The Anchor Woman
Chapter 09 - The Anchor Woman
Her name was Celeste Vane.
She had perfect hair, a velvet voice, and a nightly segment called Justice Watch, where she leaned toward the camera and explained complicated crimes to viewers who trusted her because she looked calm.
Grace had watched Celeste call her “the trusted nanny who allegedly turned on the family that welcomed her.”
Welcomed.
That word had burned.
Now Izzy claimed Celeste had been in Jonathan’s study the night he died.
Ruth did not dismiss it.
Adults love to say children are confused when children remember inconvenient people.
Ruth preferred evidence.
She pulled old footage from the night of Jonathan’s death. Celeste had gone live outside Vale House at 11:16 p.m., reporting on “unconfirmed emergency activity.” Police had not yet announced the death.
How had she known?
Detective Quinn obtained traffic camera footage.
At 9:42 p.m., Celeste’s black SUV entered the Vale estate gate.
At 10:37, it left.
Jonathan’s estimated time of death was between 10:10 and 10:30.
Celeste Vane was brought in for questioning and arrived with a network attorney, sunglasses, and the offended posture of a woman used to asking questions, not answering them.
“I was there for a scheduled interview,” she said.
“With whom?” Quinn asked.
“Vivian.”
“About what?”
“A philanthropic profile.”
“At ten o’clock at night?”
“Vivian was busy.”
Ruth watched from behind the glass and whispered, “That woman lies like she moisturizes. Daily.”
Celeste claimed she never entered the study.
Then Quinn showed her Izzy’s drawing.
Celeste’s face barely moved.
Barely was enough.
Quinn said, “A child places you in the room.”
Celeste replied, “A traumatized child.”
Ruth’s eyes hardened.
That phrase again.
Traumatized child.
Unstable father.
Emotional nanny.
Every truth-teller reduced to damage before they could speak.
Celeste had not poisoned Jonathan, but she had helped build the public cage around Grace. Through leaked evidence, selective coverage, and anonymous sources, she turned suspicion into certainty before trial.
Who leaked?
Graham Lyle.
Why?
Because Celeste was more than a reporter.
She was Vivian Carrington’s half-sister.
The connection was buried under different last names and a family estrangement Vivian publicly denied.
Ruth found it in an old adoption record.
Celeste had used journalism as a weapon for family business.
That night, Ruth filed a motion alleging media contamination, prosecutorial misconduct, and coordinated witness manipulation.
Judge Whitcomb scheduled an emergency evidentiary hearing.
Vivian’s team panicked.
Celeste’s network suspended her “pending review.”
Graham Lyle stopped answering questions.
Father Malcolm hired criminal counsel.
But Dr. Merrick was still missing.
Izzy had nightmares for three nights.
In one, she stood in the courtroom holding the pink recorder, but no sound came out. Vivian laughed. Grace disappeared. Her father’s voice kept saying run, but Izzy’s feet were stuck to the red carpet.
On the fourth morning, she woke before dawn and went to the kitchen.
Julian found her there with Captain Buttons, now dried but misshapen, sitting beside the pink recorder.
“What are you doing, kiddo?” he asked.
Izzy did not look up.
“Trying to remember the part after Daddy said run.”
Julian sat across from her.
“You don’t have to force it.”
“I do,” she said. “Everybody keeps saying I’m little.”
He swallowed.
“You are.”
“I know. But I was there.”
Then she pressed the side of Captain Buttons’s torn jacket.
A second compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny folded paper.
Jonathan’s handwriting.
Izzy read it aloud.
“If Grace is blamed, ask Vivian about the red scarf.”
Julian looked at Grace.
Grace went pale.
Because she knew the red scarf.
May you like
It was wrapped around the tea tray the night Jonathan died.
And it had disappeared before police arrived.
