Chapter 16 - The Hand She Refused to Drop

For one heartbeat Iris saw her mother on the other side of a locked red door. Then she saw Celeste on the floor, coughing, reaching for her.

"Stay low," Iris called. "Come toward my voice."

The service door was only a few steps from the courtyard. Iris stayed outside the smoky corridor and held out her arm while Adrian braced the heavy door open from the clear side. Celeste crawled toward them, coughing so hard she could barely see. Iris caught her wrist. Adrian pulled with her. Together they brought Celeste into clean air.

Celeste collapsed beside the garden fountain. A firefighter fitted an oxygen mask over her face and checked her breathing. The paramedics took over. Iris backed away, shaking, while Marisol brought her a paper cup of water.

"You didn't have to do that," Marisol said quietly.

"Yes," Iris answered. "I did."

The fire crew emerged ten minutes later with the two missing workers. Both were awake. The captain reported that the fire had been contained to two service rooms. No one was missing.

Celeste reached out from the ambulance stretcher. "Iris."

Iris didn't want to go near her. She went anyway.

Celeste slid a brass key from her purse. "Executive safe. Behind the portrait in my office. Holt said he'd burn the rest if things went wrong."

"The rest of what?"

Celeste's mascara had streaked beneath her eyes. Nothing about her looked glamorous now. "The papers. The real order. The money we paid him. My father said that if I didn't sign, I'd lose everything. I signed."

Iris felt the admission like a blow that finally landed. "Five people died."

Celeste closed her eyes. "I know."

"You don't get to make that sentence smaller."

Iris passed the key to the fire investigator, not Adrian. This was no longer a private family scandal. It belonged to the people who had waited nine years for an answer.

The investigator looked at the key and made a call. A search warrant would be needed for the safe. Celeste said she would give written consent. Across the courtyard, Holt was being led back by officers, his hands secured behind him.

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As he passed the ambulance, he shouted, "Tell them who made you do it, Celeste!"

And Celeste whispered a name Iris had never heard before.