Chapter 12: The Man in the Photograph

I didn't forward the photograph to anyone.

I checked the email header, saved the original message, and took screenshots of the attachment without editing it.

My mother watched from the couch.

“Do you recognize him?”

“I think so.”

That was the safest answer.

In my previous life, his name had eventually appeared everywhere.

Dr. Adrian Lowe.

Forty-two years old.

A private fertility specialist with a polished reputation and a wife who sat on two charity boards.

But remembering a newspaper headline from another life didn't mean I could treat it as fact now.

I searched his face online.

Within minutes, I found the same man on the website of a private women's clinic.

Dr. Adrian Lowe.

My stomach tightened.

My mother leaned closer.

“Looks like it.”

“Was he treating Greer?”

“We don't know.”

I closed the page.

“And we don't need to know unless it connects to what she did to me.”

My mother studied me.

“You're being more careful with her privacy than she was with yours.”

“Someone has to be.”

The anonymous sender had clearly wanted me to post the photograph.

Maybe they expected me to accuse Greer of sleeping with an older man.

Maybe they wanted another scandal.

I refused to become useful to someone else's agenda.

I forwarded the email to Officer Ramirez instead.

Subject: Possible Relevant Evidence.

I wrote only:

“I received this anonymously. I have not posted or shared it publicly. I don't know whether it relates to the threats.”

Then I went to sleep.

The next morning, school felt strange without the forum.

People had moved to private chats and social media, but the central stage was gone.

Greer was absent again.

Brooke and Mason were suspended.

Sienna sat alone.

Talia had become a ghost around her former friends.

During second period, Counselor Bennett's replacement introduced herself.

“I'm Dr. Patel. I'll be covering student counseling while Mr. Bennett is on administrative leave.”

A murmur moved through the room.

I looked down at my notebook.

Last time, he had told me to stop making trouble and continued working as though nothing happened.

This time, one recording had forced the school to look at him.

Dr. Patel didn't mention me.

I appreciated that.

At lunch, Sienna approached.

She stood beside my table, arms folded.

“Can we talk?”

Talia immediately stiffened.

I looked at Sienna.

“Not with her.”

Sienna glared at Talia.

Talia's face went red.

I said, “If you came to insult her, leave.”

Sienna looked back at me.

“Greer's blaming all of us.”

“That's between you and Greer.”

“She told the school Brooke made the fake document by herself.”

Sienna sat down.

“Greer told Brooke exactly what to put on it.”

Talia muttered, “We already showed them the chat.”

“Not everything was in the chat.”

I watched Sienna carefully.

“What wasn't?”

She lowered her voice.

“Greer called Brooke.”

“Do you have proof?”

“Brooke does.”

“Then Brooke should give it to the school.”

Sienna looked frustrated.

“Why are you making this so difficult?”

“Because I'm not collecting gossip.”

She stared at me.

I continued.

“If you have evidence, preserve it and give it to the people investigating. If you only want me to post something so everyone attacks Greer, I'm not doing it.”

Sienna laughed bitterly.

“You think you're better than us now?”

I paused.

“I think I know exactly what happens when a crowd decides facts don't matter.”

She didn't answer.

After school, Officer Ramirez called.

He had received my email.

“You did the right thing by not posting the photograph.”

“Do you know who sent it?”

“Not yet.”

“Is the man relevant?”

A pause.

I sat straighter.

“To the threats?”

“I can't discuss details.”

Later that evening, someone knocked on our apartment door.

My mother and I looked at each other.

She checked the peephole.

Officer Ramirez stood outside with another detective.

They came in and sat at our small dining table.

“Imogen,” Ramirez said, “we need to ask you about the question you sent Greer before returning to school.”

I knew which one.

“The person who went with you to OB-GYN that day. Was it your uncle, or was it your dad?”

I nodded.

“Why did you ask that?”

I couldn't say because I remembered her future scandal.

I chose the truth I could explain.

“Her reaction to my photo made me suspicious. She was at the registration desk, and I remembered seeing an older man nearby that day.”

That wasn't entirely false.

The detective beside him opened a notebook.

“Did you know Dr. Adrian Lowe before yesterday?”

Technically, in this life, I hadn't.

Ramirez watched my face.

“The photograph you received appears to have been taken by someone else at the hospital. We're trying to identify that person.”

“There's another issue.”

My mother reached for my hand.

Ramirez continued.

“The number Mason purchased wasn't used only to message you.”

My chest tightened.

“Who else?”

“Greer.”

I frowned.

“Greer received threats too?”

“Yes.”

Ramirez leaned forward.

“Which means either Mason was threatening both of you, or someone else had access to the phone.”

I thought of Greer's message.

You ruined my life.

I thought of Mason saying Greer told him to scare me.

Then I thought of the anonymous photograph of Adrian Lowe.

This was no longer just a school rumor.

Someone else was moving pieces.

And for the first time since being reborn, I had no memory of what happened next.