Chapter 5 - The Woman Nobody Believed
Naomi lowered her phone. “Mrs. Vale gave me the key.”
Adrian looked at the open cabinet, then at the notebook in her hand. “You were suspended. You entered my house without permission and went through my mother’s papers.”
“I came because she asked for help.”
“Celeste says you’ve been feeding my mother frightening ideas.”
His expression tightened. “She has been through a lot. My father died, the estate is complicated, and Celeste has been the only person willing to take responsibility.”
“Taking responsibility isn’t the same as taking control.”
Adrian stepped closer. “You’re a housekeeper. You don’t understand what’s at stake.”
He took the notebook from her. Naomi expected him to throw it away. Instead, he read the first few entries. His face changed at the repeated references to Dr. Halden and the new medication.
Adrian stared at the handwriting. “These notes could have been written during a confused episode.”
“Then why did Celeste destroy the bottle?”
“Adrian? What is she doing here?”
Celeste’s eyes flicked to the notebook. “That’s private family property. She’s been stealing.”
Naomi shook her head. “I took pictures because I knew you’d try to make the notes disappear.”
Celeste went still for half a second. Then she laughed. “You hear that? She thinks she’s a detective.”
Adrian closed the notebook. “Naomi, leave. I’ll look into this.”
Naomi walked out, refusing to let Celeste see her fear. At the gate, she checked her phone. The photographs had uploaded to a secure cloud account, but a new email had arrived from an address she didn’t recognize.
The document named Celeste as temporary trustee if Evelyn was declared mentally incompetent. It carried Evelyn’s signature and the signature of a witness.
The witness was Dr. Peter Halden.
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At the bottom, a note had been typed:
THE WEDDING IS THE DEADLINE.
