Chapter 8 - AUNT CELESTE
Celeste Kane lived in Boston.
Sixty-six.
Adrian’s father’s younger sister.
Elegant.
Educated.
Publicly removed from criminal operations.
She ran museums and charitable trusts.
She also hated Victor.
That fact complicated everything.
Adrian visited without warning.
Celeste opened the door.
Looked at him.
Then at the locket in his hand.
Her face changed.
“You found Nora.”
Adrian went cold.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
The word came too easily.
He entered.
No threats.
No guards inside.
Celeste poured tea as if they were discussing inheritance.
“Where is Evelyn?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew she lived after the crash.”
“Yes.”
“Everyone knew except me?”
“No.”
“How many?”
“Very few.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Enough.”
Celeste explained Evelyn contacted her from Maine because Simon Vale became ill.
He had been diagnosed with cancer.
Evelyn needed someone with money and legal access outside Adrian’s direct chain.
Why Celeste?
Because Evelyn believed Celeste hated the mafia side enough to refuse its pressure.
Correct.
Celeste visited Maine.
Brought cash.
Documents.
Medical care.
She never brought a Kane sedan.
“It was mine on paper.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Stolen?”
“Used without permission.”
“By whom?”
“My driver.”
Name:
Raymond Cole.
Worked for Celeste twenty-two years.
Disappeared two weeks after Evelyn vanished from Maine.
Car recovered abandoned.
Raymond never found.
Celeste believed he sold information.
“To Victor?”
“I thought so.”
Victor denied.
Another layer.
Evelyn disappeared from Maine, but Celeste received one phone call afterward.
Three months later.
Evelyn sounded weak.
Drugged maybe.
She said:
Tell Adrian I chose this until I didn’t.
Adrian stared.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where was the call from?”
“Blocked.”
“Anything else?”
Celeste hesitated.
“She said ‘red house.’”
No context.
Then:
“And she said not to trust a man named Gabriel.”
Adrian knew no Gabriel central to his life.
Roman searched.
Dozens.
Then Elena reacted.
“My mother had a brother.”
Adrian turned.
“Name?”
“Gabriel Castillo.”
Margaret’s brother.
Elena’s uncle.
Estranged.
She had not seen him since childhood.
Occupation?
Private investigator.
Former police detective.
He disappeared from family life twelve years ago.
Margaret rarely mentioned him.
If Evelyn told Celeste not to trust Gabriel, she may have meant Elena’s uncle.
Connection to Margaret.
Connection to Nora.
Connection nobody had examined.
Elena looked horrified.
“I thought he was dead.”
“Why?”
“My mother said he was gone.”
Not dead.
Gone.
Adrian had learned to distrust family euphemisms.
Roman located Gabriel Castillo’s old license records.
Expired.
Then a current property tax account.
Vermont.
A red farmhouse.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
Red house.
The phrase Evelyn used.
Federal authorities? This is fictional private investigation; could involve police. Adrian chooses legal search warrant? Need cause. Better Gabriel is missing person connection, so investigators visit after contacting local sheriff.
They found the farmhouse empty.
Recently.
On one bedroom wall were photographs.
Evelyn.
Nora.
Margaret.
Adrian.
Victor.
Celeste.
Elena.
A giant map of movements over three years.
Someone had been tracking every person connected to Nora.
And in the center:
One handwritten question.
WHICH ONE OF THEM IS NORA SUPPOSED TO REPLACE?
Adrian stared.
Replace?
Not inherit.
Replace.
May you like
The mystery was no longer only about paternity.
Someone believed Nora’s existence changed the Kane succession in a way Adrian himself had never understood.
