Chapter 11 - Tabitha Had Been Building a Case Against ThaddeusWhen prosecutors confronted Tabitha with the Harbor Ridge records, she stopped pretending.
She requested a cooperation agreement.
No immunity for child abuse.
No guarantee against financial charges.
But if she helped expose Silas’s fraud and explained Wallace’s old records, prosecutors would consider her assistance.
Thaddeus did not attend the first interview.
He watched later.
Tabitha looked exhausted.
“Harbor Ridge was Dad’s.”
Detective Quinn asked:
“What did Wallace use it for?”
“Private payments.”
“To whom?”
“People he didn’t want connected to Mercer Holdings.”
“Illegal?”
“Sometimes.”
Thaddeus’s stomach tightened.
“After his death?”
“I found the company documents.”
“Where?”
“Estate files Silas kept.”
“And took control.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed money.”
There it was.
No noble explanation.
“Debts?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Almost three million.”
“For what?”
“Bad investments. A lawsuit. Gambling.”
Thaddeus stared at the screen.
Gambling.
He had never known.
Tabitha continued.
“Silas told me there was money I could access without anyone noticing.”
“Grayson’s trust.”
“Temporary.”
Mara’s expression did not change.
“Money stolen from a child is still stolen if you intend to return it.”
Tabitha looked away.
“Silas said the trust was built with money Dad stole from the Averys.”
“And that made taking it acceptable?”
“No.”
“But you did.”
“Yes.”
“Why the forged trustee documents?”
Tabitha inhaled.
“Because Silas said we needed legal cover.”
“Cover for what?”
“If Thaddeus questioned the transfers, we could show authority.”
“Authority supposedly signed by Thaddeus.”
“Yes.”
“Who signed?”
Tabitha hesitated.
“Silas.”
There.
The answer from the bathroom.
Thaddeus didn’t know who really signed.
Silas had forged him.
“Why make Grayson practice?”
“Signature samples.”
Mara’s face hardened.
“You involved an eight-year-old.”
“I know.”
“You told him it was a game.”
“Yes.”
“Did you abuse him to stop him talking?”
Tabitha looked away.
“No.”
Mara waited.
Tabitha’s face collapsed.
“I got angry because he kept asking questions.”
“About Silas?”
“Yes.”
“About the papers?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Tabitha whispered:
“He found the folder.”
Thaddeus leaned closer to the screen.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“What did you do?”
“I took it from him.”
“And?”
“He asked why his name was on it.”
Mara’s voice became colder.
“What did you tell him?”
“That he shouldn’t touch things that weren’t his.”
“The folder concerned his own trust.”
Tabitha cried.
“I know.”
Mara continued.
“Why were you trying to become substitute trustee?”
Tabitha stopped crying.
Thaddeus noticed.
That question mattered.
“Silas said it was safer.”
“For what?”
“If Thaddeus became unavailable.”
“What does that mean?”
Tabitha said nothing.
Mara pushed.
“Unavailable how?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tabitha.”
“Silas thought Thaddeus was unstable.”
Thaddeus stared.
“Based on?”
“After Evelyn died.”
Three years earlier.
“Was there a psychiatric evaluation?”
Tabitha nodded.
Thaddeus stood.
“What?”
Mara on the recording asked the same thing.
“Where?”
“Silas has it.”
“Who performed it?”
“No one.”
Tabitha’s answer came quietly.
“It was fabricated.”
Thaddeus felt rage rise.
A fake psychological evaluation.
For what?
Mara asked:
“What did it say?”
“That Thaddeus had prolonged grief, depressive symptoms, possible alcohol dependence.”
Thaddeus almost laughed.
He rarely drank.
“Why create it?”
“To support a future guardianship petition.”
“For Grayson?”
“Yes.”
The room around Thaddeus seemed to disappear.
His sister and attorney had prepared documents to take his son.
“When?”
“Not immediately.”
“Then when?”
“If the trust transfer investigation started.”
Mara understood.
“So if Thaddeus discovered missing money, you planned to claim he was unstable.”
Tabitha cried.
“Silas planned it.”
“And you?”
“I agreed.”
Thaddeus closed his eyes.
The cruelty toward Grayson changed again.
Tabitha wasn’t only angry.
She had been constructing a narrative.
Grayson was “difficult.”
Thaddeus was “absent.”
The household was “unstable.”
Tabitha would appear responsible.
Available.
Family.
A potential guardian.
Mara asked:
“Did you ever intentionally provoke Grayson so you could document behavior?”
Tabitha did not answer.
That was an answer.
“Did you photograph him crying?”
Silence.
“Record tantrums?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“For the petition.”
Thaddeus felt sick.
She hurt him.
Then used his reaction as evidence.
“How long?”
“Three months.”
The same period abuse escalated.
Mara leaned forward.
“One final question.”
Tabitha looked up.
“What did Wallace do to Evelyn’s car?”
Tabitha’s face emptied.
“I don’t know.”
“You told Thaddeus Wallace said he would handle Evelyn.”
“I did.”
“Did Silas tell you what happened?”
“No.”
“Did your father?”
“No.”
“Then why did you help burn Evelyn’s files?”
Tabitha began crying again.
“Because Dad told me to.”
Thaddeus stared.
“When?”
“The night she died.”
“What did he say?”
“Find everything she copied.”
“Why?”
“He said if those records came out, the whole family would lose everything.”
Tabitha swallowed.
“I asked him if Evelyn knew.”
“What did he say?”
May you like
She looked directly toward the camera.
“He said Evelyn knew too much.”
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