Chapters (54)
- Cover
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Epilogue
- A Note from the Author
- Discussion Questions
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Acclaim for David Rawlings
- Also by David Rawlings
In silence, Simon moved along the wall. Photos of full wineglasses clutched behind backs. A suitcase thrown in the back of a taxi. A balding man in an unbuttoned business shirt slapped by a middle-aged woman in track pants and a San Francisco sweatshirt, a younger woman in a disheveled blouse clutching at his tie.
Whatever he was showing her, Kelly couldn’t see it. “I’m sorry, but how is this honesty?”
Simon lightly traced a photo of a woman jamming cake into her mouth before tweaking the frame to straighten it. “These are the real images of these people, allowing us to see how they truly are. The camera never lies, you know.”
A switch flicked in the deep recesses of Kelly’s memory. She’d heard that before. And recently.
Simon moved past a photo of a man texting with one eye on his sleeping wife and stood in front of a large photograph in a thick, ornate golden frame. She saw an elevated bed next to a bank of machines, cords draping over the pillow, on which slept a young child. Red balloons floated above the pillow, wishing a speedy recovery. The child’s mother, head in hands, leaned on an older man in animated discussion with a nurse.
Kelly gasped.
“I have seen this so many times. The first acknowledgment of truth—and the tightrope it presents.”
Kelly’s mind swirled, threatening to spin out of control. “What is this?”
“We all hide secrets. Sometimes they need to be revealed to nudge us in the direction we should take.”
“This child could be hospitalized for any reason.”
The warmth in Simon’s voice carried the tinge of a harsh edge. “Really, Kelly?”
Kelly stared at the child in the hospital bed and then the mother’s lowered head. Then she jumped as Simon rushed away from her and back to the counter. He reached below it for a thick, dog-eared notebook, a white-and-black-checkered pattern on the cover.
“I can’t give you copies of the photos without the slip your husband would still have. It’s a sacred contract I have with my customers. But if you can get that, it would be my pleasure to produce copies for you. On the spot, if you like.”
But Kelly’s eyes were glued to the child in the hospital. She couldn’t make out the doctor’s name on the sign above the child’s bed, but it might as well have read Dr. Anthony Scott.
Twenty-One
The tiny bell above the door didn’t jingle. With a slight tinkle and then a metallic crunch, it smashed against the freshly painted white of the doorframe as Daniel stormed into the film lab.
Simon stood behind the counter, his hands behind his back, that infuriating smile pasted across his face as he rose on the balls of his feet.