Chapter 4: The Second Phase
I slept for eleven hours.
When I woke, the room was pale with morning light and there was a tray on the table beside the bed β tea, toast, a small glass of orange juice.
Simple things.
I sat up slowly.
My back was bandaged.
The pain was duller now, pressed down beneath exhaustion and something else I couldn't name yet.
My father was in the chair by the window.
"You didn't sleep," I said.
"I slept in the car."
"That's not the same."
"No," he agreed.
"It isn't."
I poured the tea.
It was still warm.
I looked at him over the rim of the cup.
"Tell me about the second phase."
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"Celeste gave a statement last night blaming Nathan for everything.
The investigators expected it.
They have her on recorded audio contradicting that statement in seventeen separate conversations."
"From my pendant."
"From your pendant, and from four other sources we placed inside Ashford Global over the past two years." He paused.
"One of them was Nathan's own chief financial officer."
I set the cup down.
"Marcus Webb turned?"
"Marcus Webb came to us fourteen months ago.
He realized what Celeste was doing to the company's offshore structure and he didn't want to be standing next to Nathan when it collapsed." My father's expression was neutral.
"He was right to be concerned."
I thought about Marcus β quiet, precise, always slightly uncomfortable at company dinners.
Always watching Celeste with an expression I had read as admiration.
It had not been admiration.
"What happens to him?"
"Reduced charges.
Cooperation agreement.
He'll lose his license and pay a significant fine.
He won't go to prison." My father looked at me steadily.
"I want you to know that was not my decision.
That was the federal prosecutor's agreement.
I had no part in negotiating his terms."
"I know," I said.
"You would have told me."
"Yes.
I would have."
Outside the window, a garden.
Bare trees, winter light, a gravel path leading somewhere I couldn't see.
"Celeste," I said.
"What actually happens to her?"
"The photograph connects her to Douglas Hale's death in Rotterdam.
The Dutch authorities have been notified.
There is an existing file on her from that investigation that was never closed." My father's voice remained even.
"She will face charges here for the financial fraud, the falsified medical records, and the conspiracy to commit fraud using your identity.
When those proceedings conclude, the Dutch authorities have indicated they intend to request extradition."
I looked at him.
"You've been building this for three years."
"You were already inside that marriage when I found the Rotterdam connection," he said.
"I wanted you out immediately.
You refused."
"I needed it to be complete."
"I know." He stood.
Moved to the window.
"You were right.
If we had moved too early, Celeste would have disappeared.
She has done it before.
She is very good at becoming someone else." He turned.
"She did not expect that the woman she was using as a prop would be the one who stayed still long enough to take everything from her."
I looked down at my hands again.
"She called me a prop," I said.
"The night of the charity gala.
She said it to Nathan when she thought I was out of earshot.
She said I was useful furniture."
"I know.
We have the recording."
"I want to hear it used in court."
"You will."
I stood up.
Slower than I wanted to, faster than I probably should have.
My father moved toward me and I held up one hand β not to stop him, just to tell him I had it.
He understood.
He stepped back and let me find my feet.
"There's something else," he said.
I looked at him.
"Nathan's attorney contacted my legal team this morning.
Nathan is requesting a meeting.
Not through official channels.
A direct conversation.
He says he has information about Celeste that is not in any of the existing evidence files." My father's eyes were steady on mine.
"He says he will only give it to you."
The room was very quiet.
"He wants to trade," I said.
"That's my reading."
I walked to the window and stood beside my father.
The gravel path in the garden curved around a bare hedge and disappeared.
"Set it up," I said.
My father was quiet for a moment.
"You don't have to."
"I know." I watched a single bird cross the pale sky above the garden.
"But I want to look at him in a room where he can't touch me.
I want him to need something from me." I turned.
"Set it up."
My father nodded once.
May you like
He picked up his phone.
I finished my tea.
