Photographs are a reoccurring motif throughout the story. They are used as the leading pieces of evidence that end up bringing the guilty to justice. The first time that the photographs are used is when one is placed at the scene of Tony’s murder. It shows three men and gives a starting point for the plot to begin forming potential suspects. That same photograph was given to Jason the day of Tony’s murder, which spurred the visit he made to his old friend’s house. The motif reoccurs again when a photograph of Father Matthew is discovered and is used as the proof needed for Elizabeth to get the truth out of him. A photograph is also seen by Karen Playfair in an old newspaper, and it is what leads the group to figuring out that John was the one behind one of the murders.

People are found guilty through photographs or even video recordings like the stills from traffic cameras. It is a motif carried from the beginning, with photographs of the murder Elizabeth was investigating being shown to Joyce in the opening chapters, until the very end when a photograph is what seals John’s fate. Even Joanna, Joyce’s daughter, breaks up with her boyfriend because of photographs that she found on his phone.