Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE
Daniel looked as if someone had punched him.
"I didn't sign any petition."
Warren Pike sounded uncomfortable. "The document was executed electronically this morning."
Daniel opened his email. Nothing.
Elise said, "Check deleted mail."
There it was: a verification code from an e-signature service, opened and deleted at 8:03 a.m.
Daniel had been on a job site at that time.
His mother knew the password to an old email account because she had helped him manage bills during chemotherapy four years earlier. He had never changed it.
"She used my account," he said.
The petition claimed Daniel feared Elise had become unstable and that he supported temporary placement of Owen with Lenora until a psychiatric evaluation could be completed.
It sounded reasonable. It was also a lie.
Warren told Daniel to file a police report immediately and revoke the electronic signature authorization. He also admitted something else.
"Your mother hired me three weeks ago. She told me you were aware."
"Of what?"
"Asset protection. Guardianship contingencies. Trust review."
Elise didn't raise her voice. That made it worse.
"Three weeks ago," she said. "Owen was nine days old."
Daniel looked at his son and then at Elise.
"I didn't know."
"I believe you," she said. "But believing you doesn't make us safe."
We changed every password and sent the footage to police.
At 11:42 p.m., Elise received a text from an unknown number.
You should have let him stay asleep.
Attached was a photograph.
It showed Owen through the nursery window.
Taken from outside the house.
I ran to the window and pulled the curtain shut.
Daniel went pale.
"Nobody knows which room is the nursery," he said.
May you like
Then a motion alert flashed on the security panel.
BACKYARD CAMERA: PERSON DETECTED.
