Chapter 6 - The Mistress Who Wanted Protection
Celeste entered with both hands raised.
Her black cocktail dress was hidden beneath a man’s overcoat.
One heel was broken.
Blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.
Mercer kept his gun trained on her.
“Stop.”
She stopped.
“Are you armed?”
“No.”
“Turn around.”
She obeyed.
Mercer searched the coat pockets and found two phones, a flash drive, a hotel key, and a folding knife.
“That isn’t mine,” Celeste said.
“It was in your pocket.”
“The coat isn’t mine.”
“Whose is it?”
“Adrian’s driver.”
I stepped closer.
“Where is Samuel?”
Her eyes met mine.
“I don’t know.”
“You were wearing my robe an hour ago.”
“And now people are trying to kill me. It has been a difficult evening.”
Julian moved between us.
“Why did you put evidence in my house?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“I can tell you, but not while he is here.”
She looked at Mercer.
He did not lower his weapon.
“You were the last known person seen with Lillian Hart,” he said.
Celeste’s face changed.
“She is alive.”
Mercer’s arm remained steady, but his eyes sharpened.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer will not help you.”
“I helped her leave the resort.”
“Through which exit?”
“The old delivery tunnel under the east wing.”
“There is no tunnel on the building plans.”
“Because it was sealed when the hotel was renovated. Lillian found it in archived construction records.”
“What happened after she entered it?”
“She gave me a bag and told me to deliver it to Mara.”
I looked at her.
“You never delivered anything.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night of the retreat.”
“I was unconscious.”
“I know.”
Celeste glanced toward the dark window.
“Adrian and Cross took you into room 314. Malcolm was already inside.”
“What did they do?”
“I saw Cross set up a camera. Adrian placed documents on the table.”
My throat tightened.
“They recorded me signing.”
“Yes.”
“Did you enter the room?”
“No. Lillian did.”
Mercer stepped closer.
“What happened to her?”
“She confronted Adrian. She said she had copied the Halcyon files.”
“Then?”
“Malcolm hit her.”
“With what?”
“A glass decanter.”
The blood on my blouse.
I saw a fragment of memory.
Lillian falling against me.
My hands catching her.
Red spreading across white fabric.
Adrian shouting.
Celeste continued.
“You were barely conscious, but you tried to help her. Cross injected you again.”
“Did Malcolm kill Lillian?” I asked.
“No. She was alive when I moved her.”
“You moved an injured woman instead of calling police?”
“Malcolm was a former federal prosecutor. Adrian controlled the company. Cross had medical records declaring both Lillian and Mara unstable. Who would the police believe?”
Mercer’s expression hardened.
“They might have believed physical evidence.”
“Like the evidence now hidden in Julian’s basement?”
She looked toward him.
“That box was assembled after the retreat. Adrian kept it in a storage unit.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw the passports.”
“Why were they created?”
“To make it look as though Mara and Lillian planned to steal company funds and disappear.”
Nina spoke from behind the desk.
“Why would the blouse have both women’s DNA?”
“To establish they were together after the money was transferred.”
“Why hide it at Julian’s house?”
“Because Adrian needed a believable place where Mara could store evidence outside the penthouse.”
Julian’s voice was cold.
“How did he enter my home?”
“He didn’t. Rachel’s assistant did.”
Julian froze.
“Rachel doesn’t have an assistant.”
Celeste looked confused.
“The woman who helps with her charity events. Blonde. Mid-thirties.”
“Danielle?”
“I don’t know her name.”
Danielle Price had worked with Rachel for nearly a year.
She had access to their house during fundraising preparations.
Julian immediately called Rachel.
The call went unanswered.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Mercer holstered his gun but remained near Celeste.
“Where did Lillian go after the tunnel?”
“She had arranged a vehicle.”
“Driven by whom?”
“I never saw the driver.”
“You expect us to believe you helped a bleeding woman escape and then returned to the party?”
“I returned because Adrian would know I helped her if I disappeared.”
“Why help her at all?”
Celeste’s voice lost its confidence.
“Because she was my sister.”
No one spoke.
Celeste sat in my father’s leather chair.
“Our mother remarried when I was six. Lillian stayed with our biological father. I took my stepfather’s surname. Most people never knew we were related.”
“Did Adrian know?” I asked.
“Not at first.”
“When did he learn?”
“After he promoted me.”
“You entered Vale Global because of Lillian?”
“She asked me to.”
The affair took on a different shape.
“You slept with my husband as part of an investigation?”
Celeste looked away.
“It didn’t begin that way.”
“How did it begin?”
“Adrian noticed me. Lillian told me to use it.”
“And you enjoyed using it.”
Her silence was answer enough.
I stepped toward her.
“You sent photographs from my bedroom. You wore my clothes. You insulted me.”
“I needed you to leave before Adrian sedated you again.”
“You could have called me.”
“He monitored your calls.”
“You could have approached me at the gala.”
“Malcolm’s people were there.”
“You could have written one honest sentence.”
“And would you have believed your husband’s mistress?”
“I might have believed evidence.”
“The photographs made you check the cameras. The blue folder made you inspect the trust. The insult made you act immediately.”
“You expected me to discover the financial records in a few hours?”
“I expected you to do exactly what you did.”
Her certainty irritated me because it was accurate.
Mercer held up the flash drive found in the coat.
“What is this?”
“Lillian’s insurance.”
He inserted it into an offline laptop.
The drive contained one encrypted video file and a text document.
The document displayed a single sentence.
The password is the name of the woman Adrian buried before Mara.
I looked at Celeste.
“What woman?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Lillian never explained it.”
Nina began testing names connected to Adrian’s past.
Former employees.
Former girlfriends.
Business partners.
None opened the file.
Mercer examined the hotel key.
“Which room?”
“Hotel Cresswell. Room 812.”
“Who is there?”
“No one now.”
“What was there?”
“A copy of Adrian’s private ledger.”
“Was?”
“I went to retrieve it after leaving the penthouse. Someone reached the room first.”
“Samuel?”
“Possibly. The corridor camera was disabled.”
Julian’s phone rang.
Rachel.
He answered immediately.
Her voice was loud enough for us to hear.
“Julian, Danielle is here.”
His expression changed.
“Where?”
“In the kitchen. She says the police asked her to bring some documents.”
“Leave the house.”
“Why?”
“Take the children and leave now.”
A woman spoke in the background.
Calm.
Friendly.
“Rachel, tell him everything is fine.”
May you like
Then Rachel screamed.
The call disconnected.
