Chapter 10 - The Practice LieThe bicycle helmet photograph became one of the most disturbing pieces of evidence.
Not because it proved Beverly planned the suitcase.
It didn’t.
But it proved she had imagined a scenario in which Jasper disappeared and Monica believed he left voluntarily.
Weeks before it happened.
Ward explained the distinction carefully.
“We can prove she considered using his bike to mislead you.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we’re trying to establish.”
Monica stared at the image.
“I came home early.”
“Yes.”
“She expected more time.”
“Probably.”
“If I came home at the normal time…”
She could not finish.
Ward did not speculate.
That restraint helped.
Monica did enough imagining herself.
Jasper asked whether Beverly would go to prison.
Monica answered honestly.
“I don’t know exactly what will happen.”
“Can judges make her come home?”
“No judge is going to force you to live with her while she’s considered unsafe.”
“Considered?”
Monica corrected herself.
“While she is unsafe.”
Jasper nodded.
Language mattered.
So did certainty.
Beverly’s defense began leaking its strategy.
Her attorneys suggested severe stress.
Financial coercion by Price.
A brief loss of judgment.
No intent to seriously harm Jasper.
Monica refused media requests.
She did not want Jasper’s trauma turned into entertainment.
The mansion attracted reporters anyway.
Pictures of the garden appeared online.
Neighbors talked.
People who barely knew Beverly described her as gracious.
Elegant.
Devoted to her grandson.
Monica stopped reading.
Public charm no longer interested her.
Aaron focused on the trust.
The conservation easement Richard created made Broadmere’s threatened lawsuit much weaker.
But Price had another argument.
He claimed Richard orally agreed years ago to eventually sell the eastern acreage.
No signed contract.
No enforceable deal.
But enough to create noise.
Monica asked:
“Why does everyone think making something expensive to defend makes it theirs?”
Aaron smiled grimly.
“Because sometimes it works.”
“Not this time.”
That evening Jasper overheard her.
“Are we keeping the garden?”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“For now.”
“Because Grandpa wanted it?”
Monica thought.
“No.”
Jasper looked surprised.
“Then why?”
“Because nobody gets it by scaring us.”
He nodded.
“That’s good.”
Then:
“What if we want to sell someday?”
“Then we decide because we want to.”
“Not Grandma?”
“Not Grandma.”
“Not Mr. Price?”
“Not Mr. Price.”
“Me?”
“When you’re older, your voice matters a lot.”
Jasper smiled.
“Can I make a baseball field?”
Monica laughed.
“We’ll discuss zoning.”
“What’s zoning?”
“The reason grown-ups ruin good ideas.”
He laughed.
The sound felt like recovery.
Small.
Uneven.
Real.
Then investigators discovered something inside Richard’s accounting records.
The $450,000 transfer bearing his signature had been real.
But it was not an investment.
It was a buyout.
Richard had paid Price to surrender certain claims connected to Beverly’s private investments.
In return, Price agreed to stop contacting Beverly.
He broke the agreement.
Beverly did too.
Within six months, they were communicating again.
Richard learned.
That was when he finalized the trust.
Monica read his notes.
Beverly says she cannot bear being controlled. I told her boundaries are not control when trust has been broken.
Monica sat back.
That sounded like her father.
Then another line:
I am staying in this marriage because I still hope she chooses us. I am no longer risking Monica or Jasper’s future on that hope.
Monica cried.
Richard had made mistakes.
Huge ones.
He hid too much.
Waited too long.
But eventually he understood the difference between love and access.
Monica was learning the same lesson.
Beverly could be her mother.
She could love memories of Beverly.
She could even someday pity her.
None of that required giving Beverly access to Jasper.
Ward called late that night.
Curtis Vale had recovered another recording.
Beverly and Price.
Six weeks before the incident.
Price:
If Monica won’t sign, what’s Plan B?
Beverly:
She’ll sign.
Price:
You’re sure?
Beverly:
Monica signs things when she’s distracted.
Monica felt nauseated.
She remembered tax forms.
School documents.
Insurance forms.
Beverly constantly handing her papers.
“Just sign here.”
Monica rarely read them.
Price continued:
And if she reads this one?
Beverly laughed.
Then I’ll give her a family emergency.
Ward paused the recording.
Monica stared.
“A family emergency.”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“We don’t know.”
The recording was made weeks before Jasper’s confinement.
There was no direct reference to harming him.
But Beverly had anticipated distracting Monica with some kind of family crisis.
Monica suddenly remembered the day before Jasper disappeared.
Beverly had asked strangely specific questions.
“What time is your meeting?”
“How long will you be downtown?”
“Will your phone be on?”
At the time, Monica thought her mother was planning dinner.
Now every question changed shape.
The suitcase may not have been planned.
May you like
But Beverly had planned to manipulate Monica that day.
And Jasper had stumbled into the center of it.
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