Chapter 6 — The Name in the File
The accusation followed Celeste into the night.
After the agents finished searching the estate, Admiral Reed drove her to a secure government residence outside the city.
Neither spoke for several miles.
Finally, Celeste turned toward him.
“Is it true?”
Reed kept his eyes on the road.
“What Julian said?”
His silence was answer enough.
Celeste’s voice tightened.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Reed pulled into an empty overlook and switched off the engine.
Rain moved across the windshield.
“Evelyn and I met at the Naval Academy,” he said. “Long before Arthur Vale. She wanted to serve, but her father became ill, and she returned home.”
Celeste stared at him.
“Were you in love with her?”
“Yes.”
The word landed softly.
That made it hurt more.
Reed removed a small metal case from his coat and handed it to her.
Inside was an old photograph.
A young Thomas Reed stood beside Evelyn on a pier. She was laughing, one hand resting over the slight curve of her stomach.
Celeste could not breathe.
“Did you know?”
“Not until years later.”
“Am I your daughter?”
Reed’s eyes filled with something she had never seen in them before.
“I believe so.”
“Believe?”
“Evelyn wrote to me after your birth. She said Arthur knew you might not be his, but he agreed to raise you. Then she asked me never to contact you.”
Celeste looked back at the photograph.
All her life, Arthur had punished her for resembling her mother. For asking questions. For refusing to obey.
Now she understood there had been something else.
Every time Arthur looked at her, he saw another man’s child.
“Why didn’t you tell me when I joined the Navy?”
“I didn’t know you were Celeste Vale. You enlisted under your mother’s maiden name.”
“Rowan.”
Reed nodded.
“By the time I learned the truth, you were already an officer under my command. Revealing our possible relationship could have destroyed your career.”
“So you protected the institution.”
“I protected the career you earned.”
Celeste shut the case.
“I needed a father when I was nineteen.”
“I know.”
“You gave me a salute instead.”
Reed accepted the blow without defending himself.
Then his phone rang.
He listened briefly and handed it to Celeste.
Moreno’s voice came through.
“Julian gave us the location of Arthur’s private records. But there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone arrived before our team.”
Celeste’s grip tightened.
“The files are gone.”
May you like
Moreno paused.
“And Martin Crewe has disappeared.”
