Chapter 4 - The Custody Folder
Susan read the folder at Daniel’s kitchen table.
“This is not normal.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“That’s becoming a theme.”
The folder contained more than financial records.
Emergency custody.
Parental fitness.
Work-hour documentation.
Even a copy of Daniel’s prescription for anxiety medication after Laura died.
Susan pointed to highlighted lines.
“What narrative?”
“That you are overworked, medicated, emotionally unstable, and unable to supervise the kids.”
Daniel stared.
His stomach tightened.
“Could she take them?”
“Not easily.”
“Not easily is not no.”
Susan shook her head.
“No. But if she manufactured an emergency, made reports, and had enough documentation…”
Daniel thought of Noah’s closet.
The bracelet.
The cash.
“Yes.”
“And Emma?”
Susan closed the folder.
“We need to find out.”
Megan Holt came that afternoon.
She met with each child separately.
No leading questions.
No pressure.
Daniel waited in the living room.
Daniel’s hands tightened.
“What kind?”
“Food restriction. Isolation. Threats that they would be separated from you. Forced scripts.”
He looked down.
“Anything physical?”
Megan chose her words carefully.
“Emma described being pulled by the arm and hair. Noah described having his wrist held tightly and being made to block doors so Emma could not leave rooms.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
“Noah had to help?”
“He was made to.”
“That’s why he thinks he should’ve protected her sooner.”
“Yes.”
Daniel felt sick.
Megan continued.
“There’s another concern.”
“What?”
“Noah says Rachel frequently told him you might die young because you work too much.”
Daniel stared.
“She told an eight-year-old that?”
“Why?”
“Fear creates compliance.”
Daniel stood and paced.
Then Megan said, “Daniel.”
He turned.
“Noah also said Rachel had him sign something.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Sign what?”
Daniel froze.
His birthday was six months away.
He searched Rachel’s desk.
Nothing.
Then he remembered the printer.
Susan opened the history.
One file had been scanned three weeks earlier.
A handwritten note from Noah:
May you like
My dad scares me when he gets angry. I want to live with Aunt Rachel.
Daniel felt the floor disappear beneath him.
