She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [105]
Chapter
14
Steve wasn’t the only one asking if Celeste was behind the shooting. By November, rumors swirled through the city’s social and media circles. At the Austin Country Club members whispered about the bizarre love triangle, a former waitress with her multimillionaire husband and the gay woman charged with shooting him. At Tramps and Studio 29, patrons and hairdressers swapped gossip. When Celeste entered, they held back, watching her every move. She presided as always, chattering and laughing loudly. The minute she left, the salons filled with nervous nattering. But the theories were just theories until an Austin American Statesman reporter, Laylan Copelin, called Celeste and asked very pointed questions.
Celeste refused to comment, but days later Copelin received an anonymous letter. The writer described herself as a friend and called Celeste “one of the most giving people in the world… she helps out everyone and treats everyone as her equal, even though she is a very wealthy woman.” She said Celeste adored Steve and was the valiant survivor of a horrific past that included childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, and ovarian cancer:
“The Beards were to leave for a month long trip to Europe the day after Steven was shot. Celeste was hoping that if Tracey did not see or talk with her for that length of time she would be able to be rid of Tracey for good. I am telling you all of this off the record…[Celeste] is tired, baffled and hurt by all of this. Making her a public humiliation serves no purpose. She trusted someone who is crazy. She feels tremendous guilt over the entire situation even though Steven has told her not to give it another thought. I know you want a story, but please do not further hurt a family that is already suffering.”
Years later that same letter would be found on Celeste’s home computer.
Despite the anonymous tribute, Copelin wrote his piece on the shooting, under the headline: A SHOT IN THE NIGHT; WIFE’S FRIEND CHARGED IN ATTACK ON TV EXECUTIVE.
“The 20-gauge shotgun blast ripped open Steve Beard Jr.’s belly while his wife and stepdaughter slept in another wing of his house on one of the highest points in Westlake Hills. The former television executive, 74, managed to dial 911.
“One month and three surgeries after the shooting… Beard remains in intensive care and his wife, Celeste, who is 36, spends most of her days at his bedside.”
The article went on to detail Tracey’s arrest and quoted Wines as saying the women met in a psychiatric hospital and that Tracey was “infatuated” with Celeste. There’d been no signs of forced entry into the house, and many questions remained to be answered. Copelin reported that Celeste had hired a defense attorney and wasn’t cooperating with police.
That morning, Celeste’s life moved from the beauty shop rumor mill to fodder for Austin’s morning, drive-time radio shows. Callers speculated on air about what type of relationship she’d had with Tracey and about the motives of a woman who married a man nearly old enough to be her grandfather. “Gold digger,” some callers said. “Craziest thing I’ve ever heard of,” another said.
“Sure, someone just leaves the door unlocked and the alarm off and this crazy woman just wanders in?” laughed one caller. “Give me a break.”
Furious, Celeste went on the offensive. The day after the article ran, she phoned in to the Sam & Bob show, a drive-time staple for commuting Austinites, voicing what she described as her frustration. “I want you to know that the newspaper made it sound like the National Enquirer.”
“Celeste, do you have any feelings about who did this?” one DJ asked.
“That part of the story may be right,” she admitted, yet she denied a relationship with Tracey and labeled the coverage, “Sensationalism.”
Days later Rich Oppel’s phone rang at the Statesman. Four years earlier Oppel, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, had bought Steve’s Terrace Mountain Drive house. Since then he