Chapter 14 - Celeste Kane's Confession.
Gabriel said nothing for so long that Celeste finally asked if the call had dropped.
"I'm here," he said.
His voice had become dangerously calm.
"Tell me everything."
Celeste inhaled shakily.
"Not over the phone."
"You called me."
"Because Creed knows I ran."
"Where are you?"
"St. Agnes Church in New Canaan."
Gabriel turned toward Luca.
Luca was already grabbing his coat.
"Stay there," Gabriel told Celeste.
"I don't think I have long."
The line ended.
Norah looked at him.
"Could be another cloned voice."
"Yes."
"And you're still going."
"Yes."
"You really learned nothing from me."
"I learned to bring you."
Emily shook her head.
"Absolutely not."
Gabriel looked at her.
"You don't give orders here."
"Neither do you."
Norah held up both hands.
"This family reunion is already exhausting enough."
They compromised by splitting into two vehicles and using no phones once they left Queens.
Emily stayed with the microfilm copy at a secondary location.
Owen remained with her.
Gabriel, Norah, and Luca drove north.
The sun had begun to rise behind low gray clouds.
Norah had not slept since the penthouse sofa.
Her eyes kept closing in the back seat.
Gabriel noticed.
"Sleep."
"Not this again."
"You are no use to me unconscious."
"That argument did not stop you before."
"Before, you were safer."
Norah looked at him.
"Was I?"
Gabriel had no answer.
She leaned against the window instead of him.
Ten minutes later, the road vibration won.
Her head tipped sideways.
Gabriel quietly moved his folded coat between her temple and the glass.
Luca saw in the mirror.
He wisely said nothing.
St. Agnes sat on a wooded hill beyond a stone cemetery.
No cars were parked near the church.
Gabriel woke Norah gently.
"We're here."
She blinked at him.
"How long?"
"Twenty-three minutes."
"You counted?"
"No."
Luca coughed.
Norah looked at Gabriel.
"You absolutely counted."
They entered through the side chapel.
Celeste Kane sat alone in the second pew.
She was sixty-eight, silver-haired, elegant, and smaller than Norah expected.
Gabriel stopped halfway down the aisle.
"Aunt Celeste."
She turned.
Tears appeared immediately.
"You look like your father."
Gabriel did not soften.
"You said you built Meridian."
Celeste looked at Norah.
"Daniel's daughter."
Norah nodded.
"You knew him?"
"I helped ruin him."
Norah's stomach tightened.
Gabriel sat beside his aunt.
"Start at the beginning."
Celeste folded her hands.
"Your grandfather's construction company nearly collapsed in the recession."
"Samuel Creed offered contracts."
"Government work, guaranteed financing, political protection."
Gabriel's face hardened.
"And the price?"
"We submitted false vendors through our books."
"Meridian."
"At first it was small."
"Then Creed learned legitimate businesses could hide almost anything if the invoices looked boring enough."
Norah thought of the three million dollars.
"My father found it."
Celeste nodded.
"Daniel came to us believing Gabriel's father was behind the network."
"He wasn't?"
"He knew some of it, but Creed controlled the real system."
Gabriel stared at her.
"Did my father know you were involved?"
Celeste looked away.
"Eventually."
"And?"
"He wanted me gone."
"From the company?"
"From the family."
Gabriel stood.
Norah saw the hurt beneath his anger.
Celeste continued before he could walk away.
"Daniel and you tried to collect enough evidence to turn Meridian over to federal investigators."
Gabriel looked at Norah.
"I met your father twice."
Norah remembered the altered photograph.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the first meeting lasted eleven minutes and the second ended with him telling me to forget his name if I wanted him alive."
"He died anyway."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
Celeste wiped her eyes.
"Creed found out about the evidence."
Norah leaned forward.
"Did Creed kill him?"
Celeste hesitated.
"Creed ordered the car tampered with."
Norah closed her eyes.
The answer she had wanted for years felt worse when spoken aloud.
"And my mother?"
Celeste looked confused.
"Your mother?"
"The house fire six years ago."
Celeste went pale.
"That wasn't Creed."
Norah stared at her.
"How do you know?"
Celeste's hands began shaking.
"Because Creed was in federal custody that week."
Gabriel looked sharply at her.
"Under what name?"
"Simon Mercer."
Norah's heart stopped for one beat.
Mercer.
Victor Mercer.
Gabriel's CFO.
Celeste saw recognition on their faces.
"Samuel Creed had a son."
"His real name was Victor Creed."
The church doors slammed open behind them.
Luca turned.
Three men entered wearing dark coats.
Celeste whispered one final sentence.
Celeste did not immediately explain the connection to Victor.
Instead, she reached inside her handbag and removed an old photograph sealed in a plastic sleeve.
She handed it to Gabriel.
The picture showed Celeste in her twenties beside Samuel Creed.
Between them stood a dark-haired boy of perhaps eight.
Gabriel stared at the child.
The resemblance was unmistakable now that he knew to look for it.
Victor's eyes.
Victor's mouth.
Even the slight tilt of his head when he disliked being photographed.
"His name was Vincent when he was born," Celeste said.
"Samuel changed it to Victor later."
Gabriel's grip tightened around the photograph.
"Why hide him from us?"
"Because your grandfather would have destroyed me if he knew I had a child with Creed."
"So you let Creed raise him?"
Celeste's eyes filled.
"For a while."
"And then?"
"I tried to take him back."
Norah watched the older woman's hands shake.
"Creed had already taught Victor that family was leverage."
Celeste continued.
"He told the boy I abandoned him. He told him the Kanes had everything because we had stolen what should have belonged to him."
Gabriel looked away.
The story was ugly enough to sound true.
Norah asked,
"When did Victor join Gabriel's company?"
"After Samuel disappeared from public life."
"Did you arrange it?"
Celeste shook her head.
"Victor applied under the Mercer name. I recognized him only after Gabriel promoted him."
Gabriel turned back.
"And you said nothing."
"I was afraid telling you would push him back toward Creed."
"So instead you let him control my money for fourteen years."
Celeste flinched.
Norah stepped in before Gabriel's anger swallowed the conversation.
"Did Victor know you knew?"
Celeste nodded.
"He confronted me five years ago."
"What did he want?"
"The original Meridian ledger."
Emily was not there to hear it, but Norah immediately thought of her.
Victor had been searching for the same ledger Emily carried.
That did not prove partnership.
It proved motive.
Celeste looked toward the church doors.
"I told him Daniel Vale had destroyed it."
"He didn't believe me."
"What happened after that?" Norah asked.
Celeste whispered,
"He stopped calling me Mom."
The church became silent.
Then a shadow passed beneath the front doors.
Luca immediately turned.
Celeste grabbed Gabriel's sleeve.
"You need to understand one thing before they come in."
Gabriel looked down at her.
May you like
Celeste's voice barely carried.
"Victor is the contingency trustee."
