Chapter 11 - THE CUSTODY REPORT
Dr. Harold Crane had evaluated families for the county for sixteen years.
He was also Margaret’s second cousin.
That relationship had never been disclosed.
Bank records showed Margaret paid his consulting company forty thousand dollars.
The payment occurred six weeks before the birthday dinner.
A draft custody report was found on his computer.
The evaluation had not yet taken place.
Still, the report already described me as unstable.
It recommended that Margaret receive temporary custody.
It described Evan as emotionally weak but cooperative.
It concluded Maisie would be safest in Margaret’s home.
The document included details copied from the hidden cameras.
Crane was arrested for fraud and official misconduct.
Every custody case he had handled came under review.
Margaret was charged with bribery.
Her attorney insisted she had paid for legitimate financial advice.
The draft report made that explanation difficult.
Evan agreed to testify.
In exchange, prosecutors did not charge him in the bribery scheme.
They still investigated the forged documents and illegal surveillance.
Margaret responded by cutting him off financially.
His credit cards stopped working.
The firm where he practiced law placed him on leave.
The condo belonged to a company Margaret controlled.
He was ordered to leave within seventy-two hours.
Evan called me from a hotel.
“I have nowhere to go.”
I looked at Maisie sleeping beside me.
“I am sorry.”
The words sounded cold.
They were still true.
“Can I stay in the guest room?”
“No.”
“Claire, I am trying to help.”
“Helping does not erase the cameras.”
“I know.”
“It does not erase the papers.”
“I know.”
“It does not erase the moment you watched her hit Maisie.”
His voice weakened.
“I know.”
I almost softened.
Then I remembered how often softness had been used to return me to the same danger.
“You need to build a life that does not depend on a woman taking care of you.”
“Your mother or your wife.”
He was quiet.
“You are right.”
It was the first time he said those words without adding a defense.
A week later, Margaret’s attorney filed a motion to exclude Arthur’s trust amendment.
They claimed he lacked mental capacity when he signed it.
The hearing would determine control of Maisie’s money.
Margaret attended wearing black.
She acted as though the case concerned her dead father’s dignity.
Then Arthur’s former nurse took the stand.
She testified that he had been mentally alert.
She also produced a video Arthur recorded two days before his death.
His face appeared on the courtroom screen.
“If Margaret is challenging this document,” he said, “then she has done exactly what I feared.”
He held up a second envelope.
“The first trust amendment is not the only protection I created.”
“If Claire or Maisie is threatened, every Hale family account connected to Margaret is to be frozen.”
May you like
Margaret stood so quickly that her chair fell backward.
The freeze order had already been activated.
