Chapter 6 - the woman in the pink dress)
Celeste contacted Ava the next morning.
Not Julian.
Not police.
Ava.
The call came from a blocked number.
Ava answered under Detective Walsh's supervision.
"Hello?"
For three seconds there was silence.
Then Celeste spoke.
"You broke my door."
Ava almost laughed.
"Your door?"
"You know what I mean."
"Where are you?"
Celeste ignored the question.
"You think you saved him."
Ava's hand tightened around the phone.
Detective Walsh sat across from her, listening through an audio feed.
"What does that mean?"
"It means Julian will destroy you before Sebastian ever has to."
Ava looked at Walsh.
"Why?"
"Because you still think Julian is innocent."
The detective made a small gesture.
Keep her talking.
Ava leaned back.
"Innocent of what?"
Celeste laughed softly.
"Ask him why Richard changed the trust."
"I know why."
"No, you know the version Julian tells people."
Ava said nothing.
Celeste continued.
"Ask what happened the night Sebastian was accused."
"What happened?"
"Your ex-husband signed the report."
"Because Sebastian stole money."
"Did he?"
Ava's stomach tightened.
Celeste's voice became quiet.
"You want to know the funniest part? Sebastian spent years believing Julian betrayed him. Julian spent years believing Sebastian hated Owen because of the trust. Neither brother understood why Richard really chose your son."
"What are you talking about?"
"Richard knew something."
"What?"
"About Owen."
Ava stood.
Walsh shook her head sharply.
Ava forced herself to remain calm.
"He's three years old."
"He was not born when the trust was written."
Ava remembered Julian's explanation.
The trust had specified Julian's first biological child.
"Then what did Richard know?"
Celeste whispered, "That Julian would have a son."
The call ended.
Ava stared at the phone.
Walsh immediately signaled technicians.
"Trace?"
A man wearing headphones shook his head.
"Internet relay. Dead connection."
Julian arrived twenty minutes later.
Ava repeated the conversation.
His expression shifted when she mentioned Richard's certainty about a son.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
"Your father wrote the trust before Owen existed."
"He wrote it to benefit my first child."
"Celeste said son."
Julian frowned.
"Maybe she was trying to unsettle you."
"It worked."
Marcus entered carrying a file.
"I may know what she meant."
Everyone looked at him.
He placed an old medical folder on the table.
"Richard Mercer hired a private reproductive genetics firm seven years ago."
Ava blinked.
"What?"
Julian stared at Marcus.
"How do you know that?"
"We found payments while reviewing historical corporate accounts linked to Sebastian."
Ava felt suddenly uncomfortable.
"What does reproductive genetics have to do with Sebastian stealing money?"
"Maybe nothing."
Marcus opened the folder.
"The payments went to Northstar Genomics."
Julian's eyes narrowed.
"I know that name."
"Your company acquired some of their patents."
"Years later."
Marcus nodded.
"Northstar offered high-end fertility screening, embryo testing and hereditary disease analysis."
Ava looked at Julian.
"We never used a fertility clinic."
"I know."
"Owen was conceived naturally."
"I know."
"Then why was your father paying them?"
Nobody answered.
Marcus turned another page.
"Richard made twelve payments."
"Before Owen was born?" Ava asked.
"Yes."
"Before Julian and I were even married?"
"Some of them."
Ava felt cold.
Julian picked up the file.
"What did they test?"
"Records are sealed."
"Open them."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because Northstar shut down five years ago."
Ava stared at him.
"Shut down?"
"After a federal investigation."
"For what?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Unauthorized genetic testing."
The room went silent.
Julian closed the folder slowly.
"What kind?"
"Private DNA samples acquired without informed consent."
Ava stood.
"Whose DNA?"
"We don't know."
"Richard's?"
"Possibly."
"Julian's?"
Marcus did not answer.
Ava turned toward Julian.
His expression told her he was asking himself the same question.
Detective Walsh entered from the hallway.
She had been on another call.
"We found Celeste."
Everyone looked at her.
"Where?"
"Not Celeste herself. Her car."
"Where?"
"Underground parking garage near Logan Airport."
Ava's heart sank.
"Did she fly?"
"No record."
"Then where is she?"
Walsh placed photographs on the table.
The first showed Celeste's white luxury sedan.
The second showed the interior.
On the passenger seat lay the floor-length pink dress she had worn on the night Owen was locked outside.
The third showed a dark stain across the dress.
Ava stared.
"Is that blood?"
"We're testing it."
Julian went pale.
Walsh added another photograph.
A piece of paper lay beneath the dress.
Three handwritten words.
SHE TALKED TOO MUCH.
Julian looked at Ava.
The same thought passed between them.
May you like
Celeste had stopped being only a suspect.
She might now be a target.
