Chapter 9
A Photograph Sold Twice
Elsie sold the same photograph twice: once to the newspaper and once to Beatrice.
The newspaper crop showed Mabel at the potting-room door. The council copy showed more - the polished curve of a black umbrella reflected in the greenhouse glass.
It had not rained.
"Who carried it?" June asked.
Elsie kept adjusting her lens cap. "People use umbrellas for sun."
"Not in March."
Beatrice had paid three hundred pounds for full event rights. The newspaper paid fifty. Elsie needed money for a photography course, and Beatrice had promised a council scholarship if the images supported the housing campaign.
"Supported how?"
"Community conflict. Old guard versus new homes. She never told me to fake anything."
June asked for the raw card.
Elsie's hand went still. She had kept it in a zipped pocket. After Arthur died, she found the zip open and the card gone.
"Who knew?"
"Beatrice. Thomas. My tutor."
At the door, Elsie caught June's sleeve. "The umbrella appeared in two frames. In the second, it was outside the potting room. I didn't sell that one."
"Why not?"
"Because you could see the hand holding it."
"Whose hand?"
Elsie looked toward the council offices.
"Someone who writes with her left."