Chapter 5 - ANNA’S PINK DRESS
The funeral dress was not Anna’s original.
Daniel had commissioned a replica from the Polaroid.
He paid for it himself.
“I wasn’t wearing her clothes like some costume.”
That mattered to him.
The original dress had disappeared when Anna left Ohio.
Then we found the person who knew what happened to it.
Martha Hayes.
Anna’s college roommate.
Later her closest friend.
Sixty-one now.
Living outside Tucson.
When I called, she was silent for so long I thought the connection failed.
Then:
“Helen Carter.”
“Yes.”
“I wondered if you’d ever call.”
I closed my eyes.
“Richard died.”
“I know.”
“Did Anna tell you what happened?”
“She told me everything.”
Martha had letters too.
Not accusations written years later.
Contemporaneous letters.
Anna describing the transfer.
Richard’s silence.
Paul’s threats.
Walter telling her:
“If you fight this, we’ll tell the police you stole from the company.”
Martha said:
“She wanted to sue.”
“Why didn’t she?”
“Because Paul showed her the board statement Richard signed.”
The statement that said Anna acted alone.
“She knew her own brother would testify against her.”
I felt sick.
“What happened to the dress?”
Martha laughed without humor.
“She cut it up.”
“What?”
“About a month after she came to Arizona.”
“Why?”
“She said everybody back home would always picture her in it.”
Martha still had one piece.
A section of pink hem.
Anna had used it as a bookmark.
That tiny detail hurt more than the photograph.
Then Martha asked:
“Does Richard’s confession say what happened to Anna’s shares?”
I frowned.
“What shares?”
Silence.
“What do you mean?”
Martha answered carefully.
“Anna owned part of Carter Machine Works.”
I knew the Carter siblings had all received stock.
I assumed Anna sold hers when she left.
Martha said:
May you like
“Not exactly.”
That was the first indication that the stolen medical fund was only one part of what Richard had been hiding.
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