Chapter 4 - The Photograph From the HallwayMy family had crossed a line that could not be uncrossed.
I called the hospital immediately.
"Security."
"My daughter is in recovery."
I gave her name.
There was a pause.
"Ma'am, are you family?"
"I'm her mother."
"I'll connect you."
A security officer arrived outside Juny's room within minutes.
He checked the hallway.
No one was there.
But the photograph was real.
The angle was unmistakable.
It had been taken from just outside the door.
"Can you identify anyone?"
"No."
"Who knew her room number?"
"My family."
The officer looked at me.
"Any names?"
I gave them.
All of them.
My mother.
My father.
Davina.
Holt.
Even Davina's children.
The officer's expression tightened.
"Do you want additional security?"
"Yes."
"Do you think one of them is responsible?"
"I don't know."
That was the truth.
At this point, I didn't know anything.
Not who had stolen money.
Not who had used my daughter's identity.
Not who had entered the hospital.
And not why my grandmother had spent years preparing for this.
Juny woke up around three.
"Mom?"
"I'm here."
She looked at me.
Then at the security officer standing outside.
"Did something happen?"
I sat beside her.
"Someone took a picture of you."
Her face changed.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
She was quiet.
Then she said:
"Grandma warned me."
I froze.
"What?"
Juny swallowed.
"Grandma Augusta."
"When?"
"Before she died."
"What did she say?"
Juny looked toward the window.
"She said sometimes adults smile when they're scared."
I waited.
"She told me never to tell Aunt Davina about the red room."
My heart stopped.
"What red room?"
Juny frowned.
"The room behind the library."
"There isn't a room there."
"Yes, there is."
"You've been there?"
"When I was little."
"What did you see?"
She hesitated.
"A door."
"And?"
"A safe."
"What was inside?"
"I don't know."
She looked at me.
"Grandma locked it before Aunt Davina found me."
I immediately called Miss Castellano.
"There's a red room."
Silence.
"You found it?"
"No. Juny says she did."
"I thought Augusta destroyed that room."
"Why?"
"Because your mother found it."
I felt sick.
"What was in it?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm protecting Juny."
"From what?"
"The truth."
I stood.
"Tell me everything."
Miss Castellano sighed.
"Your grandfather had another family."
I stared at the wall.
"What?"
"Your mother knew."
"And Grandma?"
"She discovered it after your grandfather died."
"Who was the other family?"
"One daughter."
My head spun.
"Where is she?"
"That is the problem."
"What do you mean?"
"She disappeared."
The hospital room suddenly felt smaller.
"Disappeared?"
"She was twenty-one."
"Did Grandma find her?"
"Eventually."
"Where?"
Miss Castellano went silent.
"Miss Castellano."
"Your grandmother believed someone in your family had arranged for the woman to leave."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
"You do know."
"I have suspicions."
"About my mother?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"Your father."
I sat down.
My father.
The man who told Juny not to milk her pain.
The man who had sat beside the pool while his granddaughter underwent emergency surgery.
My phone buzzed.
This time, it was my father.
Come back to the house. Alone. We need to talk.
A second message followed.
Bring the trust documents.
I did not reply.
Instead, I called the police.
Two officers met me at the house.
My parents were waiting.
My father stood in the kitchen.
"You've gone too far."
I placed the trust documents on the table.
"Someone photographed my daughter in the hospital."
He looked at me.
"I didn't."
"I didn't say you did."
His face changed.
My mother began crying.
Real tears.
"How can you treat us like criminals?"
"Because I don't know who is one."
Davina entered.
She looked exhausted.
Her husband followed.
"We should talk privately," she said.
"No."
"Please."
"Not anymore."
She looked at the police.
"You're calling the police on us?"
"I called them because someone threatened my daughter."
Davina suddenly went pale.
Holt whispered:
"Maybe you should listen to her."
I turned toward him.
"Why?"
He looked away.
My father snapped:
"Enough."
But Holt spoke anyway.
"I saw someone near the hospital."
Everyone turned.
"When?"
"Last night."
"Who?"
Holt swallowed.
"I thought it was your father."
My father stared at him.
"What?"
Holt shook his head.
"No. It wasn't."
He looked at me.
"It was someone wearing Grandma Augusta's old blue coat."
My mother stopped crying.
Her face went completely blank.
Because that coat had disappeared the week Augusta died.
May you like
And only one person knew where she kept the spare key to the red room.
Davina.
Related Stories
