Truth

redemption, an appeal must be made to the governing body’s disciplinary committee. Emily wasn’t sure what he’d do. She was just happy they’d be together.
    Claire wanted to ask to join Emily in New York. However, instinctively she believed her presence was currently unwelcome. She hoped it was only momentary, besides Emily and John needed private time.
     
    Amber arrived home to find her dining room table covered in piles of disheveled papers. It was the information Claire saved from Tony’s box, along with new information Amber and Harry helped accumulate. Harry’s connection to the Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence was definitely advantageous.
    From the box , Claire saved pictures. Looking through the stack, she placed them in chronological order. The first series was from her parent’s funeral. If she hadn’t stared at them for hours, in her cell in Iowa, the subject would be upsetting. Instead, the circumstance of their existence dominated her thoughts. The photo in her hand was of the grave site. She saw the vibrant autumn trees surrounding the double plot and a seemingly appropriate gray sky. The faraway shot showed Emily with John on one side and Claire on the other. There were many people behind them. The next one caused Claire’s stomach to churn. It showed a close-up of her, alone -- her name handwritten on the back. She recognized the distinguishable writing. She’d seen that same script on many notes throughout her two years with Tony.
    She didn’t meet Anthony Rawlings until almost five years after these pictures were taken. Yet, the looming question remained; did he personally shoot these photos? It added to the mystery. She wished for pictures of the crowd, some way she could scan for his familiar face. Thinking back, Claire remembered news coverage -- her father was a policeman, and even though his death wasn’t in the line of duty, it was considered newsworthy. Suddenly, she wondered if the footage still existed. Working at a television news station, she knew many videos were disposed of after a certain length of time. Nonetheless, if she could watch, even a few seconds of the crowd, Claire would find Tony -- tall, dark and handsome -- if he were present.
    The next stack of photos revealed images from Emily and John’s wedding, with the same alarming close-ups of Claire with her name written on the back in Tony’s handwriting. The sea foam green dress made Claire smile.
    She realized if she took these pictures to the police, they didn’t prove Tony’s presence. Of course, he could pay someone to take the pictures. Yet, Claire was certain a handwriting specialist could verify his handwriting.
    The other bit of information, Claire retained, from Tony’s box of confessions, was the Top Secret report. Over the past four months she’d wondered how he obtained the document. It looked official, containing the Top Secret watermark. Originally, she placed it in the box of information to burn. However, just before leaving her cell, Claire decided to remove it. Looking back, she chastised herself for taking the box to the incinerator at all.
    She couldn’t really justify her actions, only that at the time she wanted freedom and separation. Watching the contents burn proved temporarily therapeutic. As the flames enveloped the box and its contents, she felt her life with Tony shrivel into parallel nothingness. At the time, it was cathartic.
    In the days and weeks that followed, she realized the error of her ways. With time to meditate, muse, and contemplate her life’s milestones, it seemed that at many junctures she’d acted impulsively. Whether it was refusing to leave Atlanta after the loss of her job, signing a seemingly benign napkin, getting into a car and fleeing Anthony’s estate, or burning a box of confessions, the choices and their consequences continued to return and rear their ugly heads.
    The Top Secret report told the true identities of two important players in the downfall of Nathaniel Rawls; securities officer, Jonathon Burke and FBI agent, Sherman Nichols. It was the glue that held Claire to Tony’s well played plan of revenge.
    After contacting Amber, they worked together to regenerate the information Claire could recall. If only she hadn’t burnt it. Regrets were useless. Their progress thus far was all that mattered.
    Claire was lost in her thoughts of the photos when Amber entered the condominium. Claire looked up at her roommate and said, “Hi, I didn’t