Chapter 8 - Uncle Peter Kept The Ledger
Peter Bennett refused to discuss Rose House by phone.
Laura, Victoria, Henry, and their attorneys drove to his farmhouse the
next morning.
Sophie stayed with Laura’s husband, Michael.
Peter opened the door, saw Victoria, and nearly closed it again.
Laura stopped him.
“Mom left a letter.”
Peter’s face changed.
Inside, he listened without interrupting.
Then he went to the basement.
He returned carrying a rusted metal cashbox.
The original Bellweather ledger was inside.
Peter had kept it for twenty-eight years.
“Why?”
“Because your father made me promise.”
Laura’s anger rose.
“Everyone in this family apparently loved promises more than truth.”
Peter accepted that.
Samuel discovered the missing Rose House money shortly before the center
closed.
He confronted Edward.
Edward threatened to expose Samuel’s role in creating Bellweather.
Samuel would look like the thief.
Peter helped Samuel copy records.
They planned to go to authorities.
Then Samuel suffered a serious car accident.
He survived, but his health never fully recovered.
Fear won.
He stayed silent.
“Dad lived another ten years.”
“I know.”
“He could have told Mom.”
“He tried.”
Peter showed Laura an unsent letter.
Samuel apologized to Eleanor for involving himself in Edward’s scheme.
He admitted he had accepted $15,000 from Edward for “consulting.”
He told himself it was legitimate.
Later he realized the payment bought his silence.
Laura felt grief change shape.
Her father was neither the innocent man she wanted nor the mastermind
Margaret feared.
He was a compromised man who made a cowardly choice and regretted it.
The ledger showed the largest diverted payments eventually flowed into
property partnerships controlled by Edward Sterling.
Victoria covered her mouth.
Her father had benefited.
But one final column contained initials neither woman recognized.
R.W.
Henry did.
“Rose Whitaker.”
The elderly woman who donated the pearls.
Laura stared.
Rose had died before the theft.
Henry shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed to the dates.
May you like
“These entries happened after Rose supposedly died.”
Someone had been using the dead donor’s name.
