Chương 10
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No,” Celeste said. “You do not have to decide how scared to be. That is my job.”
Oliver looked back at the ferry.
“You’re bad at it.”
“I have been.”
The next morning, Detective Price asked Celeste to come to the precinct.
The interview room contained a metal table, four chairs, and a wall painted a color meant not to be remembered. Price placed the prescription bottle inside a clear evidence bag.
“Is this yours?”
“It was.”
“Seventeen tablets were originally dispensed. Eleven remain.”
“I stopped taking them after six.”
“So the count is consistent with your use.”
“Yes.”
“Did you dispose of the rest?”
“I told a housekeeper to clear the bathroom cabinet when we moved.”
“Name?”
“Marisol Vega.”
“We spoke with her. She remembers packing toiletries into a box for the family office.”
Celeste’s stomach tightened. “Beatrice supervised the family office.”
“Several people had access.”
“Her included.”
Price placed a photograph on the table. It showed the inside of the bottle cap. A faint line of dark residue marked one edge.
“Laboratory testing found traces of the same substance detected in Oliver’s blood,” she said. “That does not tell us who administered it.”
“Did you find it in the glass?”
“Yes.”
Celeste exhaled.
Price continued. “We also found your fingerprints on the bottle.”
“Of course. It was mine.”
“And a partial print that may belong to another person. It is not currently sufficient for identification.”
“What about Beatrice?”
“We cannot compel every person in your family to provide prints because a ring appears in a video.”
“She put the bottle in my bag.”
“The footage shows a woman placing an object in or near your clutch. The object is obscured.”
“Elias saw her prepare the drink.”
“Mr. Reed saw her standing near it. He did not see her add a substance.”
“Oliver did.”
“Oliver described a small brown bottle and a sound. His statement matters. It is not the only evidence we need.”
Celeste leaned forward. “What are you waiting for?”
“Records. Access logs. Additional interviews. A complete timeline.”
“She is selling the land in eleven days.”
Price’s expression remained unreadable. “That is not a criminal deadline.”
“It is her reason.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Money can be motive. Control can be motive. Fear can be motive. Family resentment can be motive. The presence of a motive does not prove the act.”
“What would prove it?”
Price sat back. “People imagine investigations as a line toward certainty. Mostly they are piles. Some facts support each other. Some facts damage the facts beside them. Eventually the pile may stand.”
“And until then?”
“Until then, do not confront her alone. Do not access accounts you are not authorized to access. Do not make public claims. Do not let anyone persuade Oliver to repeat his statement for cameras.”
Celeste looked away.
Price noticed. “Someone has suggested that?”
“Malcolm says a brief video of Oliver saying he is well would calm donors.”
“Do not do that.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
Price gathered the photographs.
“Commander Voss says Graham asked him to maintain hidden recording backups.”
“Yes.”
“Did your husband often bypass policies?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hide financial decisions?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ever use medication without telling you?”
Celeste’s head turned.
“What are you asking?”
“We found messages between Graham and a private physician from two years ago. He requested prescriptions for anxiety and sleep.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Beatrice did.”
The room became very quiet.
Price placed another document on the table. Graham’s name appeared at the top of a pharmacy record.
“The bottle found in your clutch was yours,” she said. “But Beatrice’s attorneys may argue Oliver accessed medication left by either parent. They may argue the drink contamination occurred accidentally after the tablet was carried in his hand.”
“He did not carry it.”
“I know what he reported.”
“You think Graham gave it to him?”
“I think your family has many ways to explain one bottle.”
Celeste pressed her palm to the table.
Graham had hidden treatment from her. The discovery should not have surprised her. He had hidden debts, fears, meetings, the trust draft, and the private camera request. He had considered secrecy a temporary tool even when it lasted for years.
Price’s voice softened slightly. “Mrs. Marlowe, uncertainty is not the same as disbelief.”
“It feels similar from this side.”
“I know.”
Celeste laughed without amusement. “Everyone keeps saying that.”
Outside the precinct, reporters waited behind metal barriers. Celeste used a side exit and found Adrian standing beside a black sedan.
“I did not ask you to come.”
“Detective Price did.”
“Why?”
“She believed you might confront Beatrice.”
“I’m going home.”
Adrian opened the rear door.
Celeste did not enter.
“Did you know about Graham’s prescriptions?”
“Yes.”
The honesty made her angrier than a lie.
“How much did he tell you?”
“He had panic attacks after the company investigation. He did not want Beatrice to know the severity.”
“She knew.”
“She arranged the physician.”
“Of course she did.”
A bus moved through the intersection, spraying water from an earlier street cleaning. Celeste stepped back from the curb.
“Was he using them when he died?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever ask?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He told me to mind the cameras.”
Celeste stared at him.
Adrian looked older without his uniform. Silver at his temples had become more visible, and fatigue had drawn lines from his nose to his mouth.
“I should have told you,” he said.
“Which thing?”
“Any of it.”
“That would have required deciding I could survive information.”
“I believed I was respecting his confidence.”
“You were protecting a dead man from his wife.”
“At first, I was protecting a living man from embarrassment.”
“And after?”
“After, I was ashamed I had waited.”
Celeste looked through the sedan window at the empty back seat.
May you like
“Why are you helping me now?”
Adrian’s answer came slowly. “Because I watched your son fall beneath a camera I installed at his father’s request, and for several seconds I was relieved the camera had worked.”
