Chapter 3: The Girl in the Photograph
Celeste followed Arthur into the private library while federal agents secured the ballroom.
Admiral Reed and Agent Hale joined her.
Arthur opened an antique safe behind a portrait of Celeste’s grandmother.
Inside was a faded photograph.
Four children stood beside a lake.
Celeste recognized herself, Victoria, and Julian.
The smallest girl was Eleanor.
On the back, someone had written:
She survived. Keep her hidden.
Celeste felt the room tilt.
Eleanor had been seven when the family announced she had drowned during a summer holiday.
Celeste remembered the empty coffin.
She remembered Arthur forbidding anyone from opening it.
“What did you do to her?” Celeste asked.
Arthur poured himself another drink.
“She was unstable.”
“She was a child.”
“She heard things she was not supposed to hear.”
Arthur explained that Eleanor had witnessed him bribing a shipping inspector after a fatal dock accident. She had repeated the conversation to their grandmother.
To protect the company, Arthur had sent her to a private institution under another name.
Victoria entered the library.
“You promised never to tell her.”
Celeste looked at her sister.
“You knew?”
Victoria’s voice cracked.
“I was fourteen. Father said Eleanor needed treatment.”
“For sixteen years?”
Victoria said nothing.
Arthur turned to Celeste.
“If Eleanor is alive, your controlling shares remain divided. You cannot remove me without her vote.”
Celeste picked up the photograph.
“Where is she?”
Arthur smiled.
“I no longer know.”
Agent Hale stepped forward.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It is the truth. The facility closed eight years ago. Records disappeared.”
Celeste studied her father carefully.
He was lying, but not entirely.
Someone else had moved Eleanor.
A sound came from the doorway.
Celeste’s mother, Margaret Ashford, stood there trembling.
For years she had remained silent while Arthur ruled the family.
Now tears filled her eyes.
“I know where Eleanor is.”
Arthur’s glass stopped halfway to his lips.
Margaret looked at Celeste.
“She has been living less than twenty miles from this house.”
May you like
Then she added the words that shattered the family again.
“And Victoria has been paying to keep her silent.”
