Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Cameras
Brent’s chair rolled backward.
“I can explain.”
Julian’s lawyer closed the office door.
“Start.”
Brent looked at Celeste.
That was enough.
Celeste snapped, “Don’t look at me.”
Mara folded her arms.
“Interesting advice.”
Brent rubbed both hands over his face.
“She asked me to disable the west-hall feed for five minutes.”
Rachel said, “Why?”
“She said she wanted privacy for a surprise.”
Julian’s voice was ice. “You disabled security during a forty-person event because my fiancée wanted a surprise?”
“She said it was for you.”
Celeste laughed sharply. “He’s lying.”
Brent looked at her.
“You paid me five thousand dollars.”
Silence.
Mara watched Celeste’s eyes.
No panic now.
Calculation.
“Cash?” Julian asked.
“Wire.”
“From where?”
Brent hesitated.
Julian leaned closer.
“From where?”
“An Ashford Foundation account.”
Celeste’s expression changed again.
“That proves nothing. I reimburse staff constantly.”
“For secretly disabling cameras?” Rachel asked.
Celeste turned on her. “Stay out of this.”
Rachel’s mouth opened.
Julian’s did not.
He looked at Mara instead.
“Did you know about any of this?”
“No.”
“Did you take the necklace?”
“No.”
“Did you know Celeste told me she rescued me?”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
Julian believed her.
She could see it.
That should have felt like relief.
Instead it terrified her.
Celeste had spent eleven years protecting one lie. People did not protect old lies this hard unless the truth was connected to something bigger.
Julian pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling Detective Moreno.”
Celeste stepped in front of him.
“You’re calling police on me at our engagement dinner?”
“I’m calling police about a staged theft inside my home.”
Her eyes filled.
“After everything I’ve done for you?”
Mara flinched at the sentence.
Celeste saw it.
Then she smiled.
Small.
Cruel.
She reached into her clutch and removed an old newspaper clipping.
Mara knew the photograph before she saw the headline.
MODEL QUESTIONED IN JEWELRY THEFT.
Celeste laid it on the desk.
“She isn’t some innocent maid you discovered tonight,” she said. “She has been following me for years.”
“That’s a lie,” Mara said.
Celeste pulled out another page.
A copy of Mara’s employment application to Vale House.
Then another.
A photograph of Mara standing outside a restaurant where Julian and Celeste had eaten three months earlier.
Mara’s stomach dropped.
She had never seen the picture.
Celeste looked at Julian.
“She didn’t accidentally get a job here.”
May you like
Julian stared at the photograph.
And for the first time since the necklace was found, doubt entered his face.
