Chapter 4 - The Blue NotebookThe notebook lay on Lena's kitchen table like a piece of unexploded machinery.
Gabriel had spent the previous night at her house with Mia.
It was a small, comfortable home filled with books, bright cushions, family photographs, and the smell of fresh coffee.
Nothing about it resembled the mansion.
Yet Mia had slept better there than she had in months.
That morning, she sat at the table eating strawberries while Lena prepared breakfast.
Gabriel watched her arrange the fruit into a butterfly.
For the first time, he noticed how carefully she selected each piece.
He had always thought Mia simply liked strawberries.
He had never understood that the small rituals helped her feel secure.
He wanted to ask about the notebook.
Lena stopped him.
"Not like that."
"What do you mean?"
"You can't turn breakfast into an interrogation."
"I need to know what happened."
"And she needs to know that adults will listen without frightening her."
Gabriel sat back.
Lena lowered her voice.
"Let the trained interviewer handle the questions about what Celeste did. We can ask Mia what she needs right now."
Gabriel nodded.
He reached toward Mia's communication tablet.
"Can you show me what you want to do today?"
Mia looked surprised.
Usually, Celeste had controlled the schedule.
Mia touched the picture of a garden.
"Flowers."
"Then we'll find flowers."
She smiled.
It was a small smile.
But Gabriel felt it as though someone had opened a window inside his chest.
Later that morning, while Mia played in the backyard with Lena, Gabriel examined the notebook with Nora.
Nora explained that Mia had begun carrying it everywhere about six months earlier.
"Mrs. Oleso called it her silly drawing book," she said.
"But Mia always tried to keep it hidden."
Gabriel turned the pages slowly.
The drawings changed over time.
At first, they showed ordinary family scenes.
Mia holding Gabriel's hand.
Baxter sleeping beside the fireplace.
Evelyn's framed photograph near Mia's bed.
Then the pictures became darker.
A closed door.
A plate crossed out.
A purple figure with an angry face.
On one page, Mia had drawn a small yellow butterfly inside a square.
Below it were three letters.
N-O.
Gabriel remembered a speech therapist once telling him that Mia used drawings to communicate emotions she could not easily explain.
He had nodded during that meeting.
Then he had taken a business call before it ended.
Now those drawings were the only reason he understood the extent of his ignorance.
"Was Celeste ever kind to her?" Gabriel asked.
Nora hesitated.
"Sometimes. Especially when people were visiting."
Gabriel looked up.
"What happened when they left?"
"She changed."
Nora folded her hands.
"She would tell Mia to sit still. To stop making noises. To behave like a normal child."
Gabriel winced.
"Mia tried so hard to please her."
Nora's voice softened.
"That's what made it worse."
Gabriel closed the notebook.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Nora's eyes filled.
"I tried, sir."
He stared at her.
"Twice."
"When?"
"The first time was in February. I told you Mia seemed frightened during meals."
Gabriel remembered.
He had been boarding a plane to Chicago.
Celeste later described Nora as overly sensitive.
"The second time was in July," Nora continued. "I asked to speak with you privately."
He remembered that too.
Celeste had entered his office before Nora could finish.
Gabriel had ended the conversation because a client was waiting.
"I should have called again," Nora whispered.
Gabriel shook his head.
"You shouldn't have needed to."
His phone rang.
It was his attorney, Margaret Ellis.
"Gabriel, we have a problem."
"What problem?"
"Celeste has retained Daniel Rusk."
Gabriel knew the name.
Rusk was a Manhattan attorney famous for representing wealthy clients in ugly disputes.
"All right."
"She's telling people she was following a behavioral treatment plan approved by Mia's medical team."
Gabriel stood.
"That's a lie."
"I believe you. But she's creating a record that makes this look like a disagreement over care rather than deliberate mistreatment."
Gabriel stared toward the garden.
Mia was laughing as Lena helped her water a row of flowers.
"What does she want?"
"To discredit Nora. And possibly to shift responsibility onto you."
Gabriel felt a familiar surge of anger.
"Let her try."
"Don't underestimate her," Margaret said. "She's already contacted members of the foundation board."
Gabriel frowned.
"The foundation?"
"The Oleso Children's Access Foundation."
The foundation had been established by Gabriel and Evelyn years before Evelyn died. It funded educational programs, assistive technology, and family support services for children with disabilities.
After their marriage, Celeste had become its executive director.
She hosted galas, cultivated donors, and managed substantial spending.
"Why would she involve the foundation?" Gabriel asked.
Margaret hesitated.
"Because she's claiming Nora was dismissed for misconduct. She's also suggesting the accusations are connected to a financial dispute."
"What financial dispute?"
"That's what I'm trying to determine."
Gabriel looked down at the notebook.
Something had been bothering him since the hospital.
A small drawing near the back showed Celeste standing beside a red rectangle.
The rectangle contained a black mark shaped like a key.
He opened to that page again.
"Nora, have you ever seen Celeste carrying a red folder?"
Nora's expression changed.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"In her private office."
"What's inside?"
"I don't know."
Nora hesitated.
"But one evening, I heard her arguing with a man about it."
"Who?"
"Her brother, Adrian."
Gabriel knew Adrian Pike as an unsuccessful businessman who occasionally visited Celeste.
He had always seemed harmless.
"What were they arguing about?"
Nora looked toward the doorway to make sure Mia couldn't hear.
"Adrian told her she had taken too much."
Gabriel's chest tightened.
"Too much of what?"
Nora swallowed.
"I didn't know."
Then she remembered something else.
"Mrs. Oleso said the money didn't belong to Gabriel."
Gabriel slowly sat down.
There was only one substantial pool of family money that wasn't legally his.
May you like
The trust Evelyn had established for Mia.
And suddenly, the red folder mattered far more than he could have imagined.
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