Chapter 11: The Woman Behind Northstar
Chapter 11: The Woman Behind Northstar
Federal investigators froze Vale Meridian’s assets.
The board was summoned to an emergency hearing.
Arthur was charged with conspiracy, fraud, bribery, attempted murder, and multiple offenses connected to Eleanor’s death.
Dr. Keller accepted a cooperation agreement.
Marcus remained under guard in the hospital.
But Northstar’s representative had not been identified.
Celeste reviewed the board’s files with Julian and Victoria.
There were twelve directors.
Nine were longtime business allies of Arthur.
Two were retired military contractors.
The final member was Arthur’s younger sister.
Margaret Vale.
Celeste’s aunt.
Margaret had avoided the gala, claiming illness.
She had also managed the Vale Family Trust for twenty years.
Victoria shook her head.
“Aunt Margaret hated Dad.”
“Publicly,” Celeste said.
Margaret had often comforted Celeste as a child.
She brought books, remembered birthdays, and quietly told Celeste that Arthur was too hard on her.
After Eleanor died, Margaret sent Celeste a single message.
Do not come back. Arthur will destroy you.
Celeste had believed it was a warning.
Now she wondered whether it had been a threat.
They visited Margaret’s estate under federal escort.
Margaret welcomed them into a sunroom overlooking the Potomac.
She was sixty, elegant, and completely calm.
“My poor girls,” she said. “Arthur ruined all of us.”
Celeste did not sit.
“Did you send me the gala invitation?”
Margaret poured tea.
“Yes.”
Victoria stared at her.
“You sent the message about Mom?”
“I needed Celeste to come home.”
“Why not contact her directly?”
“Because she would not have trusted me.”
Celeste watched her hands.
No tremor.
No fear.
“You knew about the lighthouse.”
“Eleanor told me.”
“You knew about the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you expose Arthur?”
Margaret smiled sadly.
“Because evidence without timing is wasted.”
Celeste placed a black compass symbol on the table.
Margaret’s eyes dropped toward it.
Only for half a second.
But Celeste saw.
“Northstar,” Celeste said.
Margaret set down the teapot.
“You should be careful using names you don’t understand.”
Victoria stood.
“It’s you.”
Margaret looked at her almost tenderly.
“Sit down, child.”
“I’m thirty.”
“And still a child.”
Celeste stepped between them.
“You recruited Arthur.”
“No. I controlled him.”
The room became silent.
Margaret leaned back.
“Arthur always believed he was the smartest person in any room. Men like him are remarkably easy to direct.”
“You supplied defective materials to the Navy.”
“We supplied what governments were willing to purchase.”
“People died.”
“People always die when empires protect themselves.”
Celeste stared at the woman who had once read bedtime stories beside her bed.
“Did you help kill my mother?”
Margaret’s expression softened.
“Eleanor was my closest friend.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“She discovered the network.”
“And?”
“She planned to expose everything.”
“So you ordered Arthur to silence her.”
“I told him to contain the risk.”
Victoria whispered, “You murdered her.”
“Arthur murdered her. Keller administered the medication. Marcus delivered it. You put it into her water.”
Victoria went white.
Margaret smiled.
“Northstar does not pull triggers. It arranges incentives.”
Celeste’s phone, hidden inside her jacket, transmitted every word to federal agents outside.
Margaret glanced toward the window.
“You can tell your agents to come in.”
Celeste froze.
Margaret picked up a remote.
“I knew you would record me.”
She pressed a button.
Metal shutters slammed over the windows.
The doors locked.
A gas hissed from the ceiling vents.
Victoria panicked.
Celeste grabbed a cushion and pressed it over her sister’s face.
Margaret calmly put on a breathing mask.
“You survived one steel coffin,” she told Celeste. “Let’s see if you survive another.”
Celeste pulled a decorative fire poker from beside the fireplace.
She smashed the glass door leading to the garden.
The glass was reinforced.
It cracked but did not break.
Victoria collapsed to her knees.
Celeste struck again.
Margaret watched.
“Your mother fought too.”
Celeste hit the door a third time.
“She begged Arthur to spare you.”
A fourth strike.
“She believed you would come back and save us all.”
A fifth.
The glass shattered.
Fresh air rushed inside.
Federal agents stormed through the garden.
Margaret raised a small pistol.
Victoria saw it first.
She pushed Celeste aside.
The gun fired.
Victoria fell.
Celeste caught her before she hit the floor.
Blood spread across Victoria’s emerald blouse.
Margaret was tackled by three agents.
Celeste pressed both hands against Victoria’s wound.
“Stay with me.”
Victoria struggled to breathe.
“I finally chose the right side.”
Celeste’s voice broke.
“You don’t get to make one good choice and die. That’s too easy.”
Victoria tried to smile.
“Still bossy.”
Paramedics rushed in.
As they lifted Victoria onto a stretcher, Margaret laughed from the floor.
“You think arresting me ends Northstar?”
Celeste looked at her aunt.
“No.”
Margaret’s smile widened.
Celeste continued.
“But you’re going to give me the names.”
Margaret’s expression turned cold.
“I would rather die.”
May you like
Celeste stood, her hands covered in her sister’s blood.
“Then I’ll make sure you live a very long time.”
