Chapter 9 - Celeste’s First Lie
Celeste finally told the truth about Malcolm Voss.
Not all of it.
But enough.
Five years earlier Snowhaven Ridge faced a major capital problem.
A new high-speed gondola had run over budget.
An avalanche-control upgrade became mandatory after state review.
Two weak winters reduced revenue.
Victor refused to sell equity.
Celeste found Blackpine.
“I thought I was saving us,” she said.
Laura sat across from her in Harris’s living room.
Caleb was elsewhere with Mark.
Mr. Harris recorded the conversation openly.
“No secret recordings anymore,” he said.
Celeste almost smiled.
“I introduced Voss to Grant. They built the financing.”
“Did Dad approve?”
“The first loan, yes.”
“North Peak?”
“No.”
“When did the fraud start?”
“About three years ago.”
“Who suggested it?”
“Grant.”
“Who agreed?”
Celeste looked down.
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To avoid breaching lender covenants.”
“And then?”
“We moved money.”
“To yourselves.”
“Yes.”
“How much did you personally take?”
“Two point six million.”
Laura stared.
Celeste continued quickly.
“Some was compensation I genuinely believed Dad owed me.”
“You paid yourself secretly.”
“Yes.”
“And the AlderWest seven million?”
“I never received it.”
“But you signed for it.”
“Yes.”
“What were you going to do with it?”
Celeste’s face hardened.
“Leave.”
Laura was surprised.
“Leave Snowhaven?”
“Yes.”
“After sixteen years?”
“After Dad humiliated me.”
There was the motive.
Not merely greed.
Escape funded by revenge.
Celeste explained that after Victor discovered North Peak, he removed her from several accounts.
Then he changed the estate.
“I had given him my entire adult life.”
Laura answered quietly.
“And he discovered you were stealing.”
“I know.”
“You keep telling the story like those events are unrelated.”
Celeste looked away.
Laura pushed.
“Why did you tell Caleb his mother hid something in the sled?”
“Grant told me you had moved the evidence.”
“I didn’t know it existed.”
“I know that now.”
“Why did he think I did?”
“Victor’s last calendar entry said: ‘Laura — sled.’”
Laura remembered the last time she visited Victor.
Caleb had brought the red sled.
Victor spent an hour repairing its runner.
She had thought nothing of it.
Victor must have hidden the compartment then.
“What exactly did Dad discover before he died?”
Celeste hesitated.
“He found the Blackpine side letter.”
“The one Grant has?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“A voice recording.”
“Of whom?”
“Grant and Voss.”
“About the eastern ridge?”
Celeste shook her head.
“About Dad.”
Laura’s chest tightened.
“What about him?”
“They discussed having him declared incompetent.”
Laura stopped.
The false neurologist report.
Not merely to challenge the inheritance after death.
They had planned to remove Victor while he was alive.
“Why?”
“To make me temporary managing member.”
“And you knew?”
“No.”
Laura studied her.
Celeste’s outrage looked genuine.
“Grant never told me.”
Another reversal.
Grant had used Celeste’s resentment while preparing to control her too.
Celeste whispered, “He needed my name. Bennett. The staff trusted me. The board trusted me.”
Laura said, “You did the same thing to Caleb.”
Celeste flinched.
“I know.”
The door opened.
Maya entered carrying financial reports.
“We found Grant’s exit plan.”
She placed documents on the table.
Grant had purchased a $3.8 million home in the Cayman Islands through a trust.
He had transferred nearly $5 million offshore.
And he had purchased a one-way private aviation charter scheduled for the night after Victor’s probate hearing.
Celeste stared.
“He was leaving.”
“Yes.”
“With whose money?”
“Everyone’s.”
Maya showed them another document.
Grant had drafted an agreement assigning most North Peak liability to Celeste.
If investigators found the fraud, Grant intended to claim Celeste directed everything.
Celeste sat motionless.
Laura watched the realization.
The man she had trusted had prepared to destroy her.
Then Maya said:
“There’s more.”
Grant maintained a private insurance policy on Victor.
Five million dollars.
Beneficiary: North Peak Management.
Laura frowned.
“Can a company insure Dad?”
“With consent and an insurable interest, sometimes. We haven’t authenticated it.”
Celeste looked horrified.
“I never knew.”
Laura’s mind moved immediately toward Victor’s death.
He had died at seventy-two after a reported heart attack in his private suite.
Natural causes.
No autopsy.
Laura felt cold.
“Did Grant profit when Dad died?”
Maya nodded.
“The policy paid.”
Silence.
May you like
Laura whispered:
“Call the sheriff.”
