She Fell for the College Janitor Everyone Looked Down On
Chapter 9
The name beneath the accusation was not a trustee.
It was a respected magistrate.
Judge William Mercer.
He had overseen land disputes throughout the county.
He had also handled Hawthorne’s legal affairs for years.
Eleanor stared at the page.
“How could all these men work together?”
Samuel answered quietly.
“Money.”
They read until sunrise.
Mercer had arranged false deeds.
The trustees used college funds to purchase land.
Merchants supplied money.
Eleanor’s father acted as intermediary.
Nathaniel had discovered everything.
But the journal contained something else.
A location.
A warehouse beside the river.
Samuel recognized it.
“That’s where my father worked before Hawthorne.”
They went there immediately.
The warehouse had been abandoned for years.
Inside, dust covered old crates.
They searched for hours.
Then Eleanor found a loose board.
Behind it was a packet of letters.
One was from Mercer.
It ordered Nathaniel to surrender his evidence.
Another threatened his family.
The final letter said:
If you refuse, your son will pay the price.
Samuel read it twice.
Eleanor reached for him.
He didn’t move.
All the restraint he had carried for years suddenly cracked.
“I was nineteen.”
She waited.
“I thought my father hated me.”
“Why?”
“Because he disappeared without saying goodbye.”
Samuel looked down.
“He was trying to protect me.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“He loved you.”
“I know that now.”
He closed the letter.
“We have to expose them.”
“We will.”
But they never saw the man standing across the river.
Judge Mercer had found them.
And he wasn’t alone.
That evening, Samuel and Eleanor returned to the college.
They discovered their rooms had been searched.
Samuel’s trunk was broken open.
The journal was missing.
Only one thing remained.
A note.
Bring the ledger to the chapel at midnight.
Eleanor read it.
“It’s a trap.”
“Yes.”
“Then we don’t go.”
Samuel looked at her.
“We do.”
“Why?”
“Because they think we have nowhere else to turn.”
He folded the note.
“We’ll make them believe it.”
