Chapter 83

They walked together toward a large storefront about half-way down the block. Creighton opened the door and like before, stepped aside to allow her to enter first. Sandra looked around and smiled. There were large portraits of children, families and individual men and women decorating the walls. A small wooden desk sat near a thick black drape.

“Very nice work,” she said as she inspected the pictures.

“You like them?” he asked, and she nodded. “These are my brother’s kids,” he said pointing at the portrait of three children, two young girls and a boy. The youngest girl looked to be about two and had short dark blonde hair as did her brother who looked to be the eldest, around five or six perhaps. The older girl, she guessed to be around four, had dark-brown hair that curled in ringlets around her neck. Each had the same dark-blue eyes as Creighton and smiled cheerfully from a bench in front of a garden setting.

“This is my brother Derek and his wife Kristin,” Creighton said, pointing