Chapter 13 - WHAT MARK FINALLY ADMITTED
Mark asked to meet with Maya present.
This time I agreed.
He looked older than he had a week earlier.
Good.
So did I.
"Mom lost a baby before I was born," he said.
I waited.
"A boy. Charles Edward. My father wanted to name him after himself. He was stillborn."
Suddenly the blue nursery obsession, the secret gender check, the name on the form - all of it snapped into one terrible shape.
"She thinks my baby is hers."
Mark covered his face.
"I think she started thinking that way after Dad died."
"And you fed it."
He nodded.
Finally.
No excuses.
"Yes."
He told us Diane had paid his gambling debts, not a work loss as he had first claimed. The mortgage payoff was leverage. She had also pushed him to obtain my passwords, medical portal access, and electronic signatures.
"I kept thinking I could control her," he said.
"You couldn't even tell her to pick up my hospital bag."
He cried again.
I felt nothing.
Maya asked, "Where would Diane go if she wanted to disappear?"
Mark thought for a long time.
"My parents had a lake house. It sold years ago. But Mom kept a storage unit near there."
Police checked the unit that afternoon.
Inside were boxes of baby supplies.
A bassinet.
Formula.
Diapers.
A portable crib.
Printed feeding schedules.
And a binder labeled CHARLES.
One page was titled TRANSITION PLAN.
Week 1: supervised contact.
Week 2: overnight care.
Week 3: maternal separation.
Week 4: permanent placement.
My hands started shaking.
Then the detective turned another page.
There was a list of dates.
The last one was tomorrow.
May you like
Beside it, Diane had written:
IF COURT FAILS - PLAN B.
