Chapter 14 - Grace’s Missing Notebook
Grace stood in the middle of her apartment surrounded by open drawers.
Police photographed the scene.
Nathan arrived after she called.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she told him.
“Probably.”
“You attract cameras.”
“Definitely.”
The missing notebooks covered Mara’s final year.
No jewelry taken.
No cash.
No electronics.
Only the logs.
“That means someone still cares what you remember,” Nathan said.
Grace folded her arms.
“Or wants to frighten me.”
“Are you frightened?”
“Yes.”
He respected the answer.
“Do you want security?”
“I want competent security.”
Nathan almost smiled.
“Fair.”
The apartment building camera recorded a masked person entering through the garage.
Vehicle plates were unreadable.
But the intruder used a cloned maintenance credential.
The company that maintained the building’s access system also serviced Cole Maritime headquarters.
Naomi traced the subcontractor.
One employee had previously worked for Damon Pike.
Pike denied ordering the burglary.
Celeste denied everything.
Then Grace remembered she had photographed several notebook pages months earlier when insurance investigators requested crew records.
The images remained in cloud storage.
One entry mattered.
Sept 9, 9:45 p.m. — D.P. asked whether aft tender fueled. Celeste called twice.
Another:
Sept 10, 2:03 a.m. — Celeste aboard. Changed clothes in guest suite. Left carrying blue folder?
Nathan stared.
“Celeste came aboard after Pike returned.”
Grace nodded.
“I didn’t see her personally. Night steward told me.”
The night steward, Mateo Ruiz, had moved back to Spain.
Investigators located him in Valencia.
He remembered.
“Ms. Celeste arrived around two.”
“What was she wearing?” Morales asked by video.
“Dark trousers. White blouse.”
“Did anything seem unusual?”
Mateo hesitated.
“Her blouse was wet.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
“Wet from rain?”
“It wasn’t raining.”
“What did she do?”
“She went to the guest suite. Changed clothes. Asked me for a trash bag.”
“What happened to the wet clothing?”
“She took it.”
“Did she have anything else?”
“A blue file.”
The file Mara carried aboard months earlier.
The same file Pike chased her for.
Celeste had ultimately obtained it.
That was corroboration Pike had not been able to provide.
Morales asked:
“Did Celeste say where she had been?”
“She said Cole Key.”
Phone records had placed her on land earlier.
But after midnight, her phone went dark for three hours.
She could have boarded another vessel.
Pike changed his statement again.
Celeste did not remain home.
After ordering Pike to find Mara, she joined him aboard a second company boat.
“She was there?” Nathan asked.
Morales nodded.
“Pike says she arrived after the collision.”
“What did she do?”
“He says Mara was still visible in the water.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Was Celeste there while Mara was alive?”
“According to Pike, yes.”
“What did she do?”
Morales’s voice was quiet.
“She demanded the file.”
Nathan stood.
The room tilted.
Pike claimed Mara had managed to keep the blue waterproof file attached beneath the overturned skiff.
Celeste saw it.
Mara begged for help.
Celeste told Pike to retrieve the file first.
He did.
When they turned back, Mara was gone.
“Minutes?” Nathan asked.
“Pike estimates three to five.”
Nathan covered his face.
Celeste had not simply sent Pike.
She had stood on the water while Mara needed help.
The homicide case changed dramatically.
Prosecutors began evaluating charges under theories based on kidnapping, conspiracy, and conduct contributing to Mara’s death.
Celeste’s attorney called Pike’s account fabricated.
Then investigators searched Celeste’s old yacht clothing storage.
A white blouse remained sealed in a garment-preservation bag.
Dry-cleaned.
But inside the cuff seam, forensic testing found trace biological material.
Mara’s blood.
Celeste had been there.
Power shifted.
Then Nathan’s criminal lawyer called.
Federal prosecutors had found something in Northstar’s records.
Nathan’s signature appeared on a board consent authorizing Northstar’s first consulting contract.
Nathan stared at the document.
“I never signed this.”
The signature looked real.
Naomi examined it.
“Remember the blank signature pages?”
Nathan went cold.
After Richard’s death, Nathan had sometimes signed blank closing sheets for Celeste to attach to routine resolutions during international travel.
He had given her the weapon years before.
The government now needed to determine which documents were genuine.
Nathan’s credibility became a central issue.
And Celeste’s lawyers announced their defense:
May you like
Nathan had known about Northstar all along.
He was framing his sister to protect himself.
