Chapter 7 - THE MAN BEHIND THE MONROES
Victor Langley’s death was not suicide.
The medical examiner found a sedative in his blood and bruising around his neck. Someone had staged the scene.
His office safe had been emptied.
But the killer missed a hidden compartment beneath the floor.
Inside were records connecting Langley Investments to Monroe Custom Homes.
For more than twenty years, Victor had financed Marjorie’s property acquisitions through offshore accounts. In return, she pressured vulnerable owners into surrendering land containing valuable mineral and development rights.
Thomas Bennett discovered the partnership shortly before his death.
The lithium deposits beneath Bennett trust properties could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Ethan and Marjorie had demanded Rachel’s inheritance because the trust required her personal approval before any mineral rights could be sold.
Without Rachel, the land was inaccessible.
Victor intended to purchase the rights through a shell corporation.
Rachel’s marriage to Ethan placed her inside the Monroe household, isolated from independent advisers and vulnerable to coercion.
Marjorie had arranged the relationship.
Victor had financed it.
Ethan had performed it.
Detective Reed looked through the financial records.
“There’s another partner.”
A coded name appeared repeatedly in the ledgers.
HARBOR ONE.
Payments to Harbor One began shortly before Paul Monroe’s death and continued through the week Thomas died.
Rachel remembered a name from local politics.
Senator Malcolm Harbor had represented Maine for nearly three decades before retiring.
His son, Daniel Harbor, was now the state attorney general.
The same office that oversaw major financial prosecutions.
The same office Ethan’s lawyers contacted whenever local investigators examined Monroe projects.
Officer Foster checked internal records.
Every previous complaint against Monroe Custom Homes had been transferred, delayed, or closed by officials connected to Harbor.
The conspiracy reached beyond one family.
Rachel was moved to a secure location with Lydia.
Henry Caldwell entered federal protection.
Detective Reed asked the FBI to join the investigation.
Before federal agents arrived, Reed was suspended.
The order came from the attorney general’s office.
He was accused of mishandling evidence and intimidating witnesses.
Officer Foster was reassigned.
The local prosecutor refused to approve additional warrants.
The system Marjorie trusted began protecting her.
Rachel understood why her father had been so careful.
He had not been fighting only Ethan and Marjorie.
He had been fighting institutions controlled by their partners.
That evening, Rachel received a call from an unknown number.
“Mrs. Monroe,” a man said, “my name is Samuel Price.”
The surname was familiar.
Reverend Amos Price was the man buried beneath Bellweather House.
“I’m his son,” Samuel continued. “I know who killed Victor Langley.”
“Why contact me?”
“Because the same person is coming for you.”
“Who?”
“Daniel Harbor.”
Rachel looked toward the federal agent guarding the safe house.
“Do you have proof?”
“My father kept copies of the St. Agnes records. He discovered Harbor paid for illegal infant transfers through the home.”
“Transfers like Ethan’s?”
“Many more.”
The conspiracy involved stolen children as well as land.
Samuel explained that wealthy families used St. Agnes to obtain babies without legal adoption proceedings. Marjorie learned the system while abandoning Rachel, then used it to steal Ethan from Lydia.
Senator Malcolm Harbor protected the home from investigation.
His son Daniel later inherited the network.
“Where are the records?” Rachel asked.
“In a church storage vault.”
“Which church?”
“Saint Matthew’s in Brunswick.”
Reed, though suspended, warned Rachel not to go.
Federal agents arranged to meet Samuel instead.
They found the church empty.
A trail of blood led from the storage room to the rear parking lot.
Samuel was missing.
The vault had been opened.
The records were gone.
On the stone floor, someone had written a phone number.
Rachel recognized it.
It belonged to Ethan.
From county jail, Ethan denied involvement.
Then investigators discovered he had received a visitor using false identification.
Security footage showed Daniel Harbor entering the jail.
Harbor claimed he was conducting official business.
The meeting had not been recorded.
Hours later, Ethan attempted suicide in his cell.
He survived.
When Rachel visited him under guard, his neck was bandaged and his voice barely audible.
“Harbor told me Marjorie had agreed to blame everything on me.”
“Did you try to kill yourself?”
Ethan looked toward the camera in the corner.
“No.”
Rachel’s skin prickled.
“What happened?”
“An officer entered after midnight. He tightened a cord around my neck and left when he thought I was dead.”
“Why?”
“Because I know where the St. Agnes records are.”
“Samuel said they were taken from the church.”
“Those were copies.”
“Where are the originals?”
Ethan began to cry.
“My mother hid them beneath your father’s grave.”
Rachel stepped backward.
Thomas Bennett had been buried in a private coastal cemetery.
Marjorie had turned the resting place of the man she murdered into another hiding place.
“Why tell me?”
“Because Harbor will kill both of us.”
“You helped kill my father.”
“I know.”
“You beat me.”
“I know.”
“You intended to take my money and imprison me.”
“I know.”
Rachel felt nothing when he cried.
Remorse arrived easily when power disappeared.
“Will you testify?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Against Marjorie and Harbor?”
“Yes.”
“Then live long enough to do it.”
As Rachel turned toward the door, Ethan whispered, “There’s something else beneath the grave.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“A second coffin.”
Her father’s funeral had used a closed casket because of damage from the cliff.
Rachel had never seen his body.
Ethan looked at her through swollen eyes.
“Thomas Bennett is not buried there.”
“Then who is?”
“Your father was alive when we left Blackwater Cliff.”
Rachel could barely breathe.
“What did you do with him?”
“My mother gave him to Harbor.”
“Why?”
“Because Harbor needed someone with Thomas’s financial skills.”
Rachel moved closer to the glass.
“Are you saying my father survived?”
Ethan nodded.
“He has been working for them for four years.”
“Where?”
“At a private compound in Nova Scotia.”
May you like
The man Rachel had mourned might still be alive.
And the most powerful people involved had kept him prisoner because only he knew how to unlock the full value of her inheritance.
