Morgan had a sudden, unpleasant thought. She opened a photograph from Julian’s last birthday dinner, zoomed in, and showed Evelyn the screen.
Evelyn’s eyes widened. “That’s her.”
The woman in the photograph was Celeste Hart, Julian’s supposed business consultant.
Morgan had met her twice. Celeste was always impeccably dressed and always eager to talk about the financial freedom a property sale could provide. Morgan had found her exhausting but harmless.
Now the memory of Celeste’s questions returned with ugly precision: Did Morgan have life insurance? Was the cottage owned outright? Did she have a will? Would Julian inherit if anything happened to her?
Morgan had laughed off the questions as business talk.
She wasn’t laughing now.
The investigator listened without offering a theory. He asked Evelyn for dates, records, and the name of the jewelry shop. He asked Morgan to identify Celeste and provide any messages she had received from her. Every detail mattered; none was treated as a conclusion on its own.
