Chapter 3 - The Photograph on the Shelf
I insisted on going to Fishtown myself. Cedric objected, and I reminded him that I wasn't a prisoner he could command. Finally, Tomaso arranged transportation and agreed that I could bring Meera and an independent attorney.
My apartment door had been damaged. Books lay across the floor. The photograph of Isabella and Nico was missing from its place beside the window.
Meera took my hand.
“Anna, we should report this.”
“We will.”
The responding officers documented the damage. My attorney, Elena Ruiz, advised me not to disturb the scene. She also demanded an explanation from Cedric's representatives for why private security had reached the building before the police.
Only after the officers finished did I notice the pale rectangle on the shelf where the frame had rested for fifteen years.
Why would someone steal an ordinary family photograph?
Back at Meera's apartment, I found an old phone picture of the frame. Magnifying it didn't reveal much, except that the wooden backing had been repaired with a narrow brass strip.
I remembered my mother reinforcing two matching frames a week before the fire.
“She told me not to throw it away,” I said.
Elena asked whether Isabella had worked at the waterfront warehouse.
“She kept the company's shipping accounts.”
“Then somebody may believe the frame contains something she saved.”
Cedric called that evening. I let Elena put him on speaker.
“Anna, Bellini's people are searching for an item that survived the fire.”
“The picture?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me this yesterday?”
His silence was answer enough.
May you like
Then he spoke.
“Because the photograph may also be the last proof that your brother didn't die where everyone thinks he did.”
