Chapter 36 - The Voice in the Walls
Richard’s voice echoed from speakers in the hallway, kitchen and bedrooms.
He had access to Briarwood’s security network.
Nora unplugged the main control panel, but his voice continued.
“Your system has three hidden relays,” Richard said. “Charles installed them when Adrian was a child.”
Beatrice became pale.
She had known about the cameras but not the relays.
Richard had been watching the house long before Nora inherited it.
Federal agents searched the property while Camille moved Elsie to a secure location with Ruth.
Behind a vent in the nursery, they found a tiny transmitter.
Another device had been placed inside the library clock.
The third was embedded beneath the stairs.
Richard had heard their plans, recorded private conversations and photographed Elsie through the system.
Nora remembered every moment of grief she had endured inside the house after Adrian died.
Richard had been listening.
The flash drive from the garden was encrypted. A note inside the case provided a password clue:
The first thing Elsie called home.
Elsie had been two when they moved to Briarwood. She could not pronounce the name and called it “Birdwood.”
The password worked.
Folders opened across Camille’s screen.
Adrian had collected evidence on twenty-seven properties taken through fraudulent debt, forged signatures and manipulated inspections.
Each folder contained the victim’s name, original documents and the company responsible.
A final video file showed Adrian sitting in the library.
“If Nora is watching this, I failed to come home.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Adrian explained that Richard had built his empire by turning family members against one another. He believed Beatrice would claim Briarwood after his death and eventually transfer it to Richard.
Adrian had placed the house in a protected trust for Elsie.
That was why Richard’s first attempt had failed.
But Adrian had discovered something bigger.
Richard did not truly own Meridian Crown.
The company was controlled through a secret trust established by Lydia Harrow and Charles Whitmore.
Its purpose had originally been to return stolen property to the five cooperative families.
Richard had taken control by hiding the trust agreement.
The original remained somewhere inside Briarwood.
Adrian looked directly into the camera.
“Nora, the house is not the prize. The company is.”
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The video ended.
Beatrice whispered, “Richard has spent his entire life protecting something he never legally owned.”
