Chapter 4 - The Petition Maureen Was BuildingThomas Kell answered Conrad’s call at 10:42 p.m.
“Conrad?”
“Did you prepare a guardianship petition for Maureen Keating?”
Silence.
Then:
“What are you talking about?”
Conrad stared at the laptop.
“Kell & Shore. Your letterhead.”
“That doesn’t mean I prepared anything.”
“It has your internal formatting.”
“Send it.”
“I’m not sending anything until you answer me.”
Thomas exhaled.
“Conrad, slow down.”
“Wrong phrase.”
“What?”
“I just found out my daughter has been abused in my house while someone was building a case to take her from me.”
Thomas went silent.
“What happened?”
“Did Maureen contact you?”
“Not about guardianship.”
“About Wren?”
A pause.
“Occasionally.”
“How occasionally?”
“She had questions.”
“What kind?”
“Estate-plan questions.”
Conrad’s stomach tightened.
“Why would my nanny ask my estate lawyer questions about custody?”
Thomas corrected him.
“Allison’s estate lawyer.”
“She died two years ago.”
“And her trust remains active.”
Conrad closed his eyes.
The answer was technically reasonable.
That made him trust it less.
“Did Allison ever name Maureen as guardian?”
Silence.
Conrad sat upright.
“Thomas.”
“There was an early version.”
“What version?”
“When Wren was a baby, Allison nominated Maureen as an emergency temporary guardian if both parents were unavailable.”
Conrad stared.
“I never knew that.”
“It wasn’t unusual. You traveled frequently. Allison had treatment appointments later.”
“Was it signed?”
“An early power was.”
“Is it still valid?”
“No.”
The word came quickly.
“Why not?”
“Allison revoked it.”
“When?”
“About four months before she died.”
Conrad’s skin went cold.
“Why?”
Thomas hesitated.
“I’d have to review notes.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It was two years ago.”
“My wife removed Maureen as emergency guardian four months before dying, and you can’t remember why?”
“I handle hundreds of matters.”
“Not mine.”
Silence.
Conrad continued.
“Did Maureen know she was removed?”
“I believe so.”
“Believe?”
“She received updated copies.”
“Then why is she preparing a petition?”
“I don’t know.”
Conrad looked at Marisol.
She listened from across the room.
“Did Maureen request old documents recently?”
Another pause.
Thomas answered more slowly.
“Possibly.”
“When?”
“I’ll check tomorrow.”
“Check now.”
“Conrad—”
“Now.”
The line went quiet.
Keyboard sounds.
Conrad waited.
Thomas returned.
“Six weeks ago.”
His chest tightened.
“What did she request?”
“A certified copy of the 2018 family-care authorization.”
“The one naming her.”
“Yes.”
“Why would you give it to her if it was revoked?”
Thomas’s tone sharpened.
“It’s a historical document. She claimed she needed it for an insurance matter.”
“You believed that?”
“I had no reason not to.”
Conrad laughed without humor.
“You had no reason to hand a former guardian a certified copy of dead authority?”
“Former nominated guardian.”
“Do not lawyer your way around this.”
Thomas sighed.
“I can send the revocation.”
“Do it.”
The document arrived five minutes later.
Conrad opened it.
Signed by Allison.
Clear.
I hereby revoke any prior nomination of Maureen Keating as emergency guardian, temporary custodian, or person authorized to make decisions for Wren Allison Vale.
Date:
Four months before Allison died.
Conrad’s throat tightened.
Below it was a handwritten note.
Thomas — please do not discuss this change with Conrad until I speak to him. I need to confirm something first. — A
Conrad stared.
“She didn’t want me told.”
Thomas said nothing.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she ever confirm whatever she was checking?”
“There were notes.”
“What notes?”
“I need to review the physical file.”
“Tonight.”
“I don’t have it at home.”
Conrad closed his eyes.
“Where?”
“Archive storage.”
“Open tomorrow?”
“At eight.”
“I’ll be there.”
Thomas’s voice softened.
“Conrad, what exactly happened tonight?”
Conrad told him only the minimum.
Thomas became quiet.
“That is serious.”
“No kidding.”
“If Maureen physically mistreated Wren, the guardianship issue is irrelevant.”
“Unless she was building it before I found out.”
Thomas did not answer.
Conrad looked again at the petition.
A forged signature appeared on a supporting authorization.
His signature.
“You recognize my signature style?”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
He ended the call.
Marisol looked worried.
“You don’t trust him.”
“I don’t trust anyone tonight.”
That was not entirely fair.
He trusted Marisol enough to sit in the room.
He trusted the recordings.
Evidence felt safer than people.
He hated that.
At midnight, Wren woke crying.
Conrad went upstairs.
She was sitting in bed beside Marisol.
“Nightmare?” he asked.
Wren shook her head.
“What?”
“She’s going to take me.”
“No.”
“Maureen said papers matter more than what kids say.”
Conrad froze.
“When did she say that?”
“Last week.”
“What papers?”
“She said Mommy picked her.”
The old guardian document.
Maureen had shown an eight-year-old legal paperwork.
“Did she show you something?”
Wren nodded.
“A paper with Mommy’s name.”
“What did she say?”
“That you changed after Mommy died.”
Conrad swallowed.
“What else?”
“That Mommy wanted me with her if you stopped being a good dad.”
He closed his eyes.
Maureen had turned Allison into a weapon.
“Wren.”
She looked at him.
“Your mother revoked that paper.”
Confusion.
“What does revoked mean?”
“It means she changed her mind.”
Wren stared.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
For the first time that night, hope appeared in the child’s face.
Then it disappeared.
“Why?”
Conrad had no answer.
He thought of Allison’s handwritten note.
I need to confirm something first.
May you like
Tomorrow he would open the archived file.
And he was beginning to fear his late wife had discovered Maureen’s true nature before anyone else.
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