Chapter 5 - CELESTE’S FIRST CONFESSIONCeleste agreed to an interview with counsel.
Grant was not present.
He read the transcript later.
She admitted finding Laurel after the crash.
Celeste had been driving from the estate to town.
She saw Laurel walking along the service road.
Disoriented.
Bleeding from a cut near her scalp.
Possibly concussed.
Laurel begged:
“Hospital.”
Celeste called Harrison.
That decision changed everything.
Why call him instead of emergency services?
Celeste said:
“I panicked.”
Harrison told her:
“Bring her home. We’ll handle it.”
She obeyed.
At the estate, Harrison learned Laurel still had documents in her possession.
Northstar trust papers.
A signed memo prepared for independent trustees.
Evidence of disputed fees.
Harrison became desperate.
He told Celeste Laurel’s injuries looked minor.
He said an ambulance could come later.
Then placed Laurel in the hidden chamber because wedding? No—because staff were in the main house and he did not want anyone seeing her before they “resolved the legal issue.”
Celeste brought water.
Towels.
The recorder unknowingly already lay in Laurel’s handbag.
Laurel turned it on.
Then Harrison tried to make her sign.
Celeste said:
“I begged him to stop.”
But did she call an ambulance?
No.
Did she open the door?
No.
Did she tell Grant?
No.
Why?
“He said Grant would lose everything.”
Again.
Money.
Company.
Family.
The phrases powerful people use to make cowardice sound strategic.
Then something happened around midnight.
Laurel’s condition worsened.
Celeste finally told Harrison they needed emergency help.
He agreed.
But instead of calling 911, Harrison called a private physician.
Dr. Malcolm Reed.
The doctor arrived.
He said Laurel needed hospital imaging immediately.
Then, according to Celeste, Harrison took Laurel out through the service garage.
That was the last time Celeste claimed she saw her.
Grant read that sentence three times.
“Where did Dad take her?”
Celeste said she didn’t know.
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Detectives did not believe the answer was complete.
Neither did Grant.
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