he stared at the photograph with a grief so deep that it made him look decades older.
“David disappeared in 1996,” he said.
“He was twenty-four. He had been working at our family's shipping company, and he discovered financial irregularities in some of our overseas accounts.””
“What kind of irregularities?”” I asked.
“Payments to companies that didn't exist. Missing shipments. Money disappearing from accounts controlled by our mother.””
Eleanor quietly closed the folder.
“Margaret was afraid David would expose her.””
Michael nodded.
“He confronted her two weeks before he disappeared. They had a terrible argument. He told me afterward that he intended to leave the company and start over.””
“Did you help him?”” I asked.
“I tried. I told him to give me a few days to investigate the accounts. But he never came back.””
Michael rubbed his forehead.
“Our mother claimed he'd stolen money and fled the country. The police investigated for a while, but they found nothing. Eventually, everyone assumed he was dead.””
I stared at the photograph.
“And my mother?””
“She never contacted me,” Michael replied.
“I had no idea she was involved with David.””
Denise stopped pacing.
“That isn't true.””
Michael looked up.
“What?””
“You knew they were together.””
His expression hardened.
“I knew David was seeing someone. He told me her name was Renee. I never met her.””
Denise gave a bitter laugh.
“Your mother made sure of that.””
Eleanor stepped forward.
“Margaret told Renee that David had abandoned her. She said he had taken money from the family and left the country. Then she threatened to have Renee arrested if she ever tried to contact the Carters.””
My fingers tightened around the photograph.
“My mother believed he was dead?””
“She believed he'd abandoned her,” Eleanor answered.
“She spent years trying to find him. When you were born, she finally stopped looking because she had to protect you.””
I remembered the nights my mother sat beside the kitchen window, staring at the empty street long after I had gone to bed. I used to think she was worried about bills or work.
Now I wondered whether she was waiting for someone who had promised to come home.
“Did David know about me?”” I whispered.
Nobody answered.
I looked at Michael.
“Did he know he had a daughter?””
Michael shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Denise suddenly grabbed her handbag.
“I'm leaving.””
Jordan stepped into her path.
“No.””
“Move.””
“Not until you tell us what you know about David.””
“I've told you everything!””
“You haven't told us anything except what you've been forced to admit.””
Denise slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Jordan slowly turned his face back toward her.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he spoke quietly.
“You just hit your own son because you're afraid he'll discover something.””
Denise's eyes filled with tears.
“I did everything for this family.””
“Then why does everyone in this family seem to have suffered because of you?””
She looked at me.
“You think you're innocent in all this? Your mother kept secrets, too. She raised you on lies.””
I flinched, but Michael stood immediately.
“Enough. Renee protected a child. You helped my mother destroy two people's lives.””
Denise's mouth fell open.
“You have no idea what Margaret was capable of.””
“Then tell us.””
She shook her head.
“I can't.””
Eleanor reached into the folder and removed a final sheet of paper.
“You can, Denise. Because I found this in Margaret's private medical records after she died.””
Michael took the paper.
It was a typed statement, dated six months after David's disappearance.
The heading read: *Confidential Family Matter.*
Below it were several lines about a payment made to an unidentified individual.
Michael read the statement once.
Then again.
His hand began to shake.
“What is it?”” Jordan asked.
Michael passed him the page.
Jordan's eyes widened.
The document described a cash payment to a private investigator who had been hired to locate David Williams. The investigator's final report had been received three months after David disappeared.
The conclusion was handwritten in the margin.
Subject located. Prevented from contacting family. Situation resolved.
I stared at the words.
“Prevented from contacting family? What does that mean?””
Michael shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Denise sank onto the bottom stair.
“I thought she had taken care of it.””
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Michael turned slowly.
“Taken care of what?””
Denise covered her mouth.
Jordan stepped toward her.
“Mom, what did Grandma do to Uncle David?””
“I don't know where he is!”” Denise cried.
“I swear to God, I don't know!””
“Then what did you mean?””
She began sobbing.
“I was told he would never come back. That's all I knew.””
Michael crouched in front of her.
“Who told you?””
Denise stared at him through her tears.
“Your mother.””
Michael recoiled.
For a moment, the only sound was the rain against the windows.
Then Eleanor spoke.
“There's something else. The investigator who wrote that report was still alive when I retired. His name was Arthur Bell.””
Michael stood.
“Where is he now?””
“I don't know. But I kept his business card.””
She reached into her purse and placed a faded card on the table.
A phone number was written on the back in blue ink.
Jordan picked it up.
“We're calling him.””
Denise suddenly lunged for the card.
Jordan pulled it away.
“Stop!””
“You don't understand!”” she screamed.
“If you contact that man, you will destroy what's left of this family!””
Michael looked at his wife with cold disbelief.
“Perhaps this family should have been destroyed thirty years ago.””
Jordan dialed the number.
It rang four times.
A man's rough voice finally answered.
“Bell.””
Jordan put the phone on speaker.
“My name is Jordan Carter. I'm calling about David Williams, who disappeared in 1996.””
Silence.
Then a sharp breath.
“Who gave you this number?””
“Eleanor Price. We have a report you wrote for my grandmother.””
Another long silence followed.
Finally, Arthur Bell spoke.
“Listen to me carefully. If you have that report, burn it. Forget the name David Williams. And whatever you do, don't go looking for him.””
Michael stepped closer to the phone.
“Why?””
The old investigator's voice dropped to a whisper.
“Because the man you're looking for didn't disappear.””
May you like
A pause.
“He was buried under another name.””
