Chapter 16 - I Know About Celeste.
Rainier stared at the envelope addressed to Conrad until the handwriting began to blur.
His father had written it eight years earlier.
That meant Everett Beaumont knew Celeste before Rainier believed he had ever met her.
Evelyn stood beside the table.
Detective Brooks remained across from them with the metal station box between her gloved hands.
Margaret sat near the window, pale and silent after admitting her part in the first North Account transfer.
Rainier finally reached for the envelope.
Brooks stopped him gently.
"We need to document it before opening."
Rainier nodded.
Everything in his life now required a photograph before it was allowed to become real.
Brooks photographed the front and back.
Then she opened the seal carefully and removed three folded pages.
"Do you want me to read it first?"
Rainier shook his head.
"No."
She handed him the first page.
Rainier recognized his father's direct style immediately.
Conrad,
I know about Celeste Arden.
Rainier stopped after the first sentence.
Evelyn's eyes narrowed.
Margaret whispered, "Who was she then?"
Rainier continued.
I know she has copied files from the Valmere archive, and I know you have encouraged her to believe I destroyed her father's career.
Rainier lowered the page.
"Her father."
Margaret covered her mouth.
"Daniel Arden."
Rainier turned toward her.
"You knew him?"
"He managed one of the Valmere subcontractors."
"Was he involved in the hidden settlements?"
Margaret nodded slowly.
"He helped identify the families who needed immediate compensation."
Rainier looked back at the letter.
His father had written more.
Daniel made mistakes, as I did, but he did not steal the Valmere funds.
You know that.
You also know he came to me with concerns about your transfers.
If you continue telling his daughter that I ruined him to protect myself, you are using a dead man to recruit a grieving young woman into your fight.
Rainier's jaw tightened.
Evelyn looked toward the photographs of Celeste at the wedding.
"Conrad recruited her through her father."
Rainier kept reading.
Celeste is angry, intelligent, and young enough to believe anger is the same thing as certainty.
That makes her useful to you now and dangerous to everyone later.
Do not bring her near my son.
Rainier stopped again.
A memory rose with cruel clarity.
The first time he remembered seeing Celeste was not after Evelyn's accident.
It was at a Beaumont Foundation winter gala almost seven years earlier.
She had been twenty-five.
He had barely spoken to her.
She was assisting an event sponsor and wore a black dress with a gold name badge.
Rainier had forgotten the interaction entirely until now.
She had asked him whether he enjoyed working for his family.
He had joked that nobody who worked for family enjoyed every day of it.
She had smiled.
Then she had asked whether he expected to run the company one day.
At the time it had sounded like ordinary gala conversation.
Now it sounded like research.
Rainier looked at Margaret.
"Celeste was around before the accident."
Margaret nodded faintly.
"I remember her at events."
"Why didn't I?"
"Because she was one of hundreds of people."
Evelyn looked at Rainier.
"Did she ever approach you directly?"
"Once that I remember."
"Before we met her socially?"
"Years before."
Evelyn absorbed that quietly.
Rainier went to the second page.
The letter became more direct.
You told Celeste that Daniel's bankruptcy was caused by my refusal to protect him.
That is false.
Daniel refused to sign your false consulting invoices.
You removed his company from the project, then used my silence about Valmere to make me look responsible.
Rainier looked up sharply.
"Conrad ruined her father."
Margaret's eyes filled.
"It appears so."
Rainier continued.
If Daniel had lived long enough to testify, he would have exposed both of us for different reasons.
I feared the company's collapse.
You feared prison and loss of control.
Do not pretend our motives were the same.
Rainier sat down.
The letter did not rescue his father's reputation.
Everett had not tried to rescue himself.
That made it harder to dismiss.
Evelyn picked up the third page after Brooks nodded.
She read it silently first.
Then she handed it to Rainier.
The final paragraph concerned Celeste again.
She has already asked about Rainier's marriage, the birth of his daughter, and the structure of family voting shares.
You say she is simply curious.
I do not believe you.
If she ever enters my son's life, I will assume you placed her there.
Rainier stared at the words.
His hands went cold.
Evelyn sat across from him.
"You didn't meet her by accident."
Rainier shook his head slowly.
"No."
He remembered the year after Evelyn's memorial.
Celeste had appeared at a charity dinner where Rainier almost did not attend.
She had acted surprised to see him.
She had spoken gently about grief without asking invasive questions.
She had known Melusine liked horses because she said she remembered hearing it from someone at the foundation.
She had offered to help with a children's fundraiser.
Then she became useful.
Then familiar.
Then necessary.
Then loved.
Rainier felt physically ill.
"She targeted me."
Evelyn's voice was careful.
"At first."
Rainier looked at her.
"Why add that?"
"Because people can begin something for one reason and continue for another."
"You think she loved me?"
"I think it does not matter enough to change what she did."
Rainier looked away.
That answer steadied him.
Detective Brooks requested a formal interview with Celeste about the letter.
Celeste agreed after speaking to Paige.
They met at the county investigative office that evening.
Rainier was not legally entitled to sit inside the interview room.
Celeste gave written permission for him and Evelyn to observe from behind the glass.
Rainier did not know why she wanted them there.
Maybe punishment.
Maybe confession.
Maybe one final attempt to control the way they saw her.
Celeste entered in plain clothes with no jewelry.
She looked at the mirrored wall once.
She knew they were behind it.
Brooks placed a copy of Everett's letter on the table.
"Did you know Everett Beaumont?"
Celeste stared at the page.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Through Conrad."
"When did you first meet Conrad Beaumont?"
"Nine years ago."
Rainier closed his eyes.
It was earlier than he expected.
Brooks asked, "Why?"
Celeste folded her hands.
"I was trying to find out what happened to my father."
"Daniel Arden?"
"Yes."
"What did you believe happened?"
Celeste's face tightened.
"I believed Everett Beaumont used my father to hide problems at Valmere and then destroyed his business when he became inconvenient."
"Who told you that?"
"Conrad."
"Did you verify it?"
Celeste looked down.
"Not enough."
"Did Conrad ask you to obtain internal Beaumont documents?"
"Yes."
"Did you?"
"Yes."
"Did he ask you to approach Rainier Beaumont?"
Celeste hesitated.
Then she looked directly at the mirror.
"Yes."
Rainier's jaw tightened.
Evelyn stood beside him without speaking.
Brooks continued.
"When?"
"Before Evelyn's accident."
Rainier stared at her through the glass.
Celeste continued.
"He wanted information about Rainier's relationship with his father, his voting intentions, and whether Evelyn knew anything about old company records."
"Did you become socially friendly with the family for that reason?"
"At first, yes."
"Were you involved in the bridge accident?"
"No."
Her answer came instantly.
"Did you know it would occur?"
"No."
"Did Conrad?"
"Not that I know."
"What happened after the accident?"
Celeste's breathing changed.
"Conrad called me before dawn."
"What did he say?"
"That Evelyn might still be alive."
Rainier's hand closed into a fist.
Brooks asked, "How did he know?"
"One of the hospital administrators had contacted Beaumont Strategic about a Jane Doe with property that might be connected to the family."
"What did Conrad ask you to do?"
"Go to the hospital before Rainier heard."
"Why you?"
Celeste stared at the table.
"Because Evelyn knew me."
"What were you supposed to say?"
"That Rainier was on his way and Conrad was handling the identity confusion."
"Is that what you said?"
Celeste closed her eyes.
"At first."
"Then?"
"Then Conrad sent me the draft no-contact documents."
"And you delivered them."
"Yes."
"Knowing they were false?"
"I knew Rainier had not asked me to bring them."
Brooks let the silence sit.
Celeste's eyes filled.
"Yes."
"You knew they were false."
"Yes."
Rainier looked away from the glass.
Evelyn remained still.
Brooks continued.
"Why did you do it?"
Celeste took a long breath.
"Because Conrad showed me records he said proved Everett had destroyed my father."
"So this was revenge?"
"At that moment, yes."
"Against Evelyn?"
Celeste's voice weakened.
"Against the family."
"Including a woman recovering from a serious accident?"
"Yes."
"Including a child?"
Celeste looked toward the mirror again.
"I told myself Melusine would be fine because she had Rainier."
Evelyn whispered behind the glass.
"She told herself a lot."
Rainier nodded.
Brooks asked, "When did you first question Conrad's version of your father's story?"
"Two months later."
"Why?"
"I found one of my father's old notebooks."
"What was in it?"
"A line that said Everett was trying to help him."
"What did you do?"
"I confronted Conrad."
"And?"
"He told me my father had become confused before he died."
"Did you believe him?"
Celeste shook her head.
"Not completely."
"Then why continue?"
Celeste looked at the mirrored wall.
"Because by then I had already crossed a line I did not know how to uncross."
Rainier's expression hardened.
Brooks did not let the phrase pass.
"You could have told Rainier his wife was alive."
"Yes."
"You could have gone to police."
"Yes."
"You could have left."
"Yes."
"Instead, you became closer to him."
Celeste nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
Celeste's answer took a long time.
"Because I wanted him before I allowed myself to call it love."
Rainier stared at her.
Celeste continued.
"I wanted the life she had."
"Evelyn's life?"
"Yes."
"Her husband?"
"Yes."
"Her home?"
"Yes."
"Her place in the family?"
Celeste's face crumpled slightly.
"Yes."
Brooks asked, "And the ring?"
Celeste looked down at her bare neck.
"The ring was proof that I had taken something Conrad wanted and something Evelyn could not have."
Rainier closed his eyes.
Evelyn's face remained hard.
Brooks continued.
"Did you ever intend to help Conrad gain permanent control of Melusine's trust?"
Celeste hesitated.
"At first."
"And later?"
"I planned to turn on him after the marriage."
"How?"
"I had copies of his payment records and emails."
"Where?"
"Three places."
Brooks leaned forward.
"We know about Nora's laptop."
Celeste nodded.
"That is one."
"Second?"
"A cloud archive under my attorney's escrow account."
Paige looked visibly surprised.
"Celeste."
Celeste continued.
"Third is a physical drive."
"Where?"
"Conrad's old rail office."
Rainier looked sharply at Evelyn.
The Beaumont family had once operated a freight depot outside the city.
It had been closed for six years.
Brooks asked, "Why put a drive there?"
"Because Conrad still uses the office."
"For what?"
"Meetings he does not want on company property."
"Is he there now?"
Celeste looked toward the mirrored wall one more time.
"If he thinks I still belong to him, he will be."
Brooks sat back.
"Can you make him think that?"
Celeste's expression became strangely calm.
"Yes."
Behind the glass, Rainier looked at Evelyn.
"This could find him."
Evelyn's eyes stayed on Celeste.
"Or it could be another performance."
Rainier nodded.
"Both can be true."
May you like
Evelyn glanced at him.
"You learn quickly under pressure too."
