Don't Say a Word - Barbara Freethy [14]
He started to leave. He was actually going to walk away from her? In fact, he was six feet away before she said, "Wait. Why are you acting like this?"
He hesitated for so long she wasn't sure he would answer. Then he said, "The only reason I'm here is because you bear a striking resemblance to that girl. The necklace and the fact that you have no concrete evidence of where you lived before the age of four are also intriguing. But I promised not to talk to any-one about that photo. I won't break that promise with you unless I know you're committed to finding out the truth about that child."
"Who would have asked you to promise such a thing?"
"Are you in or are you out? Because I tell you nothing unless we have a deal."
She could see the resolve in his eyes. If she said she was out, she'd never see him again, and she'd never know if that picture had anything to do with her. She could research it on her own, but she wouldn't know where to Start. Alex would have more contacts, more information. Oh, what the hell. It wasn't like she was selling her soul. She drew in a breath, praying she wouldn't regret her decision. "I'm in. Tell me what you know."
He met her gaze head-on. "My father didn't take that picture. I did."
Chapter 3
"What do you mean, you took that photograph?" Julia asked, shocked by his Statement.
"Just what I said. I was with my father on that trip to Moscow."
"But you're young. You must have been a little boy then."
"I was nine."
"I don't understand." Julia sat down on one of the wooden benches outside the cafe. She could hear the laughter and the music from inside the restaurant, but they sounded like a million miles away.
Alex sat down next to her. "I went to Moscow with my father," he explained. "It was the first and only time he took me with him on one of his assignments. My father was photographing a cultural exchange-an American theater group performing in Moscow. It was 1980. The Cold War was beginning to thaw, and both sides were eager to show that East and West could come together. My father got me a small part in the play so that I could go with him. It's a long story, but bottom line-my parents had separated that year, and this was the only opportunity my dad and I had to spend together. A few days after we arrived, he had a meeting one afternoon in Red Square. I got bored, and I picked up his camera. I wandered away, pretended I was shooting pictures the way I'd seen my father do. That's when I saw the girl at the gates." He paused, his eyes distant, as if he were recalling that moment. "She looked like she was in prison. I moved closer and said something to her, but she answered too softly for me to hear. She was… terrified. So I took her picture."
"I can't believe it. You were actually there? You saw her? You talked to her?" Julia searched his face, wondering if there was any possible way she'd ever seen him before. But she had no memories of her early childhood. She never had. Other people said they could remember events when they were two or three. Why couldn't she?
"After I took her picture," Alex continued, "I heard my father call my name and I ran back to him. I never told him I took the shot. My dad sent his film back to the magazine to be published. It wasn't until the magazine came out a few weeks later with that photo in print that he realized what I'd done. I'd never seen him so furious."
"Why? What did it matter? It turned out to be a famous shot."
Alex's lips tightened and a hard light came into his eyes. "I don't know why he was so upset about it. He wouldn't say, but he made me promise never to tell anyone I took the photo or that I saw the girl. He told me to forget she ever existed. There was fear in his eyes. I don't know if I realized that at the time, but in retrospect I believe he knew something I didn't."
"Like what?" she asked with a bewildered shake of her head. "How could a photo make someone afraid? I don't understand."
"All I can think is that the girl or the background of the picture revealed something that no one was supposed to see."