Chapter 12 - A Table by the Window
The restaurant was half empty.
Bennett’s team had set the conditions for the meeting.
I followed their instructions.
No private room.
No second location.
No touching anything Celeste brought.
She was already seated by the window when I arrived.
Dark sweater.
Simple earrings.
No ring.
Without the diamonds, she looked less different than I expected.
That bothered me.
I wanted evil to announce itself.
Instead, it looked like a woman checking the time.
“You look tired,” she said.
“My father nearly died.”
She folded her hands.
“He’s always been fragile.”
“Funny. Before he met you, he ran five miles on Saturdays.”
She glanced toward the bar.
I sat down.
“Where are the documents?”
“In a safe place.”
“Then this was a short meeting.”
I started to stand.
“Sit down, Evelyn.”
There was the voice Maria knew.
I stayed on my feet.
Celeste lowered hers.
“I’m offering you a way out.”
“Of what?”
“A public investigation into a foundation with your signature all over its records.”
“Signatures can be forged.”
“People can also lie about signing things.”
I sat again.
“Daniel help you with that?”
For the first time, she lost the next sentence.
Only a beat.
But I saw it.
Then she smiled.
“You’ve been busy.”
“Does my father know you’re married?”
“Your father knows what he wants to know.”
I kept my hands flat in my lap.
“What did you give him before the cake?”
Her face went still.
“I didn’t give him anything.”
“Then why tell him to hide the blue pill case?”
“You read his messages?”
“He was unconscious.”
She looked toward the bar again.
I followed her glance.
A man in a gray coat stood near the entrance.
Daniel.
He saw me recognize him.
Celeste leaned forward.
“Here’s what happens now. You leave your phone. We walk outside. We finish this somewhere quiet.”
“No.”
Her expression hardened.
“You don’t understand how much your father has to lose.”
I held her gaze.
“You keep saying that like he’s the one who should be afraid.”
Daniel started toward us.
Two plainclothes officers moved first.
May you like
Celeste looked from them to me.
Then she reached for her bag.
