Chapter 4 - Celeste's Last Appointment.
Dr. Rebecca Lane had closed her Manhattan practice eighteen months earlier.
Adrian learned that within twelve minutes.
Her old office number forwarded to a recorded message.
Her professional directory page listed no new address.
The hospital where she once held privileges would confirm only that she had resigned.
Margaret stood near the library fireplace while Adrian made the calls.
She said nothing.
That silence unsettled Emma more than her insults had.
Margaret was never quiet unless she was calculating.
Adrian ended another call and looked at Emma.
"Do you know why Celeste saw her?"
"No."
"Did she ever mention a doctor named Lane?"
"Not by name."
"What did she tell you about the pills?"
Emma glanced at Margaret.
Margaret gave a humorless smile.
"There it is again."
Adrian ignored her.
Emma remembered the last lunch she had shared with Celeste.
Her sister had arrived late.
She had worn sunglasses indoors.
Not because she was hiding an injury.
Because she had barely slept.
"Celeste said she had stopped taking something Margaret's doctor prescribed."
Margaret's voice cut across the room.
"My doctor did not prescribe anything."
Emma looked at her.
"You brought Dr. Harlan to the house."
"He treated the family."
"He gave Celeste medication."
"With her consent."
Adrian frowned.
"Dr. Harlan prescribed her anxiety medication?"
Margaret stared at the fireplace.
"After Noah's birth."
"Why didn't I know?"
"You did know."
"No, I knew she had something for sleep for a few weeks."
Margaret turned.
"Then you knew."
Emma shook her head.
"Celeste said the bottle kept changing."
Adrian looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"She said the tablets looked different twice."
Margaret scoffed.
"Generic medication changes appearance."
Emma held her gaze.
"That's what you told her."
Margaret's face tightened.
Adrian stepped forward.
"Did Celeste think someone changed her medication?"
Emma answered carefully.
"She didn't know."
"Then what did she suspect?"
"That she was being given something stronger than she agreed to take."
Margaret's eyes flashed.
"That is an outrageous accusation."
Emma did not raise her voice.
"Celeste wrote 'She knows about the pills.'"
"She could have meant anyone."
Adrian looked at his mother.
"Did you know she stopped taking them?"
Margaret hesitated.
"She complained about them."
"Did you know?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Near the end."
Emma hated that phrase.
"Stop saying that."
Margaret looked at her.
"You have no authority to tell me how to speak."
Emma stepped closer.
"She wasn't a story with an ending you could see coming."
Margaret's mouth hardened.
"She was my son's wife."
"And my sister."
"You barely knew her."
"Maybe that made it easier for her to tell me the truth."
Adrian raised a hand.
"Enough."
He looked exhausted.
Not weak.
Simply older than he had looked that morning.
"Emma, tell me exactly what happened at that last lunch."
Emma sat on the edge of a chair.
She had avoided replaying the memory for years.
Now every detail returned.
"She met me at a diner on West Seventy-Second."
"She ordered coffee and never drank it."
"She kept checking the window."
"She asked whether I still had the envelope she gave me the week before."
Adrian nodded toward the box.
"The letters?"
"Some of them."
"What else?"
"The key."
Emma touched the chain at her neck.
"She told me not to bring it to Vale House unless she called me first."
"Did she call?"
Emma's eyes lowered.
"Yes."
"When?"
"The night before the accident."
Adrian became completely still.
"What did she say?"
"Almost nothing."
Margaret's gaze sharpened.
Emma continued.
"She whispered that Dr. Lane had confirmed something."
"What?"
"She wouldn't say over the phone."
"Why?"
"She thought someone was listening."
Margaret sighed loudly.
"Paranoia."
Emma turned toward her.
"Maybe."
Margaret looked surprised.
Emma continued.
"Maybe Celeste was scared enough to imagine things."
"Or maybe she had reasons."
Adrian leaned against the desk.
"What happened after the call?"
"She said she would meet me the next morning."
"Where?"
"At Blackwood Bank."
Margaret's shoulders stiffened.
Adrian noticed.
Emma did too.
"She never arrived."
Adrian looked toward the sealed bank pouch.
"Because the accident happened that morning."
Emma nodded.
The official timeline had always been simple.
Celeste left the house shortly after eight.
Her car went off a wet road near the river.
Police found no evidence of another vehicle.
The investigation was closed.
Emma had never challenged that conclusion.
Celeste herself had warned Emma not to invent answers without proof.
Adrian looked at the appointment slip again.
"Dr. Lane may know what Celeste was planning."
Margaret said, "If she remembers a patient from three years ago."
Emma replied, "Celeste clearly thought she would."
Adrian opened his laptop.
He searched public medical licensing records.
Rebecca Lane still held an active license in New York.
Her mailing address was a post office box in Beacon.
Adrian stood.
"We're going."
Margaret laughed softly.
"You intend to drive two hours because of a mailing address?"
"Yes."
"While your company is preparing a board vote?"
Adrian's eyes lifted.
"How do you know about the board vote?"
Margaret paused.
Emma watched the shift.
Margaret smiled faintly.
"Because I am still a shareholder."
"The date isn't public."
"Daniel mentioned it."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Daniel disappeared three weeks ago."
Margaret said nothing.
The room went quiet again.
Adrian closed the laptop.
"Emma, get your coat."
Margaret's voice sharpened.
"She is not going with you."
Adrian looked at his mother.
"You are not making decisions for me today."
"And Noah?"
"He stays with Mrs. Bell."
Margaret folded her arms.
"You would leave your son here after accusing me of conspiracy?"
Adrian stopped.
Emma saw the trap.
If Adrian took Noah, Margaret could call it hysteria.
If he left Noah, she could use the decision against him.
Emma stood.
"I'll stay with Noah."
Adrian looked at her.
"But Dr. Lane may recognize you."
"Then video call me if you find her."
Margaret gave a small smile.
Emma knew instantly she had made a mistake.
"No."
Adrian's answer surprised both women.
He picked up his phone.
"Noah is coming with us."
Margaret stepped forward.
"Absolutely not."
"He's my son."
"He has school."
"It's Saturday."
Margaret's jaw tightened.
Adrian looked toward Charles.
"Have the car brought around."
Charles nodded.
Margaret's voice lowered.
"Adrian, think."
"I am."
"About the company."
"I am."
"About your reputation."
"I am."
"About Noah."
Adrian stared at her.
"That's the first thing I'm thinking about."
Margaret did not follow them to the front door.
That worried Emma.
Twenty minutes later, Adrian drove north himself.
He refused the chauffeur.
Noah sat in the back with a tablet and headphones.
Emma sat in the passenger seat.
For the first thirty miles, neither adult spoke.
Finally Adrian said, "Why didn't Celeste tell me she found you?"
Emma looked out at the highway.
"She planned to."
"When?"
"After she knew I was really her sister."
Adrian glanced at her.
"She doubted you?"
"I doubted her too."
Emma smiled sadly.
"We both grew up with incomplete records."
"Our mother left when Celeste was six."
"I was born years later."
"I spent most of childhood in foster homes."
"Celeste was raised by an aunt in Connecticut."
"We didn't know the other existed until an ancestry search matched us."
Adrian gripped the wheel.
"She never told me she was looking for family."
"She was ashamed."
"Of what?"
"Wanting one."
That answer silenced him.
After another mile, Adrian spoke.
"She had a family."
Emma looked at him.
"She had you."
"And Noah."
"Yes."
"But Margaret made her feel like those belonged to the Vale name first."
Adrian flinched slightly.
Emma regretted the sentence.
Then he said, "You're right."
The admission surprised her.
He kept his eyes on the road.
"My mother never said Celeste wasn't family."
"She didn't need to."
Adrian swallowed.
"I traveled too much."
Emma did not comfort him.
Celeste had loved Adrian.
She had also resented his absences.
Both things could be true.
Noah leaned forward between the seats.
"Are we finding Mommy's doctor?"
Adrian glanced at him through the mirror.
"Maybe."
"Will she know Emma?"
"I don't know."
Noah nodded as if that were acceptable.
Then he looked at Emma.
"Mommy said you had the same eyes."
Emma's breath caught.
"When did she say that?"
"On the movie."
Adrian pulled onto the shoulder.
The car stopped.
He turned around.
"Noah, what movie?"
Noah removed his headphones.
"The one in Grandma's room."
Emma stared.
Adrian's face changed.
"What were you doing in Grandma's room?"
"I wasn't."
"Then how did you see it?"
Noah frowned with the concentration of a child trying to explain adult logic.
"Grandma watched it."
"When?"
"A long time ago."
"How long?"
Noah held up three fingers, then four, uncertain.
"Before my birthday."
"Which birthday?"
"The dinosaur one."
Emma remembered photographs from Noah's fourth birthday.
That had been nearly a year ago.
Adrian kept his voice calm.
"What was Mommy saying?"
Noah looked down.
"She said my name."
"What else?"
"She said Emma would come."
Adrian glanced at Emma.
"What else?"
Noah's brow furrowed.
"Grandma got mad."
"At the movie?"
"She turned it off."
Adrian stared at the road ahead.
Emma whispered, "The flash drive."
He nodded.
"If Margaret copied it, she may have another copy."
Noah leaned forward again.
"She put it in the red drawer."
Adrian looked back.
"What red drawer?"
"In her desk."
Emma closed her eyes.
Margaret had been silent because she was calculating.
She had let them leave.
Which meant she had time alone in the house.
Adrian reached for his phone.
He called Charles.
No answer.
He called Mrs. Bell.
No answer.
He called the house line.
No answer.
Emma felt cold.
Adrian tried the security office.
A guard answered.
"Mr. Vale."
"Is my mother in the house?"
There was a pause.
"Mrs. Vale left approximately fifteen minutes ago."
"Alone?"
"Her driver took her."
"Where?"
"I wasn't told."
Adrian looked at Emma.
"Did anyone enter the east wing after we left?"
Another pause.
"I'm checking."
Keys tapped in the background.
Then the guard spoke.
"Sir, the interior camera system is offline."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Since when?"
"Nine minutes ago."
Emma looked at the locket around her neck.
Margaret was not running from the truth.
She was moving ahead of it.
Adrian turned the car back onto the highway.
"Call Charles again."
Emma did.
This time he answered.
His voice was breathless.
"Miss Mercer."
"Charles, are you okay?"
"Yes."
"Where are you?"
"Outside Mrs. Vale's study."
Adrian put the call on speaker.
"Charles, tell me exactly what happened."
"Mrs. Vale opened the wall safe."
Adrian frowned.
"What wall safe?"
"The one behind the portrait."
"I didn't know she had one."
"Neither did I, sir."
Emma's stomach tightened.
"What did she take?"
"A red leather folder."
Noah whispered from the back seat.
"The red drawer."
Adrian looked at him.
Then at Emma.
"Charles, don't touch anything."
"Yes, sir."
"Keep everyone out of the study."
"Of course."
Adrian ended the call.
They were still ninety minutes from Beacon.
Emma looked at the bank pouch in her bag.
"What if Dr. Lane is connected to whatever is in that folder?"
Adrian nodded.
"Then Margaret knows we're looking for her."
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Adrian Vale."
A woman's voice spoke.
"Mr. Vale, my name is Rebecca Lane."
Adrian and Emma looked at each other.
The woman continued.
"I was told someone has been trying to find me."
Adrian tightened his grip on the phone.
"Yes."
"I treated your wife."
Adrian pulled to the shoulder again.
"Can we meet?"
There was a long pause.
Then Dr. Lane said something that made Emma's skin prickle.
"Not if Margaret Vale knows you're coming."
Adrian stared ahead.
"Why?"
Dr. Lane's voice dropped.
"Because three years ago, your wife asked me the same question you are about to ask."
"What question?"
"Whether the medication in her prescription bottle was actually the medication I had prescribed."
Adrian went silent.
Dr. Lane continued.
"It wasn't."
May you like
Page
The Locket Beneath the Staircase
