Chapter 8 - Peter Knew the Money Was Questionable—But Not the Death Plan
The easy version would have made Peter another:
mastermind.
He wasn’t.
He was desperate.
That was enough to make him:
dishonest.
Investigators found notes from a North Laurel financing meeting.
Monica attended.
Richard did:
not.
Peter told investors:
“My brother-in-law is backing part of the bridge personally.”
False.
At least according to:
Richard.
When asked for documentation, Monica provided a copy of the broad:
POA
and records of transfers already completed.
The investors assumed:
family financing.
Peter later admitted:
“I didn’t ask questions I should have.”
Why?
Because North Laurel needed:
money.
He knew Richard disliked:
the project.
He also knew Monica said:
“I can handle Richard.”
That phrase should have stopped:
him.
It didn’t.
Did Peter know about the staged death?
Evidence said:
probably not beforehand.
His phone showed Monica called him at:
6:41 a.m.
after Dad reached the funeral home.
Peter later described the call:
“She said Richard died overnight.”
He said he was:
shocked.
Then Monica asked:
“Can you make sure the Vale account is clean before Monday?”
That was suspicious.
Peter transferred:
$96,000
from a North Laurel reserve account back to Monica later that morning.
Why?
He claimed she told him some family loan would need to be:
repaid
because of the death.
The transfer happened before:
I opened the body bag.
Peter became a subject of:
financial investigation.
But investigators found no evidence he knew Richard was alive.
That distinction mattered.
He may have participated in:
misuse of funds.
Not attempted:
killing.
Then the meeting memo.
Three months before:
Dad’s staged death.
Peter wrote:
Monica believes R will revoke authority if Claire returns. Need secure refinancing before that happens.
Claire returns.
Me.
My reconciliation with Dad threatened:
their financing.
That explained why Monica pushed us apart.
Not simply because she disliked:
me.
Because I was the one person most likely to question:
the money.
I had spent seven years inside Dawson Restoration.
I knew Dad’s habits.
Knew his attorneys.
Knew his handwriting.
Knew he would never voluntarily back North Laurel with:
$400,000
without board-level conversation.
Monica needed me:
angry,
distant,
uninvolved.
Then another note:
M says Monday changes everything.
Written by Peter the Friday before Dad’s supposed death.
When investigators asked Peter what Monica meant, he said:
“I thought Richard was revoking the POA Monday.”
Reasonable.
Then:
“What did you think would happen?”
“He’d demand repayment.”
“Could you repay?”
Peter looked down.
“No.”
There.
Financial panic.
North Laurel did not have:
$412,000.
If Dad revoked authority and pursued:
recovery,
Peter’s company might collapse.
That gave Monica enormous pressure.
But pressure is not:
motive enough
for what happened in the body bag.
The deeper motive emerged when Dad finally told me what else he planned to do Monday.
Not only revoke the POA.
He intended to:
file for legal separation.
May you like
And Monica knew.
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