Chapter 6 - Celeste’s First Lie
Celeste denied giving any order to hurt Laura.
“Yes, I spoke to Samuel.”
She stood inside the library surrounded by police.
“But you are deliberately interpreting fragments.”
Mark laughed.
“Please interpret ‘you know what has to happen’ for us.”
“He meant the records.”
“What records?”
“The duplicate.”
Claire watched Celeste carefully.
“You helped Samuel search for it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Celeste looked ashamed.
“Because the duplicate included proof of my theft.”
“So you were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Gordon was in Laura’s car?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was alive after the crash?”
“No.”
Henry stared at her.
“Did my father ask you to destroy evidence?”
“Yes.”
David swore softly.
“What did you destroy?”
“Foundation files.”
Mark stepped closer.
“How many?”
“Boxes.”
“Anything related to the trust?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
Celeste turned toward Claire.
“I have done things I regret.”
“That is not the same as telling the truth.”
“No.”
Celeste’s expression changed.
“But I did not put that wire on the stairs.”
Claire believed that much might be true.
The conspiracy surrounding Laura was eighteen years old.
The attack on Claire was current.
Someone was reviving old secrets.
Or using them.
Detective Torres asked:
“Why was Nolan’s fingerprint on the tripwire?”
Celeste looked surprised.
“I don’t know.”
Nolan was brought back for questioning.
His explanation was strange.
“I touched that wire weeks ago.”
David stared.
“The exact wire used today?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would you touch loose steel wire?”
Nolan rubbed his face.
“There was a spool in the greenhouse security cabinet.”
Mark frowned.
“Security cable.”
“Yes.”
“Why was it there?”
“For repairs.”
Torres asked:
“Who had access?”
“Maintenance.”
“Gordon?”
“Technically.”
“Celeste?”
“Yes.”
“Henry?”
“Yes.”
“Mark?”
“No.”
Mark gave David a look.
David ignored him.
Nolan continued.
“Last month I moved the spool.”
“That could explain your print.”
“Yes.”
“Or you installed the tripwire.”
“No.”
Claire asked:
“Did someone tell Rosa to watch Mark?”
Nolan froze.
Rosa stared.
The answer was obvious.
“Nolan?”
He looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
David stepped forward.
“You told her Mark was dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I received an anonymous warning.”
Claire frowned.
“What warning?”
Nolan retrieved his phone.
Three nights ago:
MARK KNOWS ABOUT THE TRUST. WATCH HIM AROUND CLAIRE.
Claire stared.
Someone had been positioning Mark as the suspect before the attack.
“Why didn’t you tell David?”
“I thought it was internal family tension.”
Mark laughed bitterly.
“So you secretly instructed staff to watch me?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at Rosa.
“That’s why you noticed him near the staircase.”
Rosa nodded slowly.
The realization hit everyone simultaneously.
The person who planted the tripwire may have known Rosa was watching Mark.
They wanted her to accuse him.
Mark was being framed.
That did not prove innocence in everything.
But it changed the morning entirely.
Then Claire remembered something.
“Mark.”
He looked at her.
“The photograph you received.”
“What about it?”
“Why send it to you?”
He frowned.
“To scare me?”
“No.”
Claire looked around.
“If someone wanted us to believe Mark planted the wire, why warn Mark beforehand?”
David understood.
“They wanted him here.”
“Exactly.”
The cutters.
His sudden appearance.
Rosa primed to suspect him.
Mark’s motive through inheritance.
Someone assembled the scene.
Mark whispered:
“I was supposed to walk into the trap.”
Claire nodded.
“And I was supposed to fall.”
David’s face hardened.
“One dead pregnant woman.”
“One guilty brother,” Mark said.
“And one devastated husband,” Claire added.
Henry sat heavily.
“What happens to the trust then?”
Everyone looked at him.
Claire asked:
“If I died before Sunday?”
Henry hesitated.
“The transition fails.”
“And control remains with Celeste?”
“Yes.”
Celeste shook her head.
“That isn’t enough motive for me to murder her.”
Mark looked at her.
“Nine hundred million says otherwise.”
Celeste glared.
But Claire was thinking differently.
“What happens to David?”
Henry answered.
“He remains primary heir.”
“And Mark?”
“Secondary.”
“What if Mark is convicted of murdering me?”
“He could be disqualified.”
Claire looked toward David.
“Then who becomes next in succession if David has no living child and Mark is disqualified?”
Henry went silent.
Celeste looked down.
David noticed.
“Dad.”
Henry answered:
“Samuel’s collateral line.”
“What does that mean?”
Henry’s voice lowered.
“My sister’s descendants.”
Mark frowned.
“You told us Aunt Eleanor never had children.”
Henry looked toward Gordon’s empty chair.
“She did.”
Silence.
David whispered:
“What?”
“A son.”
“Who?”
Henry closed his eyes.
“Gordon Shaw.”
Claire felt the entire story turn.
Gordon was not merely the family attorney.
Not merely Celeste’s half brother.
He was Henry Mercer’s cousin.
A blood Mercer descendant.
Mark understood first.
“If Claire dies…”
Henry nodded.
“If Mark is convicted…”
David completed it.
“And if something happens to me…”
Nobody spoke.
Because Gordon Shaw would become the closest eligible male descendant outside their branch.
The anonymous message suddenly made sense.
SUNDAY BELONGS TO THE FIRST SON.
Claire had assumed it referred to her unborn child.
Maybe it did not.
Maybe it referred to Samuel Mercer’s oldest surviving male line.
Gordon.
Then David’s phone rang.
His assistant.
He answered.
“What?”
His face changed.
“When?”
Claire stood.
“What happened?”
David ended the call.
“The board received documents.”
“What documents?”
“Evidence that I diverted trust money.”
Mark stared.
“Greyhaven?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-one million.”
Claire whispered:
“Your signature.”
David nodded.
Someone was not only attacking Claire.
May you like
They were removing every person standing between Gordon and the trust.
And it had begun years before she became pregnant.
