Chapter 16 - The Missing Red FolderMalcolm denied the folder existed.
That lasted twelve hours.
Then police recovered fragments of shredded documents from a commercial trash bin behind his office.
Most were unreadable.
A few were not.
GRANT FAMILY TRANSITION PLAN.
POST-PLACEMENT COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL.
TRUSTEE REVIEW.
MARITAL SEPARATION.
Alistair stared at the reconstructed headings.
“Marital separation.”
Rachel nodded.
“Corinne planned divorce.”
He shouldn't have been surprised.
He was.
For all her resentment toward Theo and Willa, some part of Alistair had still believed Corinne wanted the marriage.
She had said so.
She wanted “us.”
Apparently that had an expiration date.
“When?”
“We don't have the full document.”
“After the children left?”
“That appears likely.”
Alistair laughed bitterly.
“So she sends my children away, then leaves me.”
“Potentially.”
“What was the point?”
Rachel pointed toward TRUSTEE REVIEW.
“Maybe marriage wasn't the end goal.”
He stared.
“What was?”
“Control over assets.”
Alistair shook his head.
“She couldn't become trustee by divorcing me.”
“No.”
“Then?”
Rachel had another document.
A draft petition.
Not filed.
Prepared by an attorney Alistair didn't know.
REQUEST FOR TEMPORARY FIDUCIARY OVERSIGHT.
The draft alleged:
Alistair Grant emotionally unstable after marital collapse.
Heavy alcohol use.
Neglect of children's behavioral needs.
Refusal to follow clinical recommendations.
Potential mismanagement of funds due to personal distress.
Alistair sat.
“She planned to divorce me immediately after placement.”
“Yes.”
“Then use my reaction as proof I was unstable.”
“Likely.”
“Then challenge my control of the trusts.”
“Yes.”
“Who becomes trustee?”
“The draft requests a neutral professional.”
He frowned.
“Not Corinne.”
“No.”
“Then how does she benefit?”
Rachel turned the page.
Proposed education consultant retained for continuity:
Malcolm Vale.
There it was.
Even if Corinne didn't control the trust directly, Malcolm's company remained attached to the children.
Payments continued.
Corinne's investment benefited.
She could leave the marriage with financial leverage and without living with the children she resented.
Alistair whispered:
“She was dismantling the entire family.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Yes.”
Not dramatically.
Piece by piece.
Children placed.
Father discredited.
Marriage dissolved.
Trust redirected.
Malcolm paid.
Corinne free.
“What did she think would happen when I fought?”
“She planned for you to.”
“That is insane.”
“It's calculated.”
Alistair stood.
“I want her prosecuted for everything possible.”
Rachel watched him.
“That's not your decision.”
“I know.”
“You can cooperate.”
“I will.”
“And protect the children.”
“I am.”
Rachel nodded.
“Then stop giving her free space in your head.”
He almost laughed.
“Useful advice.”
“Expensive advice.”
That evening, Theo asked if he could see Corinne.
Alistair froze.
“Why?”
Theo shrugged.
“I want to ask something.”
“You can tell me.”
“No.”
Alistair felt hurt.
Then reminded himself that Theo's feelings did not exist to reassure him.
“Okay.”
“What do you want to ask her?”
Theo looked toward the floor.
“If she ever liked me.”
Alistair's chest broke open.
“Buddy.”
“Before.”
Theo's voice shook.
“She used to read to me.”
Alistair remembered.
Corinne reading on the couch.
Theo sitting beside her.
There had been real affection once.
Maybe.
Or affection conditional on being accepted as mother.
Children didn't separate those nuances.
“I think she cared about you.”
Theo looked up.
“But she said I ruined everything.”
“She was wrong.”
“What if I did?”
“You didn't.”
Theo started crying.
Alistair sat beside him.
“Adults are responsible for what adults do.”
Theo leaned against him.
“I called her Mom.”
“I know.”
“Was that bad for Mommy?”
“No.”
Alistair swallowed.
“Elise wanted you to love people.”
Theo's eyes widened.
“How do you know?”
“Because she wrote it.”
He showed Theo an age-appropriate line from Elise's letter.
You are allowed to love anyone who treats you with kindness.
Theo read slowly.
Then:
“Corinne stopped.”
Alistair nodded.
“Yes.”
Theo cried quietly.
Not because he wanted Corinne back.
Because he was grieving someone he thought she'd been.
That mattered.
Abusive relationships were not simple to children.
A person could make pancakes and cause fear.
Read bedtime stories and humiliate.
Kiss a forehead one night and reject the word Mom the next.
Theo needed help holding both truths.
Alistair arranged it.
The following day, prosecutors filed additional charges against Malcolm related to forged documents and financial fraud.
Corinne's case expanded too.
Then Detective Brennan called with an unexpected development.
“We recovered part of the red folder from a cloud backup.”
Alistair stood.
“What does it say?”
“The post-placement plan includes a communication schedule.”
“With my children?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“Corinne proposed limiting direct contact between you and them for the first thirty days.”
His chest tightened.
“Why?”
“She wrote that contact would ‘destabilize adjustment.’”
He closed his eyes.
A month.
She planned for his children to disappear into a program and barely speak to him.
Brennan continued.
“And there's a note attached.”
“What?”
“From Malcolm.”
Alistair waited.
“He wrote: FIRST MONTH IS EVERYTHING. ONCE THEY BELIEVE ALI AGREED, THEY'LL STOP ASKING TO GO HOME.”
Alistair's hands went cold.
May you like
The plan wasn't only to remove Theo and Willa physically.
It was to convince them their father had chosen to abandon them.
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