Chapter 5 - The Woman Before Celeste.
Ethan laughed when Bell told him.
It was not because anything was funny.
It was the sound a person made when a new injury landed on top of one that had not stopped bleeding.
"Of course she does."
Bell closed the laptop.
"You don't believe her."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Anna and I had problems, but we did not lie about the important ones."
Bell looked at him for a moment.
"Everybody says that after someone dies."
Ethan met her eyes.
"I know."
That answer seemed to earn him a little more attention.
They returned to the mansion after two in the morning.
Sophie was asleep on the sofa in Ethan's library with Mrs. Alvarez sitting beside her.
A blanket covered the child to her shoulders.
Anna's photograph was still in her hand.
Ethan stood in the doorway for several seconds before entering.
Mrs. Alvarez rose quietly.
"She asked me not to take it away."
"I won't."
"She also asked if you were coming back."
Ethan swallowed.
"What did you tell her?"
"That her father always comes back."
He looked at the older woman.
Mrs. Alvarez had worked for the family since Sophie was an infant.
She had known Anna.
She had distrusted Celeste from the beginning without ever saying enough to give Ethan a reason.
He suddenly wondered how many warnings he had dismissed because they arrived as discomfort instead of evidence.
"Did you know Celeste was going into Anna's room?"
Mrs. Alvarez looked down.
"I suspected."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did."
Ethan stared at her.
"When?"
"Last Christmas."
His mind searched.
Then he remembered.
Mrs. Alvarez had mentioned that objects in the east hall were being moved.
Celeste had laughed and said the staff was becoming territorial.
Ethan had told them both he did not want household drama during the holidays.
Shame rose into his throat.
"I thought you meant cleaning schedules."
"I know."
Mrs. Alvarez did not say it cruelly.
That made it worse.
Bell entered behind him.
"Mr. Vale, Celeste is ready to speak with you present if you want to hear her statement."
Ethan looked at Sophie.
He wanted to stay beside her.
He also needed to hear the lie from the person telling it.
Mrs. Alvarez touched his sleeve.
"I'm staying here."
Ethan followed Bell to the formal dining room.
Celeste sat at the long table wearing a borrowed coat over her silk robe.
She had asked for clothes and been told her bedroom was temporarily restricted while officers documented potential evidence.
Her humiliation seemed to offend her more than the investigation.
A uniformed officer stood near the door.
Bell took the chair across from Celeste.
Ethan remained standing.
Celeste looked at him.
"You look terrible."
He almost admired the instinct.
Even now, she tried to move him into the familiar role of defensive husband.
"Tell me about Anna."
Celeste's eyes shifted to Bell.
Bell nodded.
"You said you knew Mrs. Vale before her death."
Celeste folded her hands.
"My name was Claire Arden."
Ethan had expected denial until the last possible second.
The admission was somehow worse.
It meant Celeste had known from the moment she entered the mansion that one honest sentence could have changed everything.
He remembered their first dinner.
She had asked about Anna carefully, never too much.
She had told him grief did not have a timetable.
He had thought the kindness came from maturity.
Now he wondered how many details Richard had given her beforehand.
"What did Richard tell you about me before we met?"
Celeste looked down.
"Your schedule."
"What else?"
"Your routines."
"What else?"
"That you hated being pitied."
Ethan's throat tightened.
"What else?"
"That Sophie missed having a woman around."
The room went silent.
That answer was not strategy on paper.
It was a map of his loneliness.
Richard had not merely introduced them.
He had briefed Celeste on how to become necessary.
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"I worked for a London consulting group that Richard used on international trust matters."
"What consulting group?"
"Harcourt Meridian."
Bell wrote it down.
"Why did you change your name?"
"I wanted a new life."
"Was Claire Arden accused of a crime?"
"No."
"Was Claire Arden sued?"
"No."
"Was Claire Arden involved romantically with Richard Cole?"
Celeste looked at Ethan.
"Briefly."
The word struck him with surprising force.
"How briefly?"
"Two years."
Ethan laughed once.
"So when Richard introduced us and told me he had barely met you..."
"He lied."
"And you?"
"I let him."
"Why?"
Celeste leaned back.
"Because you would never have spoken to me if you knew."
"That would have been my decision."
"Yes."
Her answer was calm.
"That was exactly the problem."
Bell intervened before Ethan responded.
"What was your connection to Anna?"
Celeste's composure shifted.
"Anna discovered Richard was moving money through consulting contracts."
Ethan frowned.
"From where?"
"Not your company."
"Then where?"
"Her family trust."
Ethan felt his stomach drop.
Celeste continued.
"Small amounts at first."
"Small compared to what?"
"Two hundred thousand here, three hundred thousand there."
Bell's pen stopped.
"That is not small."
"In that trust, nobody noticed immediately."
Ethan stared at Celeste.
"You helped him."
Her silence answered.
"You helped Richard steal from Sophie's inheritance."
"It was not Sophie's then."
"It was Anna's family money."
"I know."
"You say that like knowing makes it better."
Celeste's mouth tightened.
"I stopped."
"When Anna caught you?"
"When I realized Richard would never stop."
Bell leaned forward slightly.
"What did Anna do?"
"She contacted me."
Ethan looked at her sharply.
"Why?"
"She wanted evidence against Richard."
"You expect me to believe Anna recruited the woman helping steal from her?"
"She offered me immunity through her lawyers if I gave her everything."
"Which lawyers?"
"Not Richard."
Celeste almost smiled.
"She was not stupid."
Ethan hated hearing admiration in her voice.
"What does any of this have to do with Anna leaving me?"
Celeste looked directly at him.
"She was afraid you would protect Richard."
"That's a lie."
"You trusted him more than anyone."
"That doesn't mean I would choose him over my wife."
"She wasn't sure."
Ethan's chest tightened.
Celeste pressed.
"You were fighting that summer."
Every marriage had memories outsiders could weaponize.
Ethan remembered late nights.
Arguments about his travel.
Anna accusing him of living inside Vale Capital because business problems were easier than emotional ones.
He remembered sleeping in the guest room twice.
He remembered apologizing badly.
He remembered Anna telling him she was tired of being alone while technically married.
Celeste saw the memories on his face.
"She had papers drafted."
"No."
"She did."
"Divorce papers?"
"A separation agreement."
Bell asked, "Do you have it?"
Celeste hesitated.
"It was in the blue box."
Ethan stared at her.
"The box Richard burned."
"Yes."
Bell's eyes narrowed.
"That is convenient."
Celeste turned to Ethan.
"She did not trust you with the truth."
The sentence landed exactly where Celeste intended it to.
Ethan felt it.
He also recognized the tactic now.
He pulled out Anna's letter.
"She trusted me enough to leave this."
Celeste looked at the paper.
For the first time, anger overtook calculation.
"You think that makes you special?"
"No."
Ethan's voice was quiet.
"I think it makes you afraid."
Celeste's eyes flashed.
"You have no idea what Anna was capable of."
"Then tell me."
"She recorded people."
Bell stopped writing.
"Who?"
"Richard."
"Anyone else?"
Celeste looked toward the library doors.
Then back to Ethan.
"Me."
Ethan remembered the black flash drive from the safe.
Bell had sent it to digital forensics.
Celeste saw recognition cross his face.
"You found it."
Ethan did not answer.
Celeste gave a small, exhausted laugh.
"Anna always needed an insurance policy."
"Maybe because she was surrounded by people stealing from her."
"You were not innocent either."
The words came quickly.
Bell watched Ethan.
He felt anger rise.
"What did I do?"
Celeste leaned forward.
"You signed the original authority that let Richard review her trust structure."
Ethan's mouth went dry.
That part was true.
Three and a half years earlier, Anna had asked him to find someone to simplify her family holdings.
Ethan had recommended Richard.
He had signed an authorization allowing Richard's firm access to documents.
He had opened the door.
Celeste saw the realization.
"Anna blamed you."
Ethan's voice dropped.
"She could blame me and still love me."
Celeste looked away first.
Bell's phone vibrated.
She read the message.
Her expression changed.
"What?" Ethan asked.
Bell stood.
"We located the original crash report from Anna's accident."
Ethan's heart stopped for half a beat.
"And?"
"The version in the county file says mechanical failure was considered and ruled out."
"That's what I was told."
Bell looked at him.
"The insurance archive has an earlier engineering report."
Ethan waited.
"It says the rear brake line showed evidence of deliberate scoring."
Celeste closed her eyes.
Ethan turned toward her.
May you like
She whispered before anyone asked the question.
"Richard told me he had taken care of it."
