Chapter 13 - Celeste Arrives
Celeste drove to the house before investigators located her.
She entered through the garage carrying a document case.
She stopped when she saw federal agents in the living room.
Then she noticed Frank.
For the first time, Sarah saw the woman who had designed her marriage from a newspaper article.
Celeste was fifty-eight, elegant, and calm.
She looked nothing like the unstable thief Derek described.
She looked like Beatrice had in another kind of family.
Polished.
Certain.
Practiced at making cruelty sound reasonable.
“This has become unnecessarily dramatic,” Celeste said.
Leah stared at her.
“You helped him lock me in a room.”
“I told him to keep you calm.”
“He took my shoes.”
Celeste looked at Derek with irritation.
“That was foolish.”
Not cruel.
Not criminal.
Foolish.
Frank asked:
“Did you target my daughter for Michael’s benefits?”
Celeste smiled faintly.
“Your son’s death created a poorly managed financial structure.”
Frank stepped closer.
Agents shifted, ready.
He stopped himself.
“My son’s death created grief. You saw an account.”
Celeste placed the document case on the table.
Inside were legal papers.
She claimed Sarah had authorized every transfer.
Investigators examined the signatures.
Some were genuine.
Sarah remembered Derek placing papers beneath routine tax documents.
He had not forged everything.
He had manipulated her into signing.
Celeste believed that technical consent would protect them.
Then Leah produced the recording of Derek saying:
“She earns what she gets.”
Celeste’s face changed.
May you like
The fraud might be argued.
The coercion could not.
