Chapter 5 - The Price Attached to Theo and WillaThe first payment was ninety thousand dollars.
Alistair learned that the next morning.
His attorney, Rachel Mercer, arrived at his mother's house before eight with a laptop and an expression that told him she had bad news.
“Stone Ridge charges fifteen thousand per child per month.”
Alistair stared.
“For what?”
“Residential services, education, therapy, supervision.”
“Are they legitimate?”
“Legally operating, yes.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Rachel sat.
“The facility has complaints.”
His stomach tightened.
“What kind?”
“Former families alleging excessive isolation, poor communication, aggressive restraint policies. Nothing I’m going to state as fact until we verify.”
Alistair looked toward the upstairs hallway.
His children were still sleeping.
“Corinne knew?”
“We don't know.”
“Malcolm?”
“His company has referred families there.”
“How many?”
“At least eleven in two years.”
Alistair felt cold.
“And he gets paid.”
“Referral contracts appear to exist.”
“How much?”
“Potentially ten percent of the first six months.”
Alistair calculated.
Thirty thousand dollars monthly for Theo and Willa.
Six months.
One hundred eighty thousand.
Ten percent.
Eighteen thousand.
That didn't match Theo's statement about first payment.
Rachel saw him thinking.
“There's more.”
Of course there was.
“Malcolm's company also provides transport and placement consulting.”
“How much?”
“The invoice connected to your children totals ninety-two thousand dollars.”
Alistair stared.
“For arranging flights?”
“Not only flights. Evaluation, transport, enrollment, family consulting.”
“I never hired him.”
“No.”
“Corinne did.”
“Using joint funds.”
Alistair stood.
“Why?”
Rachel looked at him.
“The cleanest motive may be the true one.”
“What?”
“She wanted the children gone.”
He hated how simple it sounded.
Rachel continued.
“And Malcolm wanted money.”
Alistair walked toward the window.
“But Corinne knew I'd notice.”
“Eventually.”
“I'd come home and both my children would be in Montana.”
“She may have planned to tell you after they were already there.”
“Why would I accept that?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Because she had documentation.”
Alistair turned.
“What documentation?”
Rachel opened another folder.
Letters from a counselor.
School behavior summaries.
Household incident logs.
Theo yelling.
Willa “lying.”
Sibling arguments.
Normal childhood behavior rewritten in clinical language.
But one name caught Alistair's attention.
DR. JULIANNE FROST.
“Who is that?”
“A licensed family counselor.”
“I don't know her.”
“Corinne does.”
Alistair frowned.
“Have the children seen her?”
“Apparently.”
His chest tightened.
“When?”
“Six sessions over the last four months.”
“No.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Records indicate they did.”
He went still.
“Where?”
“Virtual.”
Alistair remembered evenings when Corinne told him the children had tutoring.
He had never checked.
“Was I listed as consenting parent?”
Rachel nodded.
He laughed bitterly.
“My signature?”
“Electronic.”
“Fake?”
“Likely.”
Alistair read the counselor's notes.
Theo expressed anger toward stepmother.
Willa demonstrated oppositional behavior.
Children resistant to family integration.
Corinne reported escalating instability.
He looked up.
“This is a narrative.”
“Yes.”
“She was building one.”
Rachel nodded.
“Potentially.”
“And every time the children objected to her, she recorded it as evidence they were disturbed.”
“That is one interpretation.”
Alistair stared at the pages.
Then found something worse.
FATHER FREQUENTLY ABSENT. STEPMOTHER REPORTS FATHER MINIMIZES CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOR.
He sat.
That part was true.
Corinne had told others exactly what Alistair had done.
Minimized.
Dismissed.
Explained away.
His failures had become supporting evidence for hers.
Rachel watched him.
“You can't change the last four months.”
“I know.”
“You can decide what you do next.”
He nodded.
“Find out whether Dr. Frost knew I hadn't consented.”
“We are.”
“And how involved Malcolm is.”
“Yes.”
“And Stone Ridge.”
“Yes.”
Rachel hesitated.
“Alistair, there’s something else about the tickets.”
His stomach tightened.
“What?”
“They were purchased three weeks ago.”
“Okay.”
“Corinne paid using a card in Willa's name.”
He stared.
“Willa doesn't have a credit card.”
“She has a custodial debit account connected to a youth banking service.”
Alistair closed his eyes.
He had opened it to teach Willa about money.
Small allowance.
Birthday gifts.
Corinne had access as household manager.
“How much was taken?”
“Not just airfare.”
Alistair looked at Rachel.
“Tell me.”
“Nearly twelve thousand dollars moved from both children's accounts over six months.”
Rage came fast.
“What for?”
“Payments to Malcolm's consulting company.”
Alistair gripped the back of a chair.
She hadn't merely planned to send Theo and Willa away.
She had used their own money to help finance it.
Upstairs, footsteps sounded.
Willa appeared.
She had heard enough to know they were talking about Corinne.
“What money?”
Alistair immediately closed the laptop.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
Willa's expression hardened.
He saw his mistake as soon as he said it.
No more hiding.
He opened the laptop again.
“You're right.”
She sat.
Rachel looked at Alistair.
He nodded.
He explained carefully.
Someone had used money from accounts belonging to Willa and Theo.
Willa listened.
Then she said:
“I know.”
Alistair froze.
“What?”
“Corinne took my card.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That I lost it.”
Alistair stared.
Willa continued.
“But I didn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I found it in her purse.”
Alistair’s pulse changed.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Did you take it back?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Willa's eyes filled.
“Because there was something else in the purse.”
Alistair leaned forward.
“What?”
“A letter from Mom.”
Everything in the room stopped.
Elise had been dead five years.
May you like
Willa whispered:
“It had my name on it.”
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