Behind the panel was a thick brown envelope.
Three years of dust had settled along its edges.
My husband’s handwriting covered the front.
MOBILITY BRIDGE — ORIGINALS
Julian whispered, “Oh, wow.”
I reached toward it.
Then stopped.
There was something beneath the envelope.
A photograph.
I pulled it out.
Thomas stood beside a much younger Rebecca outside Mobility Bridge’s old warehouse.
Next to them stood Aaron Pike.
But there was a fourth person.
Someone I recognized immediately.
Someone who had been sitting in the community center with us that very morning.
Julian looked at the photograph.
“Mom…”
I could not answer.
Because standing beside Aaron Pike, smiling with one arm around my husband’s shoulder, was Westbrook Middle School principal Dr. Mercer.
Part 3 — What Thomas Had Known
Julian was the first to say what I was thinking.
“Why didn’t Dr. Mercer tell us he knew Dad?”
I stared at the photograph.
