I read the stranger's comment again.
Ask Madison what she stole.
Chloe sat beside me with her hands clasped tightly together.
“That photograph was on my old laptop,” she said.
“Where is the laptop?”
“I don't have it anymore.”
“When did you stop having it?”
She looked at me.
“After my mother died.”
The room seemed suddenly smaller.
I opened Harper's post again.
The photograph had been cropped, but I could still see the corner of the hospital window behind Elaine.
Chloe swallowed.
“I kept that picture private.”
“Who knew about it?”
“My mother. Me. Maybe my aunt.”
“Not Madison?”
“No.”
I called my cousin.
She answered immediately.
“Daniel?”
“Where is Harper?”
“At home.”
“Did she tell you where she got that photograph?”
There was a pause.
“Madison was with her.”
“Put Madison on the phone.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“She left.”
I looked at Chloe.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
The call ended.
Ten minutes later, another message appeared.
A location.
Nothing else.
We drove there.
Madison was waiting in a grocery-store parking lot with her arms folded across her chest.
When she saw us, she looked frightened.
Chloe got out of the car.
“Did you give Harper that photograph?”
Madison shook her head.
“No.”
“Then where did she get it?”
Madison looked at me.
“Can we talk somewhere private?”
We moved into the corner of a nearly empty café.
Madison sat across from us.
“I didn't steal the photograph.”
Chloe's voice was barely audible.
“Then what did you steal?”
Madison looked down.
“A laptop.”
Chloe went completely still.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“Why?”
Madison rubbed her palms together.
“I was angry.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I was angry at Harper.”
Chloe stared at her.
Madison continued.
“She asked me to help her get something from your old room.”
“What?”
“Your laptop.”
Chloe's face changed.
“What did she want?”
“I didn't know.”
“Madison.”
She closed her eyes.
“I found it.”
“And?”
“I copied some files.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Harper told me there was something embarrassing on it.”
Chloe whispered, “There wasn't.”
“I know that now.”
“What did you copy?”
Madison hesitated.
“Photographs.”
“Which photographs?”
“The ones from the hospital.”
Chloe looked away.
Her eyes filled.
I reached for her hand.
Madison's voice became smaller.
“I didn't understand what they were at first.”
“You didn't understand that a dying woman's photograph was private?”
“I was stupid.”
“You were cruel.”
“I know.”
She pulled her phone from her bag.
“I still have the old drive.”
Chloe stared.
“Why?”
“Because I couldn't bring myself to delete it.”
Madison unlocked the phone.
“I never sent Harper the files.”
“Then how did she get them?”
“I don't know.”
A new possibility occurred to me.
“Who else had access?”
Madison's face changed.
“Your father.”
I stared at her.
“My father?”
“After your mother moved some things into storage, your dad helped clean out the upstairs room.”
Chloe shook her head.
“No.”
Madison nodded slowly.
“He found the drive.”
“When?”
“About two years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was scared.”
“Of who?”
Madison looked toward the window.
“Your mother.”
That answer landed heavily.
I leaned forward.
“What does my mother have to do with it?”
Madison shook her head.
“I don't know everything.”
“Tell me what you know.”
She took a breath.
“Your mother hated Elaine.”
Chloe's expression hardened.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I heard them arguing once.”
“About what?”
Madison hesitated.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Chloe looked at me.
I felt something inside my chest tighten.
“My father and Elaine?”
Madison shook her head quickly.
“Not like that.”
“Then what?”
“She accused Elaine of trying to take him away.”
Chloe looked stunned.
“My mother was dying.”
“I know.”
“She barely had the strength to leave the hospital.”
“I know.”
“Why would Mom say that?”
Madison looked at the table.
“Because she believed Elaine had been hiding something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
She stood.
“I've told you what I know.”
“No.”
I caught her before she could leave.
“You said there was something else.”
Madison's eyes filled.
“There was a letter.”
“What letter?”
“One Elaine wrote to your father.”
Chloe stopped breathing.
“Where is it?”
Madison shook her head.
“I don't have it.”
“Who does?”
“I think your mother.”
That night, Chloe barely slept.
I sat beside the hotel window while she lay facing the wall.
Around two in the morning, she finally spoke.
“My mother never hated your father.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She turned toward me.
“You don't.”
“What do you mean?”
“She loved him.”
The words hung there.
I waited.
“She told me once that he had been the only person who believed her when everyone else thought she was being dramatic about her illness.”
I frowned.
“Then why would my mother accuse her?”
“I don't know.”
Chloe sat up.
“But there was something she never told me.”
“What?”
“She made me promise not to look through her old things.”
“Why?”
“She said some memories were better left alone.”
I felt the shape of the story changing again.
The ruined dress.
The stolen photograph.
The missing laptop.
The letter.
And now Elaine's secret.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Madison.
I found the letter.
My pulse jumped.
Another message arrived immediately.
But you need to know something before you read it.
I called her.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Send me the letter.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother knows I found it.”
I sat upright.
“How?”
“She called me ten minutes ago.”
“What did she say?”
Madison's voice shook.
“She told me to stop asking questions.”
Chloe was already standing beside me.
I asked, “Where is the letter now?”
Madison whispered, “With Lucas.”
I knew the name.
Lucas was an old family friend who had worked with my father for years.
“Why does Lucas have it?”
“I don't know.”
“Madison.”
She began crying.
“I think Lucas knows what happened between Elaine and your father.”
The line went silent.
Then Madison said one more thing.
“And Daniel?”
“Yes?”
“Your mother isn't afraid of the photograph.”
I waited.
“She is afraid of what you'll learn if you find the letter.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 4: My Mother Gave Me a Warning About My Own Marriage, but the Question She Asked Chloe Revealed Something Far More Dangerous
Five Days Before the Wedding, One Cruel Joke Turned a Family Celebration Into Something None of Us Could Take Back
Part 3 of 20
