Chapter 18 - What My Father Tried to Do
Thomas's statement filled in the missing years.
My father discovered the truth about my birth when I was five.
He confronted Marlene.
She threatened to disappear with me.
When I turned twenty-one, he tracked down Jennifer.
He planned to tell me everything after my college graduation.
The brake line was cut.
But not by my grandfather.
Not directly.
A payment ledger in the basement showed Gordon Price authorized the job.
My mother approved it.
I sat across from Ross in the interview room.
"Can you charge her?"
"We can charge Gordon with conspiracy and homicide-related offenses depending on corroboration. For Marlene, the approval record plus the tapes and witnesses give the prosecutor a strong case."
"Strong isn't certain."
"No."
Sofia learned to walk before jury selection.
Jennifer came to stay with us but never asked me to call her Mom.
She let me decide the distance.
Anna came too.
Marlene entered wearing navy blue and no expression.
She looked at me once.
The prosecutor played the photographs and recordings.
Then the tape where she threatened my father.
The jury watched Marlene's face while her younger voice filled the courtroom.
If you tell anyone, they take Claire away from both of us.
On the fourth day, Marlene's attorney announced she would testify.
Ross muttered, "Bad idea."
He was right.
Under cross-examination, she blamed everyone.
My father.
Jennifer.
The hospital.
Stress.
Money.
Me.
Finally, the prosecutor asked, "Why were you holding Sofia upside down?"
Marlene looked directly at the jury.
"Because Claire was going to ruin everything."
The prosecutor went still.
"So you hurt the baby?"
"I was trying to scare Claire."
"By dangling a ten-month-old child by her ankles?"
Marlene realized too late what she had said.
The courtroom went silent.
Then the prosecutor asked one last question.
"And what were you afraid Claire would discover?"
Marlene looked at me.
May you like
Her answer was barely audible.
"That none of them were ever mine."
