Celeste Files: Unlocked by Kristine Mason Page A

allow what you saw today to affect how you treat Lea. You could be wrong.”
    “And if I’m right?”
    “I don’t want you to end up like her mother.”
    *
    Thank God for her job. Dealing with payroll, placing orders for supplies the Sugar Shack would need for the following week, then helping with the two wedding cakes due tomorrow afternoon kept Celeste’s mind off what she’d seen at Maxine’s. But after she picked up the girls from the daycare, her stomach grew more and more nervous as she neared Kelly’s townhouse. Maxine suggested she could be wrong about Lea. While that was possible, how could she not conclude that the woman had murdered her own mother? She’d held Lea’s pen and had felt the woman’s hatred and greed deep within her bones.
    She had hoped Ian would have something for her to go on by now. When she’d called him after she had left the Sugar Shack, he’d told her that Rachel, CORE’s computer forensic analyst, had been swamped with regular cases, but would work on hers later this afternoon. He’d also mentioned his disappointment that she hadn’t confided in John. Ian and Maxine both needed to mind their own business. Once she had concrete evidence she could present to her husband, she’d tell him the truth and worry about the consequences later.
    She parked the Jeep, then sent a quick text to Kelly to let her know she was here and needed help with the girls. Right now, she needed to concentrate on maintaining a poker face in front of Lea, not on how John might react once she confessed what she’d been doing behind his back.
    Both Kelly and Lea exited the townhouse. Celeste pressed the button to open the Jeep’s gate, then climbed out of the SUV to grab their daughters’ diaper bags. As soon as she’d picked up the girls from daycare, she’d placed the wooden pen back into the Coach bag. Guilt might have nagged at her when she’d originally borrowed the pen, but not anymore. If anything, she’d love to find a way to take another item from Lea and use it for a reading. This last one hadn’t given her as much information as she’d hoped. Although her suspicions about Lea had been confirmed, an argument over money and black auras weren’t enough.
    “How’d Zoe do?” Lea asked. “Did the daycare people follow my list of instructions?”
    “As far as I know,” Celeste answered, grateful she didn’t have to make eye contact with the woman, since Lea was hauling Zoe from the Jeep and handing her to Kelly so she could remove the car seat. “According to Nina, Zoe had a blast and even took a two-hour nap.”
    “That’s good to hear. Zoe never naps at the current daycare I use. Maybe I’ll consider switching until my au pair returns to the States.” Lea finished taking out the car seat. “I’m going to run this inside,” Lea said. “Be right back.”
    “How about Avery?” Kelly asked, after Lea walked away.
    “She napped, too. So did Olivia. Sounds like the girls played hard. How did everything go for you two?”
    “Fortunately Mom had the foresight to make her own funeral arrangements. We only had to deal with a few things. The attorney was a different story.”
    “It was a waste of time,” Lea said, approaching them. She took Zoe from Kelly. “We weren’t even allowed to look at the will.”
    “Oh, no. Why’s that?” Celeste asked, then held Avery while Kelly removed her car seat.
    “Because not all parties were present.” Lea shook her head. “The attorney was a jerk. He wouldn’t tell us who we were waiting on, either.”
    Kelly set the car seat on the sidewalk, then shut the door. “We’ve been trying to figure out who it could be.”
    “I still think it could be Brandon,” Lea said.
    “Mom wouldn’t have put Brandon in her will. She never liked either of our husbands. I still think it’s Dad. Although I have no clue why she’d include him after the way he walked out on her.” She sighed and picked up the seat. “I’ll be right back.”
    After