The Lies That Save Us (The Broken Heart Series) by JL Redington Page A

hadn’t seen before. 
    It was almost eleven when they shut the book and leaned back on the couch.  They had found nothing.
    “It’s in there, Cayman, I know it is.  One more time, come on.  We can go through it one more time.”
    Cayman sat up, cracked his neck and stretched.  “Let’s do it.”
    They turned the pages slowly, mentioning items in each picture they had already discovered, but hoping it might stir some memory in Alexa.  They came to the last page and  Alexa was about to close the book when she looked back at the pages lying neatly on top of each other.
    “What’s this?” she muttered.
    Cayman sat up and looked at the album.
    “I see that.”  He said with interest.  “What is it?”
    A tiny corner of what looked to be another photo was sticking out from between two pictures in a pocket toward the front of the album.  She quickly turned to the page and pulled on the corner.  Whatever it was, was stuck between the two photos and wouldn’t budge.  She pulled the group of three out of the pocket and gingerly tried to separate the middle one from the ‘picture sandwich’, being careful not to rip any of the three pictures involved. 
    “Can I try?” Cayman took the pictures and began to breathe between the two.  “Sometimes warm moist air can loosen a photo without damaging the picture.” 
    Sure enough, in a few minutes the two outer photos came loose revealing a smiling picture of Alexa.  It was taken in that same spot in the desert and Alexa gasped.
    “I always wondered where that picture went.”  Her mind went back to the day the photo was taken and she could clearly hear her dad’s voice.
    “Let me take one of you, Alexa.  Stand over there, a little to the left.  That’s right.  Now give me that pretty smile…oh come on…prettier than that…”
    “Does it mean anything to you?”  Alexa was snapped out of her reverie by Cayman’s voice.
    “I had just taken that picture of him, the one where he’s looking past me.  He motioned for  me to hand him the camera.  He said he wanted to take a picture of me.  I remember this.  I must have asked him a hundred times where this picture went.  He’d just shrug and say he didn’t know.”
    “Who se car is that,” asked Cayman.
    “What car?” Alexa took the photo from Cayman and looked closer at it.  “I didn’t notice that car.  Daddy kept asking me to move more to the left.  He was such a perfectionist; I thought he was just trying to center me in the picture.  I have no idea who that is, or why he would want it in there. ”
    Far in the background there was a man standing outside of a sedan talking to the driver, but facing the camera.  It was so far away Alexa couldn’t make out who the man was, and definitely couldn’t see the driver.  It made sense that this was the photo everyone was after, but why?  To Alexa it was just a guy leaning against a car, having a conversation.
    Cayman pulled a magnifying glass out of his duffle.
    “You always carry a magnifying glass with you?” she giggled.  “That’s a bit weird, don’t you think?”
    Cayman was pouring over the photo, scrutinizing the automobile.  “Oh, you laugh, but I’m prepared.”  He was joking, but Alexa could see the concentration on his face.
    “The car is sitting with its rear end toward the camera.  I think if we could get this enlarged, we might be able to read the license plate and that may give us more information.”
    “Wow.  Sounds like you’ve done this a few times.”  Alexa was studying his face.
    “My mom and dad have tons of old photos we found up in the attic back home.  They had to look at each one of them and remember ‘who was who at the zoo’, as they were fond of saying.  We came up empty on some of them, but Mom and Dad were able to identify a lot of relatives using this very method.  It works.”  Cayman was still studying the photo and though he was trying to act nonchalant, he was really