Chapter 25 - CELESTE SAYS WHY SHE NEEDED TO KNOW
Celeste testified.
Her lawyer began with legitimate work.
Museum fundraising.
Hotel heritage restoration.
Donor retention.
Events that raised millions for public arts programs.
True.
She had built real things.
Then her fear.
Mother’s business collapse.
Stephen’s efforts to reduce her role.
My board memo.
Journalists.
Donors.
She said:
“I felt decisions about me were happening everywhere except in front of me.”
That was probably true.
“Did you want to steal from guests?”
“No.”
“Blackmail anyone?”
“No.”
“Sell information?”
“No.”
“Then why enter rooms?”
“To understand what was happening before decisions were final.”
“Did you believe that was authorized?”
“At first I believed executive discretion covered it.”
“Did Adrian authorize?”
“No.”
“Stephen?”
“No.”
“Board?”
“No.”
The word authorization collapsed.
Then Emma.
“Did you intend to injure her?”
“No.”
“Was the passage dangerous?”
“I believed it was inactive and safe.”
“Why put her there?”
Celeste began crying.
“She would not give me the doll.”
“Did you know evidence was inside?”
“No.”
“What did you know?”
“That Dana had hidden something.”
“How?”
“Jonah told me Dana had been asking about old badge logs again.”
There.
Jonah had warned Celeste.
Another failure.
“And?”
“I saw Dana had visited Maren. I knew Maren repaired Birdie. I asked Emma. She got defensive.”
“She was four.”
“I know.”
“Did she know what was inside?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Why assume?”
“Because she kept saying Birdie was secret.”
Children call pockets secret.
Boxes secret.
Under beds secret.
But Celeste had already entered a fear loop.
Then the prosecutor.
“You used anonymous credentials because you hated being the last person to know?”
“Yes.”
“You entered Beatrice Hall’s suite?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“Did she authorize?”
“No.”
“Matthew Kane’s suite?”
“Yes.”
“Leah Sandoval’s office?”
“Yes.”
“My client? No, prosecutor says Adrian’s office?”
“Yes.”
“Why not simply ask what people thought?”
Celeste looked almost angry.
“People lie.”
“Did you?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
“Did you think rules changed because you suspected someone else was dishonest?”
“No.”
“Yet you entered.”
“Yes.”
Then Birdie.
“What did Emma say when you tried to take the doll?”
“That it was hers.”
“Was she correct?”
“Yes.”
“Did she say she knew about the USB?”
“No.”
“Did you put her inside the maintenance passage?”
“Yes.”
“Lock it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted her to stop screaming.”
The courtroom went still.
The prosecutor continued.
“And tell you what was inside.”
“Yes.”
“Could she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did that matter?”
Celeste cried.
“No.”
There.
“What mattered?”
“That I know before Adrian did.”
The sentence came quietly.
Not planned.
More honest than anything her lawyer wanted.
The prosecutor waited.
“Why?”
Celeste looked at me.
“Because once he knew, I knew how he would look at me.”
I did not move.
She continued.
“I thought if I could get the drive first, I could explain before he saw it.”
“Explain what?”
“That the entries were not what Dana thought.”
“Were they?”
Silence.
“Some were.”
“Then?”
Celeste’s voice broke.
“I needed to control the first version.”
There.
Not just information.
Narrative.
She had spent years making sure she knew first so she could act first.
The USB threatened to reverse the order.
I would know before she could shape the meaning.
So she locked a child behind metal.
The prosecutor asked one final question.
“Who was the greatest threat to your family in that hallway?”
May you like
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Me.”
