Chapter 4 - THE CAMERA IN THE MIRROR
I carried the photograph to Robert with hands that would not stop shaking.
He looked at it once and called Miriam.
“Preserve the image,” she instructed. “Do not touch the original more than necessary.”
I stood by the window, trying to understand why a camera would be aimed at a guest bathroom.
Fallon had always been obsessed with her spotless house.
Now I wondered whether she had been obsessed with controlling everything that happened inside it.
“Do you think Wade knew?” I asked.
Robert did not answer quickly.
“I don't know.”
That answer was harder than an accusation.
The next morning I drove to my old friend Ruth's house.
Ruth and I had worked together in a hospital laundry room for eleven years.
She knew the way my hands went numb in cold weather and the way I defended my son even when she warned me not to.
When I showed her the photograph, she covered her mouth.
“Edna, that's not only cruel. That's a threat.”
“I don't want the police at Wade's door.”
“You have spent your whole life standing in front of that door so nothing bad could reach him,” Ruth replied.
“Maybe he needs to answer it himself.”
We sat without speaking.
Then Ruth asked a question that made me think.
“How did they get a picture of you in that bathroom?”
“The camera.”
“Who installed it?”
I had no answer.
At noon Fallon arrived at my house, wearing pearl earrings and the bright smile she used at charity dinners.
I refused to let her inside.
“Edna, I came to apologize,” she said.
“For which part?”
She blinked.
“Let's not be dramatic.”
I showed her a copy of the photograph.
The smile disappeared.
“Where did you get that?”
“It came in the mail.”
She glanced toward the driveway as if expecting someone.
Then she leaned closer.
“You have no idea what you've started.”
“Tell me.”
“Your husband is not who you think he is.”
I had heard that before.
But Fallon whispered the next words with genuine fear.
“And if he uncovers the records, Wade will be the least of your problems.”
Before I could ask what records she meant, she walked away.
A black SUV across the street started its engine and followed her.
I wrote down the license plate.
May you like
For the first time, I wondered if Fallon was threatening me or warning me.
