She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [141]
Meanwhile, Celeste cashed in, and Steve Beard’s children were helpless to stop her. The week after Tracey entered jail, Celeste and Cole signed a contract to buy a brand new home, a stately edifice on Yeargin Court in the town of Southlake, Texas. An exclusive enclave where the average house cost more than $400,000, Southlake lay halfway between Fort Worth and Dallas, a suburban refuge with a charming town square and a Fourth of July celebration that included fireworks sprayed across the sky.
By April she’d sold the Austin homes—the lake house for $280,000, of which $120,000 went toward paying her attorneys on the civil matter; and Steve’s dream house on Toro Canyon, for $1,890,000. The mortgages paid up by the trust, after expenses she pocketed more than $2 million.
The day of the Toro Canyon closing, Celeste gave the title company a list of cashier’s checks she wanted drawn from the proceeds: more than $50,000 to American Express, $10,000 to Louis Shanks Furniture stores, and a string of checks for banks, from $15,000 to Bank of America to $250,000 to Wells Fargo. Just under half a million went into her trust fund, and $516,892 went to First Fidelity Title Company to pay cash for their grand new home. She asked for the rest, $227,000, in a check made out to her.
Steven Beard’s death had made Celeste, the former waitress, a very wealthy woman.
By then Jennifer was living with Anita’s aged mother in Midland, but Kristina and Justin moved back to Austin and in with his parents, where they hired on at a Best Buy store. Always, they were on alert, watching for Celeste, knowing that at any moment she or someone she’d sent to look for them could walk through the door.
One day Jimmy did just that. Kristina had been out on a lunch break. When she returned, Justin played the security tape for her, showing Jimmy walking the aisles, looking about but buying nothing. He finally stood in the computer department, staring at Justin, watching. Finally he turned and left. Kristina thought he was there for her.
Even separated from them, Celeste continued to haunt their lives. The twins were reminded of her every time they tried to get a cell phone or a credit card. Over the years, they discovered, she’d used their Social Security numbers, beginning when they were just twelve. The bills were paid late or not at all. When Kristina tried to get a Sprint cell phone, the company turned her down, saying that someone named Celeste had been in there with her Social Security number and that she’d screamed at the clerks. When they contacted the credit reporting agencies and tried to clear up their credit reports, they were told there was nothing they could do. Although the twins were just children when the charges were made, they were unable to prove they hadn’t been the ones who made them.
When Paul Beard called Mange that summer, the prosecutor was blunt. He’d been over the evidence again and again and found no way to convict Celeste on what he had. “The only way we get Celeste is if Tracey testifies against her,” Mange said.
“We all want Celeste,” Paul said.
“Well, then the best thing we can do is put pressure on Tracey. Let her sit in jail and stew, knowing Celeste is out enjoying the good life.”
Throughout 2001, Bill Mange continued to build his case against Tracey, always keeping in mind that he also wanted Celeste. His office was filled with boxes of subpoenaed phone, medical, and financial records. Tracey’s bank records were carefully searched, and Mange found no indication that money had passed between the two women. That didn’t surprise him. He’d never thought the murder was about money, not on Tracey’s part. He’d had no doubt that was precisely what it was about for Celeste.
In October another motion came before the court. Stuart Kinard and