Chapter 15 - What Adrian Didn't Know
Maya found Adrian sitting alone beside the drained swimming pool.
Workers had already removed the stroller.
"You should be with Caleb," she said.
"He's asleep with two officers outside his door."
She sat beside him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Adrian said, "I brought Celeste into his life."
"You didn't know."
"I trusted her."
"Trust isn't a crime. What people do with it is."
He looked at Maya. "Why did you stay after my mother treated you like dirt for two years?"
She gave a tired smile. "Because your son laughed every time I sang badly."
For the first time, Adrian laughed too.
Then Maya remembered something that erased it.
The stroller.
Celeste had unlocked the brake with a silver key.
Why would a stroller brake require a key?
They retrieved the damaged frame from evidence storage.
A technician examined the wheel housing.
It had been modified.
Inside was a remote release receiver.
The silver "key" was actually a transmitter.
"Someone could unlock the wheels from across the yard," the technician said.
Maya frowned. "Then why did Celeste push it herself?"
Brooks answered quietly.
"Because maybe that wasn't the original plan."
They searched the remote's signal history.
One activation had occurred three days before the luncheon.
At 3:14 a.m.
The stroller had been inside Caleb's nursery.
And the nursery monitor showed someone entering at exactly that time.
Not Celeste.
May you like
Adrian stared at the grainy image.
The person was wearing Owen's security uniform.
