Chapter 9 - THE HEARING
The emergency hearing was scheduled for forty-eight hours later.
Caroline’s petition painted me as volatile, absent, obsessed with Grace, and incapable of helping Sophie move forward.
Allison was listed as a supporting witness.
She stared at the filing in horror.
“I never agreed to this.”
Rachel pointed to a declaration.
“Your electronic signature is here.”
Allison shook her head.
“That isn’t mine.”
Rachel zoomed in.
The signature certificate had been created from Caroline’s office computer.
Fraud.
But until we proved it, the petition existed.
I wanted to expose everything at once.
Rachel stopped me.
“Do not turn this into a family screaming match.”
“My daughter is being used.”
“Then protect her with evidence.”
We collected the garden-room lock log.
Security footage showing Caroline entering with a key.
Emails about the lake property.
Grace’s letters.
The forged declaration.
Then Sophie’s school called.
My heart dropped.
The principal asked me to come immediately.
Sophie was in the counselor’s office, shaking.
Someone had left an envelope in her backpack.
Inside was a photograph of Grace.
Across the front, written in red marker:
MOMMY IS GONE. STOP MAKING DADDY SAD.
I felt the world narrow.
The school reviewed cameras.
A woman wearing sunglasses had entered during morning drop-off.
Not Caroline.
Not Allison.
Rachel paused the footage.
“I know her.”
“Who?”
“Diane Porter.”
Caroline’s daughter.
My niece.
Twenty-four years old.
She had babysat Sophie after Grace died.
I had trusted her.
Police went to Diane’s apartment.
She was gone.
But they found a stack of printed photographs.
Grace.
Sophie.
Our house.
The lake property.
And one handwritten instruction from Caroline.
MAKE HER ASK TO LEAVE MICHAEL.
My stomach turned.
May you like
Caroline had not only wanted the court to believe I was unfit.
She wanted Sophie herself to say she did not want to live with me.
