Chapter 3 - WHAT DANIEL HAD BEEN HIDINGMargaret turned when Everett entered the study.
“You’re searching my things now?”
“This is my study.”
“You gave me access.”
“Where’s the blue folder?”
Her expression remained blank.
“What blue folder?”
Everett stared at her long enough for the silence to become uncomfortable.
“Daniel says you made him sign something.”
“He signed a school consent form.”
“For what trip?”
Margaret paused.
“The museum.”
“Which museum?”
She gave the name of one in Washington.
Everett picked up his phone.
“I’ll call the school.”
Margaret’s confidence slipped.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to embarrass your son by accusing his stepmother of forging documents over a museum permission slip?”
“I didn’t mention forgery.”
Margaret said nothing.
Everett set the phone down instead of calling.
That worried her more.
He knew her.
She performed best when she knew what accusation she was defending herself against.
So he gave her none.
“You’re sleeping in the guest wing tonight.”
Margaret laughed once.
“You cannot be serious.”
“I am.”
“Everett, this is my home too.”
“No.”
The word came out before he intended it.
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
Everett looked toward the photographs lining his office shelves.
“This is where my children live. Tonight, I’m making sure they feel safe here.”
“You’re choosing a child’s story over your wife.”
“I’m choosing to investigate before deciding anything.”
Margaret picked up her phone.
“That sounds like you’ve already decided.”
She left.
Everett locked the study door behind her.
Then he searched.
The blue folder was gone.
The desk had been disturbed.
One drawer contained tax records, another company documents, another passports.
Nothing looked obviously wrong.
Then Everett noticed a thin rectangular outline in the dust behind the lower cabinet.
Something had been stored there recently.
He pulled the cabinet forward.
Nothing.
He checked beneath it.
A torn piece of blue paper lay against the wall.
Across it were four printed words:
PETITION FOR TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP
Everett stared at them.
He read them twice.
Then a third time.
Upstairs, Daniel had not gone to sleep.
He sat on the floor beside Noah’s bed with his knees pulled against his chest.
When Everett returned, Daniel immediately stood.
“Is Margaret leaving?”
“Not tonight.”
Daniel’s face fell.
Everett sat down.
“I found part of something.”
“What?”
“A legal document.”
Daniel looked frightened.
“Am I in trouble?”
“No.”
Everett realized how often his son asked that now.
“Daniel, you are not in trouble.”
“Okay.”
“Do you remember where Margaret had you sign?”
“In the breakfast room.”
“Was anyone else there?”
Daniel thought.
“Mr. Vale.”
Everett’s stomach tightened.
Preston Vale was the Whitmore family attorney.
He had handled Everett’s personal legal affairs for eleven years.
“What was Preston doing here?”
“Margaret said he was helping Dad.”
“Did he talk to you?”
“He said I should sign because adults were trying to make things easier.”
Everett’s mouth went dry.
“What did the paper look like?”
“White.”
“Was there a title?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Did Margaret cover it?”
“Yes.”
Everett stood.
“Anything else?”
Daniel was quiet.
Everett waited.
Finally, Daniel walked to his desk and opened a drawer.
From beneath a stack of comic books, he took out an old phone.
Isabel’s old phone.
Everett recognized the cracked gold case immediately.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was Mom’s.”
“I know.”
“It was in her closet.”
Everett sat again.
Daniel held it tightly.
“I wasn’t supposed to take it.”
“You’re not in trouble.”
Daniel unlocked it.
The phone had no cellular service, but the camera still worked.
“I started recording things.”
Everett looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Margaret kept saying I remembered wrong.”
That sentence hurt Everett more than anything else Daniel had said.
Daniel opened the recordings.
Most were short.
Noah crying.
Margaret’s voice in the hallway.
A door closing.
One showed only darkness because the phone was inside Daniel’s pocket.
But Margaret’s voice was clear.
You keep talking about that trust like you understand it. You don’t.
Daniel’s younger voice answered.
Mom said the house is ours.
Your mother said many things before she died.
A pause.
Then:
Adults can change paperwork, Daniel.
Everett stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at him.
“There’s another one.”
He played it.
Preston Vale’s voice this time.
Just sign where Margaret points.
Daniel:
Why?
Preston:
Because your father already approved it.
Margaret:
Don’t make everything difficult.
The recording ended.
Everett took the phone gently.
“Can I keep this tonight?”
Daniel nodded.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Did you approve it?”
Everett looked at his son.
“No.”
Daniel’s eyes filled with something Everett had not seen in months.
Relief.
But then Daniel asked:
“Then why did Mr. Vale say you did?”
Everett had no answer.
He went downstairs after both boys finally slept.
Margaret’s guest-room door was closed.
He did not knock.
Instead, he called Preston Vale.
The attorney answered on the fourth ring.
“Everett? You’re back early.”
Everett stared at the torn paper in his hand.
“Preston, what did my son sign?”
Silence.
Only a second.
But it was long enough.
Then Preston said:
“I think we should discuss this in person.”
Everett looked at the clock.
“Come now.”
“I can’t.”
“Then tell me over the phone.”
Another pause.
“Everett…”
“What did Daniel sign?”
Preston lowered his voice.
“A statement supporting a guardianship petition.”
Everett gripped the desk.
“Guardianship over whom?”
May you like
This time Preston’s answer came almost as a whisper.
“You.”
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