Chapter 12 - The Letter from St. Agnes.
Paige Holloway arrived at the lake house at 1:31 a.m.
She was not pleased to find Celeste answering questions without her.
"No more statements."
Celeste looked tired enough not to argue.
Detective Brooks requested the St. Agnes letter.
Paige hesitated.
"It is privileged material."
"It is a medical records document potentially used in a fraudulent court filing."
"That characterization is disputed."
Rainier stepped forward.
"It is my daughter's birth record."
Paige looked at him.
"Then obtain it through the court."
Celeste spoke from the chair.
"Give it to them."
Paige turned sharply.
"Celeste."
"Give it to them."
"You are not thinking clearly."
"For the first time tonight, I am."
Paige stared at her client.
Then she opened her leather case and removed a sealed envelope.
She handed it to Brooks.
"I am providing this voluntarily on my client's instruction."
Brooks documented the transfer.
Rainier watched every movement.
The letter was dated seven years earlier, four days after Melusine's birth.
Evelyn remembered receiving the original letter in a white hospital envelope.
She had been exhausted, sore, and terrified by every normal newborn sound.
Rainier had read the letter aloud while trying to warm a bottle with one hand.
They had laughed at the sentence offering complimentary testing because both were staring at a baby with Rainier's exact chin and Evelyn's exact eyes.
The administrative mismatch had seemed like one more piece of paperwork in a week full of forms.
They signed an acknowledgment that the correction was complete and forgot about it.
Rainier asked Brooks to place the St. Agnes letter beside Melusine's original hospital bracelets from the family safe.
The comparison made Conrad's strategy look even thinner.
The letter said the mismatch was administrative.
The bracelets showed the mother and child identification had remained consistent.
The state birth registry contained the same parent information submitted before the hospital corrected the billing labels.
Evelyn looked at Celeste.
"He knew all of that?"
Celeste nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did you keep the letter?"
Celeste's answer was immediate.
"Because he was afraid I would use it against him."
Rainier frowned.
"Against him how?"
"If he filed a misleading version, I could produce the full copy and prove he knew the correction was complete."
Paige stared at her client.
"You were planning litigation against Conrad while planning a wedding with Rainier?"
Celeste gave a hollow smile.
"I had several plans."
Evelyn's voice was dry.
"That seems to be the problem."
Celeste accepted the remark.
She explained that Conrad maintained a draft emergency petition for months.
It did not accuse Evelyn of anything directly.
Instead, it raised three questions.
Was Evelyn legally alive?
Was she mentally capable of serving as trustee after years of rehabilitation?
Was Melusine's birth record free from dispute?
Each question had an answer.
Conrad's strategy depended on the court needing time to collect those answers.
"He said facts were slow and fear was fast."
Celeste said.
Rainier looked at Evelyn.
"That sounds like him."
Evelyn studied the letter.
"Then we make the answers easy to find."
She asked Brooks for certified copies of the hospital correction, state birth registration, and any identity documentation already collected.
Rainier offered to have Beaumont staff obtain them.
Evelyn shook her head.
"Independent channels."
Rainier nodded.
"Right."
Celeste watched the exchange.
Something like grief crossed her face.
Rainier noticed and felt nothing useful in response.
She had spent years trying to occupy Evelyn's place.
Now she was watching what she had never understood about it.
The place was not a house, ring, or legal title.
It was the ability to disagree with Rainier and still remain beside him.
Celeste had found power in the fact that they forgot.
Rainier looked at the copy.
"How did she even know this existed?"
Evelyn looked toward Celeste.
Celeste answered quietly.
"Conrad kept references to every family record that could create delay in court."
Rainier stared.
"A seven-year-old corrected billing error."
"He called them pressure points."
"Of course he did."
Paige Holloway looked increasingly uncomfortable as her client continued.
Celeste explained that Conrad maintained folders on directors, relatives, business partners, and anyone connected to voting rights.
The folders contained divorces, tax disputes, old lawsuits, medical leaves, disputed invoices, and personal embarrassments that were usually meaningless alone.
"He did not need facts to prove wrongdoing."
Celeste said.
"He needed facts that could be arranged to suggest a question."
Evelyn looked at the St. Agnes letter.
"And once the question existed, people had to spend time proving the answer."
Celeste nodded.
Rainier understood why Conrad valued delay.
In business, seventy-two hours could move money, secure votes, or close financing.
In family court, even a temporary question could create headlines powerful enough to influence a board.
"He weaponized paperwork."
Rainier said.
Celeste looked at him.
"Yes."
Evelyn folded the letter carefully.
"Then we do the opposite."
Rainier frowned.
"Meaning?"
"We make the full document public to the court, not just the first frightening sentence."
Paige looked at her.
"That will expose medical record details."
Evelyn nodded.
"Only what is necessary."
She looked at Rainier.
"But we do not fight edited truth with another edited truth."
Rainier nodded.
The principle would later shape every public statement they made.
It came from St. Agnes Women's Center.
Rainier read it beside Evelyn.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont,
A temporary administrative mismatch occurred between two newborn records during overnight processing.
The mismatch affected billing labels and one blood sample identifier.
The error was corrected within six hours.
Parentage records, birth registration, and infant identification bands were independently verified and were never in question.
Rainier exhaled.
"That's it?"
Evelyn read the final paragraph.
DNA confirmation is not medically required, but complimentary testing is available if requested for your peace of mind.
Evelyn looked at Rainier.
"We never requested it."
"Because we trusted the hospital."
Celeste's voice came from across the room.
"Conrad did not need the letter to prove anything."
Rainier turned.
"He needed it to make a headline."
"Exactly."
Celeste looked at the floor.
"He planned to file it with language suggesting there was unresolved doubt."
Evelyn's expression hardened.
"Even though the letter says the opposite."
"He expected the first headline to matter more than the last paragraph."
Rainier stared at Celeste.
"And you helped him find it."
Celeste nodded once.
"Yes."
Paige closed her eyes briefly.
Rainier asked, "Why are you admitting this now?"
Celeste looked toward the dark windows.
"Because Conrad left me at the wedding."
Evelyn laughed without humor.
"That's what changed your conscience?"
Celeste's face tightened.
"No."
She looked at Melusine's torn dress folded in Rainier's car through the window, visible beneath the dome light.
"That changed it."
Rainier's jaw tightened.
"You tore it."
"I know."
"You pushed a seven-year-old because she was wearing her mother's dress."
"I know."
"Do not expect remorse to erase that."
"I don't."
Celeste's voice cracked for the first time.
"I saw her looking at me like she finally understood what I was."
Evelyn looked at her.
"She should never have had to understand."
Celeste nodded.
"I know."
Rainier turned away.
He did not want to watch Celeste become human again.
Hatred was easier when people remained flat.
The truth was more irritating.
People could be cruel and frightened.
Manipulative and ashamed.
Guilty and still capable of regret.
None of that made the damage smaller.
Detective Brooks received a call from headquarters.
"We have preliminary metadata from Nora's laptop."
Rainier looked toward her.
"And?"
"The messages appear authentic."
Celeste closed her eyes.
"Conrad's account?"
"Among others."
Brooks looked at Celeste.
"There are also messages from you to Owen Mercer."
Paige stepped forward.
"My client will not discuss those without counsel."
Celeste ignored her again.
"What date?"
"Two months after the accident."
Celeste's face changed.
"Those were different."
"Different how?"
Paige said, "Celeste."
Celeste looked at Rainier.
"I tried to get Owen to tell you."
Rainier stared at her.
"What?"
"Twice."
"You sent me fake letters telling Evelyn I wanted no contact."
"Yes."
"And then you tried to tell me she was alive?"
"Yes."
Rainier laughed sharply.
"Why would I believe that?"
"Because Conrad had gone farther than I expected."
"You expected what exactly?"
Celeste swallowed.
"I thought Evelyn would stay in private care for a few weeks while Conrad fixed the trust problem."
Evelyn's face went cold.
"Fixed it how?"
"I did not know."
"You did not ask?"
"I asked enough to know I should leave."
Rainier's voice hardened.
"But you didn't."
"No."
"You moved closer to me instead."
Celeste looked down.
"Yes."
"That was a choice."
"Yes."
Rainier stared at her.
"Say it clearly."
Celeste lifted her eyes.
"I made choices that hurt your family."
"Not choices."
Rainier shook his head.
"Plans."
Celeste's face tightened.
"Yes."
Evelyn looked away.
Detective Brooks returned to the evidence.
"We need to locate Conrad before the board meeting."
Rainier checked the time.
2:07 a.m.
"The meeting is at nine."
"Can you suspend it?"
"Not alone."
Evelyn looked at him.
"But I can vote the trust shares now."
Rainier stared.
"You would do that?"
"If Owen is the other trustee."
"He is."
"Then we need him present."
Brooks nodded.
"He's at a state police post and willing to cooperate."
Rainier looked at Evelyn.
"You don't have to step into the company mess."
Evelyn gave him a tired look.
"I was hidden for three years because of the company mess."
"Fair."
"And the shares belong to Melusine."
Rainier nodded.
"Then we protect them."
Celeste spoke quietly.
"Conrad will have something ready."
Rainier looked at her.
"What?"
"I don't know."
"Guess."
Celeste thought for a moment.
"He will attack the trust amendment itself."
Evelyn frowned.
"On what basis?"
"Your father was under medical care when he signed the final version."
Rainier turned toward her.
"Dad had cancer."
"Conrad will say medication impaired him."
"Was he impaired?"
Celeste shook her head.
"Owen says no."
"Then we prove it."
Celeste's gaze lowered.
"There is another problem."
Rainier's patience thinned.
"Of course there is."
Celeste looked toward the contact sheets.
"One page from the blue envelope is missing."
Evelyn stepped closer.
"How do you know?"
"Because Conrad has it."
"What page?"
Celeste's voice became almost inaudible.
"Page seven."
Rainier looked at the contact sheets.
"What is on page seven?"
May you like
Celeste met his eyes.
"Your father's signature."
