Chapter 5 - Someone Inside the House
Naomi grabbed the brass fireplace poker.
The carriage-house apartment had two exits: the front stairs and a narrow back staircase leading into the old laundry room.
She heard footsteps below.
One person.
Maybe two.
“Detective?”
“I’m dispatching officers,” Ortiz said through the phone. “Stay upstairs. Lock yourself in a room.”
The stairwell creaked.
Naomi stepped backward.
“Naomi?”
“I’m here.”
“Do not confront anyone.”
A shadow crossed beneath the door.
Then a voice.
“Naomi?”
She lowered the poker.
“Mr. Bell?”
Henry Bell, the Vale family’s seventy-year-old groundskeeper, appeared on the stairs.
His eyes widened at the weapon.
“Lord, woman.”
Naomi exhaled.
“How did you get in?”
“Master key.”
“Why?”
He looked embarrassed.
“Miss Arden told me you’d locked yourself out.”
Naomi stared at him.
Celeste appeared behind him.
“There,” she said calmly. “Problem solved.”
Naomi lifted the poker again.
Henry froze.
“What is happening?”
“Go home, Henry.”
Celeste smiled.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
Naomi pointed toward the stairs.
“Henry. Please.”
He looked between them.
Then slowly left.
Celeste remained.
“You called the police.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
That surprised Naomi.
Celeste walked into the apartment as though still entitled to enter any Vale property she chose.
“You have five minutes,” Naomi said.
“I only need two.”
“Start.”
Celeste’s gaze swept over the modest sitting room.
“Eleven years.”
“What?”
“You’ve spent eleven years serving people who would replace you in a week.”
Naomi gave a humorless smile.
“You came here to recruit me?”
“I came here because you think Evelyn is innocent.”
“She was the woman under the pillow.”
“I’m not talking about today.”
Naomi’s expression hardened.
Celeste opened her handbag.
Slowly.
Naomi raised the poker.
Celeste removed a photograph.
She placed it on the table.
A younger Evelyn Vale stood outside Vale Meridian’s original headquarters beside Richard Vale.
Across from them was a man with Celeste’s blue eyes.
Martin Arden.
“He was my father,” Celeste said.
“I figured.”
“He was Vale Meridian’s chief financial officer.”
Naomi had not known that.
“Twenty-two years ago, the company nearly collapsed.”
“I’ve heard the story.”
“The public story.”
“Which says?”
“That Martin Arden diverted forty-eight million dollars through offshore accounts.”
Naomi looked at the photograph.
“And you say he didn’t?”
“I say Richard Vale did.”
The accusation hung between them.
Celeste continued.
“My father discovered Richard was hiding losses from investors. When he threatened to report him, Richard moved money through accounts Martin supervised, then blamed him.”
“What did Evelyn do?”
“She testified against my father.”
Naomi said nothing.
“He lost his career. His friends. Our home. My mother left when the lawsuits started. He died seven years later in a rented apartment.”
“I’m sorry.”
Celeste’s face sharpened.
“Don’t be.”
“Why?”
“Because pity is what rich people give instead of restitution.”
Naomi gestured toward the diamond ring.
“You seemed comfortable accepting restitution one carat at a time.”
Celeste’s eyes flashed.
“I loved Adrian.”
“Past tense?”
“I still do.”
“You tried to murder his mother.”
Celeste looked away.
The first crack in her composure.
Naomi saw it.
“She found out,” Celeste whispered.
“About the forgery?”
“Yes.”
“So you tried to kill her.”
“She said she would destroy me like she destroyed my father.”
“That does not justify what you did.”
“I know.”
It was the first thing Celeste had said that sounded honest.
Naomi almost hated her more for it.
“Who created the forged trust?”
Celeste said nothing.
“Voss?”
“No.”
“Who paid Harbor Crest?”
Celeste’s gaze moved toward the window.
“Ask Adrian’s people.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“Who?”
“Someone who needs the Helix vote more than I do.”
“You expect me to believe you were a pawn?”
“I expect you to understand that a person can be guilty of one thing and framed for another.”
Sirens sounded faintly.
Celeste picked up the photograph.
Naomi stopped her.
“Leave it.”
“Why?”
“Because police will want it.”
Celeste laughed quietly.
“You really think the police are the only people investigating?”
“What does that mean?”
“You found the flash drive.”
Naomi’s hand tightened around the poker.
“What’s on it?”
“My father’s archive.”
“How?”
“Evelyn kept it.”
“Why?”
“That’s what I wanted to know.”
Police lights appeared outside.
Celeste stepped toward the stairs.
Naomi blocked her.
“You stay.”
Celeste leaned close.
“Then tell Adrian to ask his mother why she kept evidence from the man she helped convict.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed.
Celeste whispered one final sentence.
“And ask why Richard Vale paid Malcolm Voss’s medical-school debt.”
Officers entered downstairs.
Celeste immediately raised her hands.
No resistance.
No tears.
Detective Ortiz arrived minutes later.
She took Celeste into custody for questioning related to the suspected assault.
Before entering the police vehicle, Celeste looked back at Naomi.
Not frightened.
Almost relieved.
At the hospital, Evelyn was sleeping when Adrian received a secure message from Marcus Reed.
They had traced the Harbor Crest funds.
The two million dollars had not come from Celeste.
They had come from a shell corporation controlled by Helix Port Systems.
The company Adrian was about to buy.
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And someone inside Vale Meridian had approved the transfer.
Someone using Adrian’s personal authorization code.
