Chapter 8 - Thomas Had Been Getting PaidConrad did not call Thomas.
Detective Ortiz told him not to.
That was difficult.
He wanted answers.
Instead, investigators obtained records.
Payments from High Desert Family Support to Kell & Shore were categorized as:
Estate consulting.
Guardian planning.
Trust compliance review.
Total over eighteen months:
$72,000.
Thomas claimed they were legitimate legal fees.
He came to the police station voluntarily.
Conrad was not allowed inside the interview room.
So he waited in the hallway.
When Thomas emerged two hours later, he looked angry.
Not frightened.
“Conrad.”
“Did you know High Desert belonged to Maureen?”
“No.”
“You took seventy-two thousand dollars.”
“My firm did.”
“For what?”
“Legal work.”
“For her?”
“For matters related to Wren’s trust.”
“You billed a company I had never heard of for legal work on my daughter’s trust.”
“I was told it was the household family-support administrator.”
“By whom?”
Thomas stopped.
“Maureen.”
Conrad laughed bitterly.
“And you never checked?”
“I had invoices, tax information, authorizations bearing your signature.”
“My forged signature.”
“I did not know that.”
“Did you prepare the guardianship petition?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“I prepared a draft.”
Conrad stepped closer.
“You lied.”
“I said I didn’t prepare the document you showed me.”
“Same letterhead.”
“It was altered after leaving my office.”
“What did you prepare?”
“A generic emergency petition template.”
“For Maureen.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She told me you were experiencing severe depression and had discussed giving her temporary authority.”
Conrad stared.
“Did you speak to me?”
“She showed me emails.”
“Why didn’t you call?”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“She said you did not want direct contact because you were ashamed.”
Conrad felt rage.
“You knew me for nine years.”
“I also knew you stopped answering half your calls after Allison died.”
Truth.
Conrad hated how every lie rested on a fact.
Thomas continued.
“You missed trust-review meetings.”
True.
“You delegated household decisions to Maureen.”
True.
“You traveled more last year.”
True.
None meant he wanted his child taken.
“Did you believe Wren feared me?”
“I believed there were concerns.”
“Because Maureen told you.”
“And because Dr. Lang’s reports contained statements.”
“Coached statements.”
“I know that now.”
Conrad stared.
“Why did Allison remove Maureen?”
Thomas looked away.
“You read my notes.”
“I’m asking you.”
“She suspected emotional mistreatment and financial misuse.”
“And you still helped Maureen prepare guardianship paperwork.”
“I did not remember the full context when Maureen approached me.”
Conrad nearly shouted.
“How do you forget that?”
Thomas’s own anger surfaced.
“Because two years passed, Conrad. Because your wife died and the file became administration. Because Maureen remained in your house with your approval. Because you treated her as trusted family. That affected how I viewed her.”
The words landed.
Conrad could not completely deny them.
He had legitimized Maureen every day he left Wren in her care.
Thomas continued.
“When a father keeps a nanny for two years after his wife supposedly distrusted her, lawyers infer the problem was resolved.”
Conrad’s hands curled.
“Do not put your failure on me.”
“I’m not.”
“Sounds like it.”
“I’m saying we both made assumptions.”
Conrad turned away.
He hated that Thomas was partially right.
But not enough.
“What about Allison’s missing letter?”
Thomas’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“Maureen was alone with the archive.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see her take anything?”
“No.”
“Can you prove the legal fees were real?”
“Yes.”
“Then prove it.”
Thomas nodded.
“I will.”
Before leaving, he stopped.
“There is one thing you should understand.”
“What?”
“If Maureen intended to seek emergency guardianship while you were abroad, she still needed evidence that Wren faced immediate risk.”
“She was creating it.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Thomas looked uneasy.
“By documenting her fear of you.”
“Coached.”
“And possibly by showing the home environment was unstable.”
Conrad frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Missed school. Medical neglect. Dangerous incidents.”
“My daughter has none.”
“Then check whether someone created them.”
The suggestion turned Conrad cold.
He drove straight to Wren’s school.
The principal met him privately.
Attendance records.
Seven unexcused absences.
Conrad stared.
“When?”
Days he believed Wren was in class.
Maureen had texted him photographs of school pickups.
“Who reported absences?”
“Maureen.”
“Reason?”
Behavioral crises.
Conrad closed his eyes.
Medical office next.
Two missed pediatric appointments.
One note:
Father unavailable. Nanny reports escalating home instability.
Then something worse.
An urgent-care visit three months earlier.
Wren had been treated for a sprained wrist after a fall.
Conrad had never known.
He called Wren.
“Did you hurt your wrist?”
Silence.
“When?”
“Maureen said not to tell.”
“Why?”
“She said you’d make me stop gymnastics.”
“Did you fall at gymnastics?”
“No.”
Conrad’s heart tightened.
“What happened?”
Wren whispered:
“She grabbed me when I tried to call you.”
The pattern was no longer only psychological.
Conrad returned home.
In Maureen’s drawer, police had found a calendar.
Certain dates circled.
His travel.
School absences.
Medical incidents.
Therapy sessions.
Everything arranged around his absence.
Then Detective Ortiz showed him one final note from the calendar.
Singapore = filing window. Need C out of state before service.
The plan had been timed precisely.
May you like
Maureen did not simply want temporary control.
She wanted Conrad thousands of miles away when the court papers landed.
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