Chapter 5 - THE KIDNAPPER
At 7:15 the next morning, two detectives arrived at Nathan’s gate.
Grace nearly collapsed when she saw the badges.
Nathan stepped between her and the door.
“She is not going anywhere without counsel.”
Detective Ramos raised both hands. “We’re not here to arrest anyone. Yet.”
Rebecca met them in the foyer.
Ramos laid out the affidavit. It claimed Nathan had acknowledged Lily at birth, that Grace later disappeared with the child, and that Charles Cole had spent years trying to locate them.
Nathan laughed in disbelief. “I didn’t know she existed.”
“We have a document with your signature.”
“Forged.”
“We have a hospital acknowledgment.”
Grace whispered, “I never gave birth in Phoenix.”
Ramos glanced at her. “The record says St. Matthew’s.”
“Lily was born in Flagstaff.”
Rebecca leaned forward. “Then we verify the hospital records.”
The detectives exchanged a look.
Ramos said, “St. Matthew’s maternity archive had a data fire three years ago.”
At the courthouse, Victoria arrived in a navy suit beside her father, Malcolm Dane, chairman of Dane Capital. Cameras waited outside.
Grace stopped walking.
“This is already public.”
Nathan looked at the reporters.
“Good.”
She stared at him.
“If they built this in the dark,” he said, “then we drag it into daylight.”
Inside, Victoria’s attorney painted Grace as a desperate former employee who had “manufactured paternity” to gain access to Nathan’s wealth.
Then he produced photographs.
Grace entering an airport.
Grace carrying Lily.
Grace speaking with a man near an international departures sign.
“Taken yesterday,” he said.
Grace shot to her feet. “That’s impossible. I was in Nathan’s house yesterday.”
Rebecca stared at the image.
Then she zoomed in.
The judge frowned.
“Counsel, where did these photographs come from?”
Victoria’s attorney looked toward Malcolm Dane.
For one second, Malcolm looked angry instead of confident.
Then a courtroom deputy hurried to the judge and whispered in her ear.
The judge’s face changed.
She looked directly at Grace.
“Ms. Bennett, Child Protective Services is at Mr. Cole’s residence right now.”
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Grace went white.
Lily was still there.
