Chapter 2 - The Woman Everyone Was Ready to Believe
By noon, the Vale estate no longer felt like a home.
It felt like a crime scene.
Uniformed officers moved through the hallways.
A forensic technician photographed Evelyn’s bedroom.
Another sealed Naomi’s quarters.
Staff members whispered behind closed doors.
And Celeste sat in the library beneath a cashmere blanket while Adrian held a glass of water she never drank.
Naomi sat alone in the morning room.
Officer Mercer had not arrested her.
But he had also not allowed her to leave.
That distinction did not comfort her.
A female detective arrived shortly after twelve-thirty.
Her name was Lena Brooks.
Forty-something.
Dark coat.
No wedding ring.
Eyes that looked tired in a way Naomi trusted.
Brooks entered carrying a thin notebook.
“Naomi Carter?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Detective Brooks.”
Naomi nodded.
Brooks sat opposite her.
“I’ve read Officer Mercer’s notes.”
“Then you’ve read Celeste’s story.”
“I’ve read everybody’s story.”
Naomi liked that answer.
Brooks opened her notebook.
“Let’s talk about yours.”
Naomi repeated everything.
Again.
Slowly.
Precisely.
Brooks rarely interrupted.
When Naomi finished, the detective tapped her pen against the notebook.
“You’ve worked here eleven years?”
“Yes.”
“Any disciplinary issues?”
“No.”
“Arguments with Mrs. Vale?”
“Yes.”
Brooks looked up.
Naomi almost smiled.
“She hated throwing anything away.”
Brooks waited.
“I once threw away a broken electric kettle.”
“What happened?”
“She made me pull it out of the trash because she insisted her late husband had bought it.”
“And?”
“It leaked.”
“Did you keep it?”
“For six more years.”
Brooks’s mouth twitched.
“Anything more serious?”
“No.”
“Money problems?”
Naomi’s expression cooled.
“Everybody who works for a living has had money problems.”
Brooks nodded.
“Fair answer.”
She turned a page.
“Do you have access to Evelyn Vale’s medication?”
“Yes.”
“Financial papers?”
“Sometimes.”
“Her bedroom?”
“Of course.”
“Her stationery?”
“Yes.”
“Her signature?”
“I’ve seen it thousands of times.”
Brooks leaned back.
“That creates a problem.”
“For me.”
“Yes.”
Naomi nodded.
“I know.”
Brooks studied her.
“Ms. Arden says you’ve disliked her since she became engaged.”
“That’s not true.”
“You like her?”
“No.”
Brooks waited.
Naomi continued.
“I didn’t dislike her when she became engaged.”
“When did you?”
“When she started lying.”
Brooks’s pen stopped.
“What lies?”
Naomi looked toward the door.
“Are you asking because you want to know?”
Brooks raised an eyebrow.
“Why else would I ask?”
“Because I’ve spent most of this morning listening to people ask questions they’ve already decided the answers to.”
The detective considered that.
Then she closed her notebook.
“Tell me what you noticed.”
Naomi looked at her carefully.
Then she made a decision.
“Six weeks ago, Mrs. Vale started complaining about dizziness.”
Brooks reopened the notebook.
“She blamed her blood pressure medication.”
“Was it the medication?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“Because the dizziness happened mostly after dinner.”
Brooks wrote.
“Then she started forgetting meetings.”
“How old is Mrs. Vale?”
“Seventy-two.”
“Any cognitive diagnosis?”
“No.”
“Any memory problems before this?”
“She once reminded Adrian about a tax filing he had mentioned eleven months earlier.”
Brooks looked up.
“So no.”
“No.”
Naomi continued.
“Three weeks ago, she missed a board video call.”
“Reason?”
“She was asleep.”
“Unusual?”
“At three in the afternoon?”
“Yes.”
Naomi nodded.
“Very.”
Then she described the pills.
The wine.
The nighttime visit from Dr. Voss.
The scratched file cabinet.
The missing paperwork.
The 2:13 a.m. visit to the upstairs study.
Detective Brooks stopped writing.
“You saw Ms. Arden enter the study?”
“Yes.”
“What was she doing?”
“She carried a flashlight.”
“Did you confront her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to know what she was looking for.”
Brooks studied her.
“What was she looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not a satisfying answer.”
“It’s the truthful one.”
Brooks nodded.
“What did Mrs. Vale say about any of this?”
Naomi hesitated.
Brooks noticed.
“What?”
“Three nights ago she told me something.”
“What?”
Naomi repeated Evelyn’s warning.
“If something happens to me, don’t trust the crying.”
Brooks’s pen stopped again.
“She said those exact words?”
“Yes.”
“Did she name Celeste?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me she needed another day.”
“Another day for what?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Brooks leaned back.
“And today?”
Naomi thought of Evelyn’s fingers tightening around hers.
“Blue room.”
“What?”
“She whispered ‘blue room’ before the ambulance left.”
Brooks frowned.
“What is the blue room?”
“A guest bedroom in the original west wing.”
“Who uses it?”
“Nobody.”
“Why would she mention it?”
“She also said ‘ledger.’”
Brooks went still.
“You didn’t tell Officer Mercer this.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Celeste was still inside the house.”
Brooks held her gaze.
“So you think there is evidence in this blue room.”
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t you gone after it?”
“Because I’m sitting here.”
For the first time, Brooks smiled.
Only briefly.
Then the door opened.
Adrian entered without waiting.
He looked exhausted.
“Detective.”
Brooks stood.
“We’re not finished.”
“I need two minutes.”
Brooks looked at Naomi.
Naomi nodded.
The detective left.
Adrian closed the door.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Naomi had known him since he was twenty-seven.
She had seen him furious.
Drunk once.
Heartbroken after his father died.
Terrified during Evelyn’s pneumonia.
She had never seen him look at Naomi the way he looked at her now.
Like he wanted desperately to believe her.
And did not know whether he could.
“They found medication in your room.”
“I know.”
“And my mother’s financial records.”
“I know.”
“And that note.”
“I know.”
Adrian walked toward the window.
“Tell me what I’m supposed to think.”
Naomi stared at him.
“That’s not my job.”
He turned.
“Naomi.”
“You asked what you’re supposed to think.”
Her voice hardened.
“I’ve spent eleven years taking care of this family.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you asking me whether I wrote a note about making your mother stop fighting?”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t say you wrote it.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Adrian rubbed both hands over his face.
“Celeste says you’ve been acting strange.”
Naomi almost laughed.
“What does that mean?”
“That you watch her.”
“I do.”
“That you follow her.”
“Sometimes.”
Adrian stared.
“You admit that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody has been drugging your mother.”
The room changed.
Adrian went completely still.
“What?”
Naomi stepped closer.
“You heard me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You just accused Celeste.”
“I accused somebody.”
Adrian shook his head.
“You should have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Four weeks ago.”
He frowned.
Naomi continued.
“You were leaving for Zurich.”
Adrian remembered.
“You told me Mom was tired.”
“I told you she was unusually tired and that her medication schedule had changed without written instructions.”
“You didn’t say you thought someone was drugging her.”
“Because I didn’t know then.”
Adrian looked sick.
Naomi softened slightly.
“Your mother knew something was wrong.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell me?”
“Because she loved you.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense when the person you suspect is the woman your son plans to marry.”
He turned away.
Naomi watched his shoulders tighten.
“You think Celeste was drugging her.”
“I think Celeste has been lying about why she enters this house at night.”
“She lives here.”
“Not in the west study at two in the morning.”
Adrian looked back.
“What west study?”
Naomi told him.
His expression changed.
“My father’s trust files are in there.”
Naomi nodded.
“I know.”
Adrian walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To the study.”
Naomi caught his arm.
“No.”
He looked down at her hand.
Then at her.
“If Celeste has been inside, she already knows what’s there.”
“That’s not why.”
“Then why?”
Naomi lowered her voice.
“Because she knows I saw something under Evelyn’s bed.”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
Naomi unfolded the napkin she had hidden inside the serving cart before entering the morning room.
The silver capsule lay inside.
Adrian stared at it.
“What is that?”
“I found three empty shells like this in the outside trash eleven days ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
“I’m telling Detective Brooks.”
Adrian looked at the capsule.
“What’s inside?”
“Nothing now.”
“Can it be tested?”
“Maybe residue.”
Adrian lifted his eyes.
“What medication is silver?”
“I don’t know.”
A sharp sound came from the hallway.
Something dropped.
Naomi and Adrian both turned.
The door opened.
Celeste stood there.
She had heard enough.
Her face was pale.
Then she looked at the napkin in Naomi’s hand.
“What is that?”
Adrian’s expression became unreadable.
Naomi folded the napkin.
“Something you missed.”
Celeste’s eyes locked onto hers.
For one second, raw hatred showed.
Then the mask returned.
Celeste looked at Adrian.
“Your mother is asking for you.”
He moved immediately.
“She’s awake?”
“The hospital called.”
Adrian left.
Celeste stayed.
Naomi and Celeste were alone again.
Celeste stepped closer.
“You think you’re clever.”
Naomi said nothing.
“You have no idea what that capsule proves.”
Naomi’s heartbeat kicked.
Celeste smiled.
“Or whose fingerprints are on it.”
Then she walked away.
Naomi watched her disappear down the hallway.
Detective Brooks returned seconds later.
“What happened?”
Naomi handed her the napkin.
Brooks examined the capsule without touching it.
“Where did you get this?”
Naomi explained.
Brooks called for an evidence bag.
Then Naomi remembered Celeste’s exact words.
Whose fingerprints are on it.
Not whose medication.
Not what it contained.
Whose fingerprints.
Naomi looked toward the ceiling.
Security cameras covered nearly every public hall in the Vale estate.
Almost every one.
She turned to Raymond Pike.
“Raymond.”
The security chief looked at her.
“Pull the camera feed from outside my room.”
His expression tightened.
“I already tried.”
Naomi’s stomach dropped.
“What do you mean?”
“The system lost twelve minutes.”
“When?”
Raymond swallowed.
“Between 6:41 and 6:53 this morning.”
Naomi stared.
Celeste had entered Evelyn’s bedroom at approximately 6:55.
Someone had planted the evidence in Naomi’s room minutes before the attack.
Brooks asked the obvious question.
“Who can disable the camera system?”
Raymond looked toward the hallway.
“Me.”
“Anyone else?”
He hesitated.
“Adrian.”
“Anyone else?”
Raymond’s silence lasted too long.
“Raymond.”
Naomi’s voice hardened.
He finally answered.
“Dr. Voss was issued emergency administrator access after Mrs. Vale’s medical incident last year.”
The room went silent.
Naomi suddenly understood why Malcolm Voss had been standing in the foyer before anyone told him where Evelyn was being taken.
He had not come because Celeste called him.
He had already been waiting nearby.
Then Raymond’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed almost immediately.
“What?”
Naomi stepped closer.
Raymond listened for several seconds.
Then he slowly lowered the phone.
“Mrs. Vale went into cardiac arrest.”
Adrian shouted from the hallway.
Celeste began sobbing again.
And Naomi remembered Evelyn’s warning.
Don’t trust the crying.
This time Naomi didn’t.
Because through the glass doors of the morning room, she saw Celeste turn away from Adrian.
May you like
And smile.
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