Chapter 35 - Beatrice’s Confession
Nora allowed Beatrice into the library only after security searched her.
Beatrice stared at the room where Adrian had spent countless evenings reading with Elsie.
For a moment, the arrogance disappeared from her face.
“I thought I was protecting my son’s inheritance,” she said.
“You tried to take his daughter’s home.”
“I know.”
The words were quieter than Nora expected.
Beatrice explained that her brother Richard controlled a network of development companies, including Meridian Crown. Whitmore Development had been one branch of a much larger operation.
The families targeted by the companies usually shared three traits: old property, incomplete records and an owner considered easy to discredit.
Widows.
Elderly people.
Immigrants unfamiliar with local law.
Families facing medical debt.
Richard purchased officials, created false liens and used emergency orders to force rapid sales.
Charles Whitmore had participated at first, then attempted to leave the scheme after Adrian was born.
Richard threatened to expose the Whitmore family’s original theft of Briarwood.
Charles stayed silent.
Years later, Adrian discovered pieces of the truth.
“He planned to meet a federal investigator,” Beatrice said.
Nora stopped breathing.
Adrian’s death had been ruled an accident caused by a previously undetected heart condition.
“Are you saying Richard killed him?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not an answer.”
Beatrice opened the leather folder.
Inside was a copy of Adrian’s calendar. On the day before his death, he had scheduled a meeting with someone identified only as M.B.
Below it, he had written:
Original deeds. Twenty-seven houses. If anything happens, check Nora’s garden.
Nora remembered Adrian planting a young maple tree weeks before he died. He had insisted on doing it alone, although the ground was frozen and difficult to dig.
They crossed the lawn with a federal investigator.
Beneath the maple roots, they found a waterproof case.
Inside were photographs, account records and a flash drive.
The final photograph showed Adrian meeting Margaret Bell’s surviving attorney.
The attorney’s initials were M.B.—Martin Baines.
Camille contacted his office.
Martin Baines had disappeared two days after Adrian’s death.
Before they could examine the flash drive, every light in Briarwood went out.
This time, no smoke followed.
May you like
A voice came through the house’s security system.
“Beatrice,” Richard Vale said, “you should have stayed loyal to your family.”
