Chapter 13 - FOUR MILLION REASONSMoney did not explain everything.
But it explained enough.
Samuel Rhodes laid out the trust structure across a conference table.
The Willowmere house.
Investment accounts.
Remaining interests in Monroe Industrial Holdings.
Life insurance proceeds.
A commercial property.
Total estimated value: $4.2 million.
Megan stared at the numbers.
“When Ethan died, I didn’t care about any of this.”
Samuel nodded.
“You were grieving.”
“I signed what you told me to sign.”
“You acted responsibly.”
“Did Evelyn know the total?”
“Not from me.”
“But she could estimate.”
“Yes.”
“And if she became trustee?”
“She could administer assets for Caitlyn.”
“Could she sell the house?”
“With appropriate justification.”
“Move Caitlyn?”
“If she were also guardian, potentially.”
“Pay herself?”
“Reasonable trustee compensation, subject to rules.”
Megan leaned back.
“So she could control where Caitlyn lived, control millions of dollars and pay herself to manage it.”
“In simplified terms.”
“And she was preparing the petition before the fire.”
“Yes.”
Samuel removed his glasses.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should have told Ethan this successor arrangement was a mistake.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I knew Evelyn was difficult.”
“So did Ethan.”
“Difficult is not the same as dangerous.”
Megan looked down.
“No.”
The forensic accounting began.
Investigators obtained evidence Evelyn had serious financial problems of her own.
Not poverty.
Something more humiliating to a woman obsessed with appearances.
Debt.
Large personal loans.
Bad investments.
A failed real estate venture she had hidden.
Victor Hale told detectives Evelyn had been desperate to avoid selling personal assets.
“She repeatedly described Caitlyn’s trust as ‘family money,’” Laura explained.
Megan closed her eyes.
“She thought it belonged to her.”
“That appears to have been her attitude.”
“Did she take anything?”
“Not from the trust.”
“Then why not just ask me for money?”
“Would you have given it?”
Megan thought about the scale of the debt.
“No.”
Laura nodded.
“Evelyn may have known that.”
Later, Caitlyn asked about home.
“Can we go back?”
“Not yet.”
“Will my room be fixed?”
“Yes.”
“Do I have to sleep there?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“Only if you want.”
Caitlyn thought.
“Can we take the door off?”
Megan’s heart tightened.
“If that makes you feel safer.”
Caitlyn smiled faintly.
Then her expression changed.
“Was Grandma trying to take our house?”
Megan went still.
“Who told you that?”
“I heard Aunt Caroline talking.”
Megan silently cursed her sister’s lack of volume control.
She sat beside Caitlyn.
“Grandma and I disagreed about money.”
“Because of Daddy?”
“Partly.”
“Did Daddy give me the house?”
“He made sure you would always have a home.”
Caitlyn considered that.
“Grandma says it was hers first.”
“It was.”
“So is she mad?”
“Maybe.”
“Enough to lock me?”
Megan could not answer.
She refused to plant an idea investigators were still trying to prove.
“We don’t know exactly why Grandma did what she did.”
Caitlyn looked down.
“But she did it.”
Megan swallowed.
“We know she didn’t help you when you needed her.”
Caitlyn nodded.
“That’s bad.”
“Yes.”
At the district attorney’s office, Marcus Cole reviewed financial findings.
“Money helps establish motive,” he told Laura.
“But?”
“It doesn’t prove she started the fire.”
“No.”
“We need origin findings.”
Daniel Price had not finished.
When he finally called, his tone told Megan before his words did.
“We’ve ruled out the most likely accidental causes.”
Megan gripped the phone.
“Electrical?”
“Not consistent.”
“Candles?”
“No.”
“Anything Caitlyn could have done?”
“Nothing we’ve found.”
Megan closed her eyes.
“So what are you saying?”
“We believe the fire was deliberately initiated.”
She stopped breathing.
Daniel continued carefully.
“We’re not discussing methodology outside the investigation.”
“I don’t want methodology.”
“Good.”
“Can you prove who did it?”
“Not yet.”
Megan sat in silence.
Someone had intentionally started a fire near her sleeping daughter.
Someone had locked the bedroom.
Someone had turned off the camera.
Someone had listened while Caitlyn screamed.
And one person connected every piece.
Evelyn Monroe.
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Megan no longer needed four million reasons to believe her daughter.
But now she understood why Evelyn might have believed Caitlyn’s life—and Megan’s—were obstacles worth removing.
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