Chapter 6 - THE COMPANY ATTORNEY
The stolen hard drive contained copies.
Amelia had placed the original files inside the digital recorder.
Detective Ortiz found the hidden memory card beneath the battery compartment.
Celeste and Richard had risked returning for evidence that could not save them.
They still possessed the brass key, false passports, and forged medical documents.
More importantly, Graham Pike remained free.
The family attorney had spent twenty-eight years handling Whitmore contracts, estates, and confidential settlements.
He knew every private account.
He knew every weakness.
Ethan returned to the mansion shortly before dawn.
Sophie refused to sleep in her nursery.
She sat on the library couch wearing Amelia’s old blue sweater.
Nora had found it in the bedroom closet.
The sleeves hung past Sophie’s hands.
Ethan sat beside her.
“We found what Mom hid.”
“Was she scared?”
“Yes.”
“Did Celeste scare her?”
Ethan chose his words carefully.
“Your mom discovered that Celeste and Richard were lying.”
“She tried to protect us.”
Sophie looked at the photograph.
“I heard Richard tell Celeste that Mom ruined everything.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Before she put you in the suitcase?”
Sophie nodded.
“They were in Mom’s room.”
“Richard said the picture would take them to the real files.”
“Celeste said Mommy should have died without leaving clues.”
Ethan felt anger rise again.
He kept his voice gentle.
“Did they say anything else?”
“They said Mr. Pike was waiting at the airport.”
The private airfield had reported no departure under Pike’s name.
However, Blackstone owned several aircraft through shell companies.
Detective Ortiz began checking every nearby runway.
Nora brought coffee to Ethan.
She looked exhausted.
“There is something I should have told you.”
Ethan turned toward her.
“Amelia asked me to follow Celeste before the accident.”
“Why?”
“She saw Celeste meet Richard at a hotel.”
“Nora, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Amelia wanted proof.”
“She was afraid you would confront Richard too early.”
Nora had followed Celeste to Graham Pike’s office.
She saw Celeste enter through a private garage.
Two hours later, Celeste left carrying Sophie’s medical records.
Amelia planned to approach federal investigators the following week.
She died before she could do it.
“Did Amelia leave anything else with you?”
Nora looked toward Sophie.
“A bank key.”
Ethan stood.
“The brass key?”
“No.”
“A different one.”
Nora removed a thin silver key from a chain around her neck.
Amelia had given it to her three days before the crash.
She said it opened a deposit box that should only be accessed if Sophie’s photograph was threatened.
The box belonged to a private bank in Manhattan.
Ethan examined the number stamped on the key.
B-417.
Detective Ortiz entered the library.
“We found Pike.”
“Where?”
“His aircraft landed at a private field in Vermont.”
“He was not on it.”
“Who was?”
“A woman using Celeste’s false passport.”
Ethan looked toward the staircase.
Celeste had been seen at Blackstone less than an hour earlier.
The passenger in Vermont could not have been her.
Richard and Celeste had created another identity using the same photograph.
Detective Ortiz placed an enlarged airport image on the table.
The woman resembled Celeste, but she was older.
Nora stared at the picture.
“I know her.”
“Who is she?”
“She worked as Amelia’s private nurse during the final months before the accident.”
Her name was Dr. Evelyn March.
She had disappeared immediately after Amelia’s death.
May you like
Sophie slid off the couch.
“That’s the lady who told Celeste where Mommy hid the picture.”
