Chapter 4: Six Years Of Instructions
My attorney's name is Patricia Holt.
She picked up on the second ring.
"I need you tonight," I said.
"I know what time it is.
I'm sorry.
I need you tonight."
There was a brief silence.
Then: "Give me forty-five minutes."
I put both children in Caleb's room with the door locked and told them to stay there until I came for them.
Emma was still half-asleep, confused, clutching the stuffed rabbit she'd had since she was two.
Caleb sat on the edge of his bed with his hands on his knees like a small soldier waiting for orders.
"Is everything going to be okay?" Emma asked.
"Yes," I said.
"I promise."
I didn't know yet if that was true.
But I said it the way you say things to a five-year-old at night — with your whole chest, no hesitation.
Vanessa was in the kitchen when I came back downstairs.
She had made tea.
She was sitting at the table with both hands wrapped around the mug as if none of the last hour had happened.
"Patricia is coming," I said.
She looked up.
"Of course she is."
"You're going to sit there and wait."
"I wasn't planning to leave." She took a sip of tea.
"I want you to understand something.
What I did with the trust accounts was not theft.
It was asset protection.
Douglas structured it specifically to—"
"Stop."
"—to ensure that in the event of a contested divorce, the children's funds would not be—"
"Vanessa.
Stop talking."
She stopped.
I sat down across from her.
Not because I wanted to be near her.
Because I needed to look at her face while I asked the next question.
"How long has Douglas Merritt been involved in our finances?"
She set down the mug.
"That's a question for your attorney."
"I'm asking you."
"And I'm telling you to ask your attorney."
"The holding company," I said.
"Is my name on anything connected to it?"
Her expression didn't change.
That was the answer.
"Vanessa." I leaned forward.
"If my name is on a financial structure I didn't authorize, that's fraud.
You understand that."
"You're not thinking clearly."
"I'm thinking very clearly."
"You're emotional.
You came home and you saw something upsetting and now you're—"
"I came home and found you standing over my children with a hanger."
The word sat between us on the table.
She looked down at her tea.
"That was a mistake," she said quietly.
"I was frustrated.
It won't happen again."
"No," I said.
"It won't."
Patricia arrived at eight-seventeen.
She came through the front door with her briefcase already open, her reading glasses already on, and she took one look at the envelope on the counter and the two documents spread beside it and she said nothing for almost a full minute.
Then she said: "Tell me everything.
Start from when you walked in the door."
I told her.
All of it.
The hanger.
The laundry room.
Caleb's recorder.
The envelope.
The recording on Caleb's phone.
The divorce filing.
Douglas Merritt.
When I finished, Patricia looked at Vanessa.
"Mrs.
Calloway," she said.
"I'm going to need the name of the holding company, the date of formation, and every signatory on the account."
Vanessa smiled the same small smile she'd given me earlier.
"You'll receive that through Douglas."
"Douglas Merritt filed divorce papers on your behalf this morning."
"Yes."
"Did he also advise you on the trust account transfers?"
"That's privileged."
Patricia nodded slowly.
She picked up the termination of parental rights form.
She read it for a moment.
Then she set it back down.
"Mrs.
Calloway," she said.
"This form was filled out incorrectly.
The court jurisdiction listed here doesn't match the county of residence.
It would have been rejected on filing."
Vanessa's smile didn't move.
But something behind her eyes did.
"Additionally," Patricia continued, "a transfer authorization signed without the co-trustee's consent — which in this case is your husband — is not a legal transfer.
It's a fraudulent one."
The kitchen was very quiet.
"I want to speak to Douglas," Vanessa said.
"I'm sure you do," Patricia said.
"But before you make that call, you should know that Douglas Merritt's license to practice was suspended fourteen months ago for misappropriation of client funds." She paused.
"He's been operating without authorization.
Anything he filed on your behalf this morning is void."
Vanessa's hand moved toward her phone.
Patricia was faster.
May you like
"I'd also advise you not to contact him tonight.
Because as of approximately one hour from now, he is going to have considerably larger problems than your divorce."
