Nadine Read The Sales Invoice Without Looking At The Pictures

The buyer met us at Mara's office on Tuesday. He carried a flat cardboard box with both hands.

"I thought they were cleared for sale," he said.

His name was Simon Vale. He ran a small framing shop outside Red Bank. He had bought old beach photographs before. Felix had told him these portraits came from an estate project.

Nadine pulled her chair closer to the table.

"The people in these pictures are alive. Some come to me because they need a private room and a person who keeps her word."

"I didn't know."

"I believe you. I still need the box."

Simon's hands loosened.

He had brought the original mailer, payment record, and messages. Mara asked permission to make copies. He gave it.

Nobody needed to spread the photographs across the table.

Nadine checked the job numbers on the sleeves. She compared them with her own log, then put them into a fresh envelope.

"Both sets are mine," she said. "Six frames in each."

Simon handed over a printed message from Felix.

The subjects signed broad releases. Our driver processed these. I manage all rights.

"Did he show you a release?" Mara asked.

"No. When I asked again, he gave me Nadine's number. Said she would handle the final form."

"Did you make copies?"

"No scans. No prints. I left them sleeved until we spoke."

He signed a statement saying that. Nadine gave him a receipt for the returned film. The refund remained Felix's debt, and Mara put that in the receipt, too.

After Simon left, I stared at the word driver.

It had done two jobs for Felix. It had made me small enough to push out. It had also made it sound as though I had no say over what happened inside my own darkroom.

"I should have stopped that sooner," I said.

Nadine shut her log.

"He chose his lie. Don't pick it up for him."

She took out her storage contract. Each page had Felix's initials beside mine. The ban on selling or sharing her film was in a box above our signatures.

There was no broad release.

There was a list of people allowed to collect film, and Felix was not on it.

"Why did you leave work with us?" I asked. "You have your studio."

"A pipe broke. Your cabinet was clean. You gave me a shelf, a written price, and a receipt."

"I gave you a locked door."

"You gave me your word. Keep it now."

Her own lawyer joined us by phone that afternoon. Nadine wanted separate advice about the people she photographed. I understood. My name had been on the storage receipts, too.

With her permission, I checked only the outside labels in the cabinet against her list. We used a new log, with columns for the old seal, the new seal, and the person present.

Fourteen portrait sets remained in storage. Eighteen were missing.

The three undeveloped cassettes were from newer work. Nadine asked me to leave those sealed until she had spoken with the sitters.

"Nobody gets rushed because we're scared," she said.

That included the calls she had to make.

She contacted each affected sitter herself. I offered to help. She asked me to prepare a plain account of where the film had been and what we knew.

No guesses. No names from other jobs.

I wrote three pages and cut them to one.

I also made a record of my own mistakes. I had let Felix keep the only booking login. I had checked the cabinet count by shelf, instead of by job number, during our busy weeks. None of that gave him leave to sell anything. It did give me work to change before I could ask people to trust the bus again.

At the bottom, I put my direct number and the address where their film was secured.

One sitter called that evening.

"Did he put my picture online?"

"We haven't found that," I said. "I can't promise what we haven't checked. Nadine's lawyer is asking for every sale and every copy."

The caller breathed out slowly.

"Please don't make me part of an advertisement about your comeback."

"I won't."

After that call, I took down the cheery festival post I had drafted the night before.

The next morning, Mara sent demands for records and notices to preserve evidence. My claim concerned the lockout, company money, and our agreement. Nadine's concerned her property and its sale. Our lawyers prepared to bring the claims together.

Felix answered at lunch.

He sent a link to an exported booking sheet with a note: Here. Enjoy learning what running a business costs.

I saved the file without changing it. Then I opened a copy.

Twelve client advances totaled $9,600.

Below them was a single transfer for $6,800.

The description said PROMOTION. The destination account carried Felix's full name.