Chapter 5 - Richard’s CompromiseMonica refused to meet Beverly.
Not yet.
She would not let her mother control the pace.
Instead, she gave the transfer to Aaron.
He studied it silently.
“Authentic?”
“It appears to be.”
“So Dad sent money too.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
Aaron looked uncomfortable.
“I knew he made one transfer.”
“Why?”
“He said he was trying to recover Beverly’s money.”
Monica laughed without humor.
“By sending more?”
“It was structured as part of a settlement.”
“With Edmund Price.”
“Yes.”
Monica walked to the window.
The story was becoming less clean.
She wanted Richard to be the careful father who saw danger and protected everyone.
Instead, he had compromised.
Negotiated secretly.
Hidden the problem.
Exactly like Beverly.
Not morally equivalent.
But connected by secrecy.
Aaron said, “Richard regretted it.”
“That doesn’t return the money.”
“No.”
“Or fix what Mom learned from him.”
“No.”
Monica looked at him.
“What did she learn?”
“That the family would hide almost anything to avoid scandal.”
The sentence sat heavily between them.
Richard’s greatest mistake had not been one transfer.
It had been teaching everyone that appearances came first.
Beverly exploited that belief.
Monica inherited it.
Even Jasper had felt it.
When he complained about Beverly, Monica encouraged him to “be respectful.”
When he said Grandma scared him, Monica reminded him Beverly was grieving.
She had protected the appearance of family harmony over the uncomfortable possibility her son was telling the truth.
Monica left the study.
She drove back to the hospital.
Jasper was watching cartoons.
He smiled when she entered.
“Did you find Grandpa’s drawer?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“Documents.”
“About Grandma?”
“Yes.”
Jasper muted the television.
“Is she coming back?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
Monica sat beside him.
“Not while it’s unsafe.”
He studied her.
“Promise?”
Monica almost said yes immediately.
Then stopped.
She did not want promises built from emotion.
“I promise I will do everything legally possible to keep you safe.”
Jasper frowned.
“That sounds like a lawyer.”
“It does.”
“Can you just say you won’t make me live with her?”
“I will not make you live with her.”
He nodded.
Better.
Jasper was discharged that afternoon.
He refused to return to Hawthorne Ridge.
Monica understood.
They checked into a hotel.
That night, Jasper woke screaming.
Monica rushed over.
“I’m here.”
He grabbed her.
“She closed it.”
“It was a dream.”
“It felt real.”
“I know.”
He looked around the bright hotel room.
“Can we leave the bathroom light on?”
“All night.”
“And the closet open?”
“Yes.”
“And the suitcase?”
Monica followed his gaze.
Their luggage sat near the wall.
A large suitcase.
Horizontal.
Closed.
Jasper’s breathing changed.
Monica immediately moved it into the hallway.
“No suitcases in the room.”
He relaxed.
That became the first rule.
The next morning, Detective Ward called.
Beverly’s attorney had produced additional records.
Some supported her claim that Richard had participated in Garden State transactions.
But they also contained something Beverly probably had not intended to reveal.
A handwritten agreement between Beverly and Edmund Price.
Dated seven years earlier.
If Price helped recover investment losses, Beverly promised him “preferred acquisition rights” over certain Hale family property after Richard’s death.
Monica stared.
“She promised land she didn’t own.”
“Yes.”
“Seven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Before Dad died.”
“Yes.”
Ward tapped another paragraph.
“And she agreed to a success fee.”
“How much?”
“Twenty percent.”
Monica calculated mentally.
If the land sold for twenty million…
Four million.
Beverly’s potential payout.
Now the urgency made sense.
Price had waited.
Beverly had waited.
Richard’s trust blocked them.
Then planning changes increased the value.
Beverly needed Monica’s consent before Price decided she was no longer useful.
Ward continued.
“We believe the $640,000 fee on Phase One was only an initial payment.”
Monica looked toward Jasper.
He was drawing at the table.
“Does Jasper know any of this?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Then Ward said:
“We found something else in Beverly’s phone.”
“What?”
“A photograph of Jasper.”
Monica’s body stiffened.
“What kind?”
“Taken through a window.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“By Mom?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“We don’t know.”
The image showed Jasper sitting in Richard’s study.
Reading.
He had no idea anyone was watching.
A text from Beverly followed.
He keeps going in there.
The reply came from an unknown number.
Then move the records before he finds what Richard left.
Monica felt cold.
“Price?”
“Possibly.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We’re working on it.”
The next message was worse.
Beverly:
If Monica finds out before closing, she’ll never sign.
Unknown sender:
Then make sure she has no reason to look.
Monica stared.
The suitcase had been Beverly’s act.
May you like
But someone else had been helping her control what happened inside the mansion.
And whoever it was had been watching Jasper before the day he disappeared beneath the flowers.
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