Chapter 2 — Robert Thought It Was a Copy
Robert sat down.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked toward the photograph.
“I thought it was the copy.”
Rachel frowned.
“What copy?”
Robert looked embarrassed.
There were supposed to be two versions of the photograph on the dining-room table.
The original.
And a high-quality reproduction Robert had printed the day before.
He had been working on a surprise.
Rachel’s mother, Helen, was turning seventy the following weekend.
Robert planned to create a large framed family portrait for her.
The old photograph was supposed to be restored digitally.
Cleaned.
Sharpened.
Then enlarged.
Robert had printed a temporary copy so he could mark areas for the restoration shop.
Scratches.
Faded corners.
Places he wanted repaired.
“That’s why you had the marker?” Rachel asked.
Robert nodded.
He thought he was drawing a line across the photocopy to show where the image needed cropping.
Instead…
he picked up the original.
“The paper looked almost identical.”
Rachel stared at him.
“So it was an accident.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you say that?”
Robert lowered his eyes.
Because the second the marker touched the photograph, he panicked.
He tried wiping it.
The ink spread.
Then he heard Ava returning.
She was carrying the same box of markers.
Robert saw the pink marker cap on the table.
And in one terrible moment…
an excuse appeared.
Ava had been coloring.
The photograph was marked.
If Robert said nothing, maybe everyone would assume she did it.
“You didn’t just let us assume,” Rachel said.
Robert looked toward her.
“What?”
“You accused her directly.”
Robert went silent.
Rachel continued.
“You held up the photo and demanded that she explain herself.”
Ava looked toward Robert.
That was the part he could not reduce to panic.
The marker stroke was accidental.
The accusation was not.