Chapter 5 - The first anonymous photograph was too perfect
Detective Mara Jensen handled the threat investigation.
She was not impressed by my reputation.
Good.
She sat across from me.
“Who knew Eira’s preschool schedule?”
“Family. Staff. Security.”
“Belladonna?”
“Yes.”
“Damian Price?”
“Possibly through Belladonna.”
“Any known criminal rivals recently threatening your child?”
I hated the question.
I had enemies.
Some legitimate commercial adversaries.
Some men from the part of my life newspapers preferred.
But credible threats against Eira?
None directly before the photographs.
Detective Jensen said:
“We reexamined the first image.”
The photo had been sent anonymously.
But the original copy Belladonna forwarded me retained compressed metadata?
Most stripped.
One technical detail remained:
It had been cropped from a wider image.
Security camera from a coffee shop across street captured someone standing where photographer likely stood.
A man.
Baseball cap.
Camera.
Not enough identification.
Then payment records.
Belladonna’s credit card showed:
$1,250 payment two days earlier to Pryce Investigative Research.
Spelled differently. No relation? Better Harlow Investigative Services.
She told me:
“That was background research on a property.”
Could be.
Invoice demanded.
Her lawyer resisted initially.
Civil subpoena later.
Invoice:
Public-location vulnerability assessment.
Client:
Belladonna Price.
Subject address matched preschool.
My stomach turned.
She hired someone to photograph my daughter?
Her lawyer said:
“Security assessment.”
Did the investigator send anonymous threat?
Unknown.
Then second image.
Also possibly from the same contractor?
Payment:
$1,800.
Exposure test — residential recreation route.
There.
Harlow’s owner, Evan Harlow, had been asked to:
Observe whether private security detected surveillance.
Take photographs from lawful public locations.
Report vulnerabilities.
That by itself could be legitimate red-team security testing.
Did Caleb know?
No.
Did I authorize?
No.
Then why were photos sent anonymously with threatening messages?
Harlow said:
“We did not send them to Mr. Costello.”
Who did?
He delivered photographs to Belladonna through secure client portal.
Then Belladonna forwarded images to me as if received from unknown enemy.
But could she have received threats separately using same photos?
Possible.
We needed more.
Then the ribbon package.
Harlow denied involvement.
May you like
That thread would matter later.
Not enough yet.
